Colts Neck, the Monmouth County township known by that

name only since 1962, has witnessed a rapid pace of change

in its recent past. The once-rural community has been adapting

to suburbanization but longtime residents yearn to preserve

memories of the municipality’s heritage, and in particular,

recollections of two well-known communities.

Colts Neck’s North American Phalanx was one of America’s

best-known, nineteenth-century cooperative communities,

and as such has garnered the interest of philosophers and social

scientists. In a completely different historical vein, Colts Neck

embraces Scobeyville, widely known as the home of Laird’s.

Synonymous with New Jersey distilling, Laird’s has produced the

Apple Jack beverage for many years.