Longtime owners of the Quarry Swim Club in Hopewell said they still have not sold the natural-waterhole-turned-swim club but are interviewing potential buyers. Watch video
HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP - The fish do not seem to be biting on the Quarry Swim Club sale, where the longtime owners are anxious to retire but cautious to choose a buyer for the throwback swimming hole.
The club - hidden among the tall trees on Crusher Road - features a standard community swimming pool, but more notably one of the last natural, swimming holes in the state - a 55-foot deep former quarry.
Owners since 1988, Jim and Nancy Gypton have been trying to sell the Quarry since the summer to an organization or individual who would keep the private club as a natural oasis for members.
Gypton said he and his wife are still meeting with preservation groups but have now expanded their horizons to individual prospective buyers.
"We intend to sell it," Jim Gypton said Thursday. "Whether it's to one of the people we're talking to now or some new person or group, we want to retire."
He said the couple have been thinking about selling to a local preservation group such as the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Reserve and the D&R Greenway Land Trust but now may be reconsidering.
"It's strange," Gypton said. "I get the sense that for them to buy the Quarry is a political decision. I never thought small towns would be that way."
Back in August, Jim and Nancy Gypton said they did not want to sell the Quarry to a family wishing to purchase the land for a personal estate or a company who would turn it into a wedding venue.
"I'd hate to see it turn into someone's backyard," Nancy Gypton said. "It's not fair."
For almost 30 summers, Jim, 79, and Nancy, 65, Gypton said they have spent everyday at the Quarry, keeping in tact the safety and happiness of their members - most of which learned to swim amongst frogs and fish in the natural waterhole.
Hopewell Borough resident Nancy Kennedy said she has been going to the Quarry since her son was born in the 1990s. He ended up working for the swim club the past two summers.
"The Quarry is so dear to my heart, I couldn't bear the thought of it closing," Kennedy said.
The Gyptons said they want to retire to spend more time with their children and grandchildren with the peace of mind that the Quarry will be looked after.
Jim and Nancy Gypton said in August that they are committed to finding the right suitor for the Quarry and will not rush a decision. "We knew last year we were starting the process and it would be long," Nancy Gypton said then.
Kennedy said she is grateful that the Gyptons will not let the Quarry turn into a "housing development."
"Wish we could help find them a buyer," Kennedy said. "If only we didn't have to put our son through college, I'd buy and manage it."
Lindsay Rittenhouse may be reached at lrittenhouse@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.