The original name of Sandyston was changed in 1845 to honor New Jersey Governor Haines. This hamlet was created on a 1,000 acre plot purchased from the Gardner Tract by Simon Courtright before the Revolutionary War. Ownership later passed to Peter Hotalen, then John Shay, and in 1825 to Parshall Howell, who opened the first hotel and established a post-village with mail delivered by a four-horse stage. John D. Everitt was the first schoolmaster in 1815. Shaytown Cemetery was created in 1812 on lands shared by Benjamin Depue and Timothy Shay, and the Reformed Church was built in 1855.