Bergen County Historical Society
Governor Corizine visits HNBL on March 19, 2008!
HNBL Park Commission officers Jim Bellis, Mary Donohue, Kevin Wright and Mike Trepicchio, Senator Weinberg and Deborah Powell, BCHS President, met with Governor Corizine at the Campbell-Christie House. They discussed the future direction the site should take. Another photo on the message board.

We were honored by the Governor's visit and the opportunity to promote HNBL. Photo by D. Powell

To meet the challenge to preserving Bergen County's rich history, we seek the support of caring and interested persons and public-spirited businesses. Our aim is to protect and showcase physical reminders of the recent and distant past, signicant to Bergen's unique story. We do this not only for pride of community but for our cultural enrichment and that of our children.

You can help...find out how! Read the BCHS newsletter, too.
The Bergen County Historical Society's Collections
The Bergen Dutch were an agricultural community who settled and farmed the valleys of the Hackensack, Saddle and Passaic Rivers, beginning in 1640. The Campbell-Christie and Demarest Houses display a small part of the BCHS collections (objects made or used in Bergen County from 1680 to 1860) which span folk art, ladderback chairs, Hackensack cupboards, kasten (Dutch cupboards), redware pottery, coverlets, quilts and spoonboards.

Click here
to see a sampling of the collections or read some of the research on the collections.
The new BCHS message board is an online forum for queries, discussions, and alerts about Bergen County history. Enter your event or look for an activity in the Calendar. List your BC history-related website in History Links. 

Anyone can browse the forums, but you must register to post messages. Registrants may also receive periodic e-newsletters.
Please join us. The  more participants, the better!

To contact BCHS, email us to below address.
contact@bergencountyhistory.org

BCHS Membership form
The Bergen County Historical Society (BCHS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer organization, promotes preservation, study and appreciation of local history. Beginning in 1939, our museum collections were displayed at the Steuben House, a State Historic Site. The house is now closed. Many of the 4,000 items in the collection are in storage.

The Campbell-Christie House, a County Historic Site, is located on land leased from the BCHS. BCHS operates the historic house museum and provides programing. Other activities include placement of informative roadside historic markers, educational events, museum exhibits, monthly lectures, and a library collection. For a more complete description of BCHS.
Are you a member? Here's how to join. Or scroll down to learn more. BCHS Board 2007-2008

The BCHS acquired the land between the Steuben House and north of Main St. in 1944 to buffer and protect the Steuben House from the c.1930s auto parts junkyard.
The end of the junkyard began in 01-2000 when HNBL Park Commission secured a $1.1 million Federal grant to buy & clean the junkyard thru Sen. Torrecelli.
Recently work began to clear the property. Note the Campbell-Christie House in background.
Photo taken 02-11-07.
New Bridge was a prosperous mill hamlet, centered upon a bridge strategically placed at the narrows of the Hackensack River, Bergen County, New Jersey.
The Steuben House, Campbell-Christie House and Demarest House are landmarks of Bergen Dutch sandstone architecture, popularly called "Dutch Colonial" and frequently seen and admired throughout northern NJ. The Steuben House still stands on its original site. The Steuben House is closed until further notice, due to flood damage to building and collections.
Visit the HNBL Park Commission's new website.
We'd love to hear about your experience visiting HNBL.
Email Us
New Bridge Landing
The Steuben House
New Bridge in the Revolution
Crossing at New Bridge, Washington saved his army from its certain defeat in November 1776, inspiring Thomas Paines' American Crisis.

New Bridge was a strategic river crossing throughout the American Revolution. Its homes served as military headquarters. Deadly skirmishes echoed about its walls, earthworks were thrown upon its hills, and consuming armies camped upon its fields. Soldiers passed this gateway so often that the Steuben House is said to have seen more of the Revolution than any other house in America.

The Public is welcome to attend

June 7, Saturday, 9 to 4 PM: BCHS Member Fundraiser Garage Sale
Give us your tired-of-looking-at-them items which you no longer love! Okay, so Emma Lazarus said it a little differently and for another noble sentiment but for the BCHS, we are looking for a few (or many) good items which we can sell for our super garage sale
.

Pinkster Fest
A Colonial Celebration of Spring

Spring is sprung! Come dance around the Maypole! On Sunday, May 18th, from 1 to 4 PM, visitors to Historic New Bridge Landing, 1201 Main Street, River Edge are invited to imagine they are back in a time when winter meant months of deep cold and isolation, dispelled only by the heat of firewood burning on the hearth. And then to imagine that—at last—the days lengthen into summer!

See the Past come alive! We have an exciting program of events, lectures and Revolutionary War Roundtable lecture/dinner scheduled for the coming year.
Click here to go to the calendar thru to Spring 2008.

The Society's Library collection comprises family genealogy, diaries, and manuscripts; church, cemetery, and bible records; books, clippings, and on local and county history, the Revolutionary War, and historic architecture; postcards, photos, videos, atlases, and maps. They are located at Felican College (Lodi campus library) and available regularly once a week. Click here for a more complete description of collections and directions. No microfilm census records.
Open Wednesdays, 11:30 am to 5:00 pm
(Staffed by BCHS volunteers)
Closed for month of August.

Research articles of interest -
Please remember to obey US copyright laws. The articles have been previously published in BCHS newsletters.
BCHS Newsletter – Spring 2008 (pdf) HNBL Train Stop, Outhouse History, Bergen Trolley, A Century Ago, Colonial-era Broadside
BCHS Newsletter – Winter 2007-2008 (pdf) Marker Program, Collecitons, A Century Ago, Important Donations, Blockhouses and Chaos, Teaneck House

BCHS Newsletter – Winter 2006-2007 (pdf) Modern Steuben House history, Haworth House, Marginalia From Ancient Almanacs, Zabriskie Mystery, Franklin Lakes’ Contribution to The Battle of the Atlantic

BCHS Newsletter - Winter 2006 (pdf)
Article on Tenafly, Frank A. Morrison Indian Artifact Collection and a Century Ago

BCHS Newsletter - Spring 2005 (pdf)
articles on Rev War Massacre at the Steuben House, 1780 events at New Bridge, Hackensack Raid in 1780 and a Century Ago

BCHS Newsletter - Fall 2004 (pdf)
articles on Indian Castle at New Bridge, Nike Base NY & Dear Friends by Ruth Paci and a Century Ago

225th Anniversary
The British Grand
Forage, Bergen County, New Jersey
October 11 & 12, 2003
The Steenrapie Encampment
Sept 25, 2005
Washington at the Steuben House in 1780
Retreat to Victory 2001
Bergen County Commerorates the 225th Anniversary of the Retreat Across New Jersey
Publications For SaleBCHS has some great books to purchase. Click here for a complete listing and order form that you can print out and mail us. Sorry, no orders via the internet. Includes postcards of New Bridge Landing and other sites in Bergen County.
Map & Directions
How to get to us and when we're open
New publication available!
In The Revolutionary War in Bergen County, Carol Karels and her team of historians weave a masterful account of the struggle in northeastern New Jersey from the perspectives of all involved. Here was where Thomas Paine conceived the first of his Crisis papers beginning with the words "These Are The Times That Try Men's Souls".
Purchase here via PayPal!

Many Bergen County homes are listed and described in the BCHS Historic Site Markers booklet. Click here for a description of the Marker Program and a pdf of the booklet.
The Bergen County Historical Society received a general operating support grant which will contribute to storage of museum collections and insurance on collections.

Funding has been made possible in part through grant funds administered by the Bergen County Department of Parks, Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs through a General Operating Support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a Division of Cultural Affairs in the Department of State.

Website created by Deborah Powell, contact: contactBCHS@bergencountyhistory.org
Will forward questions to be answered by all-volunteer organization. This site updated 04/27/08
Painting of site by L.Feigel. Painting of Retreat by B.Spencer Newman. All photos by D. Powell unless otherwise noted.

Bergen County Historical Society
P.O. Box 55, River Edge, New Jersey 07661 • www.bergencountyhistory.org
(201) 343-9492

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