From Exit 161 on the Garden State Parkway North or Rt. 17, travel about 2 miles on Route 4 East, taking the exit for Hackensack Avenue North. Proceed through 2 traffic lights, then take the exit for Main Street, River Edge. Turn right onto Main Street. New Bridge Landing is located on the left side of street.

From Route 4 West, take the exit for River Edge and proceed north on Hackensack Ave through 2 traffic lights and turn right onto Main St, River Edge. New Bridge Landing is located on the left side of street.

From S. Washington Ave / Teaneck Rd, take New Bridge Road West. After crossing the Hackensack River, make a left onto Main Street. New Bridge Landing is located on the left side of street.
Close-up view below.

EVENTS:
See our events page to see schedule.

2. New Bridge (1888-89)

3. New Bridge Landing

4. Site of Zabriskie Tidemill

6. Campbell-Christie House

7. Westervelt-Thomas Barn

8. Out-kitchen

Campbell-Christie House
(201) 343-9492
1201 Main St., River Edge, NJ 07661

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1. Steuben House. Built as a five-room stone cottage in 1752 and enlarged to present size around 1767 by addition of the second story along the rear and the entire north block with its paneled parlor and bed chamber. Described in 1784 as a "Large Mansion House containing twelve rooms built with stone, with Outhouses consisting of a Bake House, Smoke House, Coach House, and two large Barns, and a Garden, Forty Acres of Land consisting of Meadow Land and two Orchards." The state of NJ presented the war-damaged house to Major-General Baron von Steuben in 1783. Steuben's aide-de-camp, Captain Benjamin Walker resided here, while Steuben made regular visits and summer retreats from his Manhattan lodgings. He sold it back to the Zabriskies in 1788.

2. New Bridge. A "New Bridge" with sliding draw was built here in 1744. Eye-witness Thomas Paine described this small bridge as "our first objective" in the American retreat from Fort Lee on November 20, 1776, memorializing the darkest hour in the hopes for American independence as the "times that try men's souls." The present Pratt-type Low Truss Swing Bridge, installed by the King Iron Bridge Co. of Cleveland using channel iron made by the Phoenix Iron Co. of Philadelphia, opened February 2, 1889. Joseph W. Stagg built the sandstone abutments. Closed to automobile traffic in 1956. Listed on NJ and National Registers as the oldest highway swing-bridge in State.

3. New Bridge Landing. A narrow mill landing, built of log cribbing in 1744, could accommodate 50-ton sloops. Iron was brought here from Ringwood and Long Pond for transshipment. Present bulkhead built shortly after completion of present bridge in 1889. It includes a V-shaped notch so that Captain D. A. Zabriskie could cradle his schooner when the tide ran out, its mast lashed to a tall pole set in the ground to keep it upright.

4. Zabriskie's Mills. Johannes Ackerman, who resided near the present intersection of Main Street and Elizabeth Court, about two blocks west, built a gristmill, 40 ft by 20 ft, containing two pairs of grinding stones in 1714. main Street was originall extended east towards the river as a mill lane. High tide was trapped in Cole's Brook behind a dam, creating an artificial pond twice daily to run the waterwheel during ebb tide. The date stone lozenge set in the south end of the Zabriskie-Steuben House depicts the tide-driven waterwheel. The mill burned down in 1852.

5. Demarest House Museum. 18th-century two-room sandstone dwelling with double front doors and distinctive spring-eave on front. Removed from original site beside French Burial Ground in New Milford in 1955-56. Displays collection of Demarest family and Bergen Dutch artifacts. Open for special events and by appointment. Owned by Blauvelt-Demarest Foundation. To see a map of original location.

6. Campbell-Christie House. Jacob Campbell, a mason, erected the oldest half of this gambrel, center-hall sandstone dwelling at the busy intersection of River Road and Henley Avenue, New Milford, in 1774. It was probably enlarged to its present dimensions just after the American Revolution (1783) , since the wooden trapezoidal lintels, painted to look like sandstone, are indicative of that time. John Chriwstie, blacksmith, purchased this house in 1795 and continued its operation as a tavern. The paneled reveals and Dutch stoop at front entrance, together with the fireplace mantles date to around 1835, when a frame kitchen wing was added. Subordinate lateral wings, generally built of contrasting material to the main block of the dwelling, are a hallmark of Bergen Dutch architecture. Moved to River Edge in 1977 by County Freeholders, it is owned by the County of Bergen and operated by the Bergen County Historical Society. Open for special events. Gift shop and rest room. To see a map of original location. Now located at 1201 Main St., River Edge, NJ 07661.

7. Westervelt-Thomas Barn. Built 1889 by Peter J. Westervelt on his farm on Ridgewood Road, Washington Township. Henry Thomas purchased farm in 1906. Donated to BCHS and relocated in 1958.

8. Out-Kitchen. Authentic out-kitchen built by BCHS in 1990, using antique materials, replicating John R. Demarest Out-Kitchen in Demarest. Includes beehive oven and smoke room. These separate kitchen structures kept the heat of cooking out of the main dwelling during summer and prevented oven fires (unfortunately all too frequent) from involving the loss of the family's residence. The smoke room at the rear sheltered the beehive oven, protecting its plastered brick dome from the elements, since it was prone to cracking from repeated heating and cooling. Heat retained by the bricks, after the wood fire was raked out, did the baking. As the oven slowly cooled, it was necessary to efficiently use the heat, first baking bread, then pies, cakes, pastries and puddings.

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