The old photograph of the unidentified stone house behind a fence, which Tim posted, is the Old Brownstone Tavern that formerly stood on Kinderkamack Road in River Edge. The earliest owner of the property was Daniel River (Ravard), a French Huguenot, who apparently resided on his 260 acres at Steenrapie until at least 1702. The tract was sold to Albert Romeyn before 1719. An early stone house, known today only from this single photograph taken before 1896, was the Redstone Tavern, built in 1719 on the west side of Kinderkamack Road. It stood partly in what is now Tenney Avenue, directly in front of the River Edge Borough Hall. Carved diamond-shaped stones were set in the wall on both sides of the front door: one bearing the date 1719 and the initials ARMIR (Albert RoMeyn and his wife Jannetie Roelofse Westervelt, married at Hackensack in 1710) and the other carved with Masonic emblems. The south room included a large fireplace and a narrow stairway into the garret. Ancient bricks from this fireplace were sold as relics for the benefit of the new Congregational Church on Continental Avenue when the old house was torn down in November 1896. An iron fire-back (a decorative sheet of iron placed at the back of a fireplace to protect the bricks from the great heat of the fire) in the old Redstone Tavern depicted the story of David and Goliath. On March 9, 1744, Albert Romeyn was listed on a road return for what is now Main Street, River Edge, and was apparently still residing at Steenrapie. As late as July 3, 1766, when David Demarest and his wife, Catherine Secor, sold 47 acres lying north of this tract of land, Albert Romine was listed as the neighboring property owner. However, Erskine Map #113 indicates that the Romine dwelling and lot of land was occupied in 1778 by Gabriel Heymer.
