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| | Historic New Bridge Landing: Can We Profit from the Past Through Heritage Tourism?
Sometimes a simple question has a simple answer: What heritage tourist attraction—other than the Baron von Steuben House at Historic New Bridge Landing—holds even equal potential to put River Edge, New Milford, Teaneck and Hackensack on the map and to attract a steady flow of local, regional, national and international visitors, not only to the site itself, but to local businesses? If I owned a fine or fast food restaurant, a shop or gas station, or even property within easy traveling distance of New Bridge, I’d be shouting for its success.
Click here to see BLOG post. | |  | |
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| The Bergen County Historical Society is raising $350,000 to construct a first-rate museum building and library on the Society’s property at Historic New Bridge Landing. Why donate to BCHS?
We don't receive public operating grants the way other groups do. We rely on private donations, membership and
volunteer efforts. Donate a George for a George.  In the American Revolution, New Bridge served as a battleground, encampment ground, military headquarters and intelligence gathering post throughout the war. The Steuben House served as Gen. Washington's headquarters in 1780. NJ presented the Steuben House in 1783 to Baron von Steuben for his services during the war. BCHS opens HNBL & the Steuben House for special events. The Steuben House has not been open regular hours since the April '07 nor'easter. The Steuben House lost the curator position even though attendance was higher than ANY other NJ State Historic House Museum – including Ringwood Manor. (!?!?)
Record Article 4/24/2011 Re: Steuben House Funding Would you like to receive our email news & events? Sign up here.
We have over 1029 email blasts going out to an interested history constituency. | | | | | | |
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BCHS Mobile Phone Walking Tour of HNBL now available!
For use on any "smart phone". QR code for BCHS Mobile App Walking Tour of HNBL Introducing the new handy Historic New Bridge Landing Walking Tour Mobile App -- for use on any smart phone. The tour begins with the HNBL Map image (numbered) with corresponding numbered link list: Prehistory, Steuben Hs, New Bridge, New Bridge Landing, Tidemill, Demarest Hs Museum, Campbell-Christie Hs, Barn, Brett Park, Out Kitchen, The Meadow, Museum & Library, I Spy Hunt for Kids. I've included a short history, photos & images of each important site feature at HNBL. Additional history links are at the bottom of each page. For example; "The Steuben Hs in the Rev War" or "Did Steuben really live here?" This the first NJ historic site mobile app walking tour. The code I used advertised it had "enabled assistive technologies." If anyone has ability to test on such software please advise on how well works. I can update as needed, no printing costs. It is estimated by one tech watcher that 70% of US will have a "smart phone" by 2014. A QR code (s short-cut web link for mobile phones via bar code) is now on HNBL site kiosks and BCHS website. To scan a QR code you need to first download the QR code app reader on to your phone. The reader I use was free through iTunes. -- D. Powell | | | | | | | | |
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|  | | Walking Tour of Historic New Bridge Landing
Map and history of HNBL, BCHS collections . 504k file size pdf. | | | |  | | | | | | | | |
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|  | | | |  | | | Thomas Gorden wrote in 1834, “There are few spots in New Jersey presenting more pleasing attractions than this country above the Hackensack, and on the highlands on each side of the river. The houses, built in the ancient Dutch cottage form, of one full story, with its projecting pent houses, and dormitories within the slopes of the roof, are sometimes large, always painted white, and surrounded with verdant lawns, shrubbery, and well-cultivated gardens. And we may here remark, that the taste for horticulture and ornamental shrubberies, appears more general in the central and northern parts of New Jersey, than in the southern parts, or in the state of Pennsylvania.”
In 1982, 195 of the surviving Jersey Dutch sandstone houses were listed through a Thematic Nomination of Early Stone Houses of Bergen County in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. BCHS trustee emeritus Claire K. Tholl completed the field work for the survey. The houses are found throughout Bergen County and most are still privately owned. Many have a BCHS Blue Marker. Photo BCHS collections. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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|  | | | | Crossing at New Bridge, Washington saved his army from its certain defeat in November 1776, inspiring Thomas Paines' American Crisis. "Our first object was to secure the bridge over the Hackensack, which laid up the river between the enemy and us..." 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. Washington headquartered here in 1780, Thomas Paine, Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Baron von Steuben, Major General Marie Joseph du Motier, Marquis de LaFayette, Major General Nathanael Greene, Major General Anthony Wayne, Royal Governor William Franklin, Founding Fathers Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, Lt. Col. Henry Lee, Capt. John Outwater, Major John Andre, Lt. General Sir Henry Clinton, Lieutenant General Charles Lord Cornwallis, Major General Charles Grey, Capt. Patrick Ferguson, Col. Francis Lord Rawdon, Lt. Col. Stephen Kemble, Capt. Johann Ewald, Brigadier General Cortland Skinner, Lt. James Moody were all at New Bridge during the American Revolution. Per Military Historian Todd Braisted. | | | | | | | | |
History of Baron von Steuben at New Bridge
The Steuben House is the only extant 18th century building that Steuben owned.
Only a year and seven months after the defeated British Army evacuated New York City, John Zabriskie, the once prosperous merchant of New Bridge and a Half-pay Captain in service to the British Crown, showed no outward hesitation in celebrating the ninth anniversary of American Independence. His guest was a true Revolutionary War hero, Baron von Steuben, even though (or perhaps because) this renowned German mercenary inconveniently possessed the Zabriskie family's estate under the cursed Confiscation Law. John’s situation was awkward to say the least when he hosted General Steuben and his entourage at New Bridge on the Fourth of July, 1785. Lieutenant Colonel William North, Steuben’s friend and former aide-de-camp, described the uneasy proceedings at the Zabriskie-Steuben House in River Edge in a 1786 journal he kept of a trip to Ohio. According to North, Hackensack was then “A small Town or Village inhabited by Dutchmen, the chief of whom is John Zabrisky: This fellow, with all the stupidity & meanness of a common Dutchman, pretends to be descended in a right line from John [Sobieski], King of Poland [1629-1696]. The following anecdote will give an idea of this Prince. General Steuben arrived at Hackinsack on the evening of a 4th of July. Bonfires blazed, the Bell rung and all was festivity and mirth; This Baron was a guest Zabrisky wished might be seen at his home—he invited him and myself, all the town were sent for, they came, drank, smoked and went away. A Bill was presented to & paid by the Baron for all the wine drank by the herd—The Tavern keeper observing that a Mr. Zabrisky had sent for the wine & it might be charged to the General.” - Kevin Wright  Baron von Steuben "thoroughly rebuilt" the large stone house on Main street, River Edge, that now bears his name, forever marking his association with one of NJ's most beloved landmarks. | | |
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| | |  | | The BCHS purchased 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.
BCHS was able to persuade County officials to divert the planned 1956 bridge & 4-lane road expansion to the north of site by donating BCHS land, thus saving the Steuben House and old 1889 swing bridge from being eclipsed and obliterated by a highway. | | | | Rollover photo from when the junkyard was being cleared. Photo taken 02-11-07. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | The Bergen County Historical Society (BCHS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer organization, promotes preservation, study and appreciation of civil, political, military and the general history of the United States of America, particularly of Bergen County. Beginning in 1939, our museum collections were displayed at the Steuben House, a State Historic Site. The house is now open for special events. Membership Application. The Campbell-Christie & Demarest Houses and Barn are located on Bergen County Historical Society land. BCHS operates the historic house museum and provides programing at Historic New Bridge Landing. Other activities include placement of informative roadside historic BLUE markers, educational events, museum exhibits, monthly lectures, and a library collection. We are not a government agency and do not receive any public operating grants or funds, we rely on private donations and membership. For a more complete description of BCHS.
Are you a member? Here's how to join. We now offer to members 3 library queries per year, see Research Request.
BCHS Board 2010-2011. Visit the Historic New Bridge Landing Park Commission's website. HNBLPC is an example of public/private stewardship and continues the protection of this NJ cultural landmark/resource. BCHS is proud to be a member and lead force for preservation. | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |  | | | | The Bergen Dutch were an agricultural community who settled and farmed the valleys of the Hackensack, Saddle and Passaic Rivers, beginning in 1640. The Steuben House, 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. Shown here: This is 1760's era French Musket, probably of Charleville manufacture, confirmed by Don Troiani, military expert and artist. The musket was pulled out of the Hackensack River in 1903 by a nine year old boy who was fishing from the New Bridge 1889 bridge. It is full-cocked, ready for firing. The rollover image is close up of the trigger. The gun measures 57". Now on display at the Steuben House. Thousands of these guns were shipped to the colonies, obtained from the French in support of the American Cause. Todd Briasted provided advice and contact to Don Troiani. | |  | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | The 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. Don't miss this important BCHS resource!
Please join us. The more participants, the better! To contact BCHS, email us to below address.
contact@bergencountyhistory.org | | | | |  | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | |  | | | | | | | 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. Our Library Collection has moved to a new location. When we will return to our regular schedule: Open every Wednesday, 12-5:30 pm and the 4th Friday of the month from 7-10 pm and by appointment. Contact: thebchslibrary@gmail.com Check back here the latest & greatest updates. Library use is available for free to BCHS members. Fee for non-members. We have a new research policy, please see the library webpage for more info.
Research articles of interest - Please remember to obey US copyright laws. The articles below have been previously published in BCHS newsletters. | | | |  | | | | | | | | | BCHS Newsletter – Fall 2011
561k (pdf) Download for free here. Hard copy mailed to BCHS members. Here's a high res version - 2.4 mg | | | | BCHS Newsletter – Fall 2010
1.1 mg (pdf) BCHS Newsletter February 2010
Demarest House Museum History, Demarests at New Bridge, 1781, Historic Flag Project, A Century Ago, Charles Livingston Bull, 907k pdf BCHS Newsletter – Spring/Summer 2009
1.1 mg (pdf) BCHS Newsletter – Early Winter 2008
1.1 mg pdf BCHS Newsletter – Spring 2008 (pdf) HNBL Train Stop, Outhouse History, Bergen Trolley, A Century Ago, Colonial-era Broadside 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 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| BCHS 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. | | | |  | | | | How to get to us and when we're open | | |  | | | | Publication Available!
"1609: A Country That Was Never Lost".
Through these pages readers step back in time for a visit with ancient Algonquian and Iroquoian communities of Native Americans, including the original Manhattans, the Minisinks of Bachom's Country, the Lenape of the Schuylkill estuary, the Mahicans, Susquehannocks, Mohawks and others whose names have been lost in the mists of time. Available in our gift shop. | | | | 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. | | |  | Historic New Bridge Landing Location | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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Website created and maintained by Deborah Powell, contact: contactBCHS@bergencountyhistory.org
I will forward questions to be answered by all-volunteer organization. This site updated 02/2/2012
Albert Dib created and maintains the BCHS message board.
Painting of site by L.Feigel. Painting of Retreat by B.Spencer Newman.
All text by Kevin Wright unless otherwise noted. All photos by D. Powell unless otherwise noted. This website was first created in 1996 and is made possible by donations to BCHS. Bergen County Historical Society
P.O. Box 55, River Edge, New Jersey 07661 • www.bergencountyhistory.org
(201) 343-9492 | |
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