Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) about the Jacobus Vandeveer House, the Museum, and the Pluckemin Artillery Encampment.
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- How can I visit the Jacobus Vanderveer House?
- Who owns or operates Vanderveer House?
- How did Vanderveer House come to be preserved?
- What is the historic significance of Vanderveer House?
- What is the architectural significance of Vanderveer House?
- Is Vanderveer House on the State Register of Historic Places?
- What will be interpreted when Vanderveer House open as a museum?
- Who is expected to visit the museum?
- How do we know Henry and Lucy Knox actually lived at Vanderveer House?
- Is it true that to celebrate the ball, Knox had his men build a Greek temple 100 feet in length up on the Artillery Park site?
- Today, is there anything left of the temple, the artillery academy, and officers’ headquarters that tourists might see?
- Will there be more renovation to Vanderveer House or reconstruction on the house site?
- How can one become a volunteer at Vanderveer House or get more information about the Friends of Jacobus Vanderveer House?
A: The 1772-era house is not yet open as a museum, so there are no regular hours. However, the house is always open to visitors the second weekend of October for Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission’s Weekend Journey Through the Past. The house is open free to visitors Saturday and Sunday on that weekend. We are open the first weekend in December every year when The Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House put on the Colonial Christmas show house and tour. It starts Friday in the morning and ends Sunday afternoon. There is always a large cocktail party Friday evening for patrons. Other openings include the Heritage Trail Association’s 5 Generals’ Tour every other year in February and Bedminster Township’s Fall Fest on a Saturday in September.
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A: It is owned by the Township of Bedminster but operated by The Friends of Jacobus Vanderveer House, a New Jersey non-profit corporation with a board of 24 members. Each member serves a three-year term. A Township Committee member sits on the board, as does a representative from the township’s Historic Commission.
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A: The house was acquired by Bedminster Township in 1989 when it bought the 100-acre River Road Park tract under Green Acres. The residence was rented to tenants until the township believed it was unsafe, and plans were made to tear it down. In 1994, the Township Historic Commission stepped in to save the structure. In 1997, the commission hired an architect to prepare drawings for a proposed restoration and in the same year gave the go ahead for demolition of buildings surrounding the house that were thought to be of a later period. In 1999, The Friends of Jacobus Vanderveer House assumed full responsibility for the restoration, interpretation, funding, and administration of the house.
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A: The house was built in 1772 by Jacobus Vanderveer, who later changed his name to James. He was the younger son of a wealthy Dutch miller, and his father and brothers lived and worked nearby. Jacobus married Mariah Hardenbergh, the daughter of Jacob Ruten Hardenbergh, minister of the Dutch Reformed Churches in Bedminster, North Branch, Neshanic, Raritan, and Millstone. The couple was setting up its household against the backdrop of increasing hostilities between England and the Colonies, so the house may have been scaled back with the understanding that when the hostilities were over it could be expanded as needed. In early 1778 Vanderveer was approached to lend the residence to Gen. Henry Knox, who was coming from Boston to command a new artillery encampment and training academy that the Revolutionary Armies were setting up on the mountain high above the village of Pluckemin. Knox and his wife Lucy occupied the house until June or July 1779. Although the artillery park and its academy, the forerunner of West Point, no longer remain, Vanderveer House is the only building extant from that period. It is a priceless piece of 18th century history.
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A: Vanderveer House is fine example of vernacular Dutch-American architecture modified and enlarged in the federal period. The main block of the house, built in 1772, is a representative 18th century Dutch dwelling with mud walls, sturdy wooden beams, and fireplaces tiled in Delft from Holland. It was extended to the east in 1813, three years after the death of Jacobus Vanderveer, and has the classic federal style.
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A: It is, and not only that, Vanderveer House was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 after nationally known historian Constance Greiff conducted research on the house.
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A: Slated to open in 2009, the museum will interpret both Dutch colonial life in America and the stay by Gen. Knox and his family as well as the importance of Pluckemin Artillery Park. To that end, the museum will have a rotating display of the 190,000-plus artifacts found during an archaeological dig at the artillery park site from 1979 to 1989. These artifacts are currently being examined and catalogued before being put on display. Many believe information gathered from these artifacts may influence the way historians interpret the condition of General Washington’s army during this phase of the war. In addition to displaying the artifacts, The Friends of Jacobus Vanderveer House will furnish the four period rooms as they would have looked while occupied by the Knox and Vanderveer families at the time of the Revolution. Extensive research is now being conducted into the profile and style of Vanderveer furnishings, including a ledger from the old Boylan Store in Pluckemin that lists purchases made by the Vanderveers.
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A: Mostly school groups, local residents, and serious students of American military history. The museum will be a premier site in the new Crossroads of the American Revolution national heritage area being planned in New Jersey. There are 24 other sites in the heritage area, and tourists will most likely follow a special route linking all 25 that is being developed by the National Park Service. The route will include restaurants, hotels, and other places of interest.
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A: We cannot say with absolute certainty that the Knoxes lived in the house during Knox’s command of Artillery Park. There was another house across the road owned by Jacobus’s brother, Elias. This house was dismantled and is now at East Jersey Olde Towne in Piscataway. However, a 19th century history of Somerset County identifies Vanderveer House as the residence of General Knox. And Knox’s infant daughter is buried in the Jacobus Vanderveer plot at the cemetery to the north of the house. There are accounts of a Feb. 18, 1779 ball presided over by General and Mrs. Knox that was planned at Vanderveer House.
This spectacular ball commemorated the first anniversary of the alliance between the United States and France. General-in-chief George Washington was there, as were all the principal officers of army. So were Martha Washington, local gentry, and a vast concourse of spectators from every part of New Jersey. Artillery, much of it captured from the British at Fort Ticonderoga, was displayed for all to inspect, and entertainment was provided by General Knox and the officers of the artillery corps at the academy. The celebration started at 4 p.m., marked by a discharge of 13 cannons. The company and invited guests then sat down to dinner in the academy. After dinner, there were spectacular fireworks over Schley Mountain. When the fire-works were finished, the ball began, which was opened by Washington and his partner, Lucy Knox.
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A: Yes, and there are drawings that still exist of the temple. It was 100 feet long and proportionately high. The temple showed 13 arches, each displaying an illuminated painting. The center arch was ornamented with a pediment larger than any of the others, and the whole edifice was supported by a colonnade of the Corinthian order.
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A: All vestiges of the Pluckemin Artillery Park have disappeared, but the public may be able to visit the site one day if the state and the township permit a physical link between the artillery park site and the house. As of now, the park site – owned by the Township of Bedminster – can be accessed only through private property belonging to The Hills housing development. The state has just named the area to the Register of Historic Places to preserve it in perpetuity, and the National Park Service is expected to place it on the National Register of Historic Places by March 2008.
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A: Vanderveer House is complete with its new kitchen wing and visitor center built during 2006 and 2007 and dedicated in November 2007. The construction cost $350,000. By the 2012, the property will include historically appropriate landscaped grounds, a reconstructed multi-purpose barn, and other outbuildings and visitor amenities such as freestanding toilet facilities and adequate parking. A large township-owned tract to the north of the house may also become a part of the grounds. This would be fenced and cleared, to be used for future historic re-enactments, military parades, and even recreation and hiking. A path currently exists across this land connecting Vanderveer House with the Bedminster Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery. It is in this historic cemetery where the Vanderveers are buried along with Julia Knox, the infant daughter of Gen. Henry Knox, who died in 1779.
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A: Docents and volunteers are eagerly sought. Training is provided. Sign up by calling 908-212-7000, ext. 611, and leaving your name, address, telephone number, and email contact. Do the same to receive the Friends of Jacobus Vanderveer House’s bi-annual newsletter, called The Cannon.
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