Torrential Rains Flood Bedminster's Vanderveer House

Vanderveer Knox House and Museum Survives Well but Basement Floods

Sunday, March 14, 2010 - Volunteers were all ready to showcase the historic Vanderveer House for its new monthly open house schedule only to be thwarted by Mother Nature and her wrath of rain and wind. Torrential downpours, and a consistent two day nor’easter which dumped over 6.75 inches of rain in nearby Long Hill, flooded the basement of the Jacobus Vanderveer House forcing the volunteers to close the house.

On Sunday, March 14, 2010, volunteers were all ready to open the Vanderveer / Knox House & Museum for its first regularly scheduled monthly opening when they were greeted by a triggered alarm system indicating a problem in the house.  After searching the house and finding nothing wrong, there was a suggestion to check the basement. What they found was a basement with over fourteen inches of water. “We looked at each other with amazement, “noted Robin Ray, a volunteer at the Vanderveer House. “I thought maybe there was a little water down there but we had no idea it was that bad.”

The basement of the Vanderveer House is separated into two sections. One is the older foundation supporting the 1770’s section of the house, and a newer 2007 section supporting a welcome center known as “the kitchen wing” section of the museum.  Luckily, the older section was damp, but had no water in the area that holds the furnace and basement HVAC system. “Guess they just knew how to build things back then,” noted Karen Mlynarksi, who was opening the house for the day. “I'm so glad that there wasn’t much in the older basement area.”

After visits from Bedminster Township’s Public Works, the pumps were reset, the drainage pipes were extended further away from the house, and the water began draining at about two inches an hour. “It looked as though the rain just overloaded the sump pumps in the basement but we’re not really sure what happened. Our first priority is to get the water out,” noted Jay Petrillo, a Board of Trustee for the Friends of the Vanderveer House. “We have a double pump system, a battery backup, alarm system, and a moisture sensor. It certainly looks like we’ll have to revisit our systems after we get the water out.”

The Friends of the Vanderveer House plan to have the house and museum ready for its next scheduled opening set for April . The Vanderveer / Knox House and Museum is now open on the second Sunday of each month. For additional details you can call 908 - 212 - 7000 ext. 611.

 

Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
Brooks Betz