Jersey City and Its Historic SitesEaton, Harriet Phillips
History
Jersey City and Its Historic Sites
Eaton, Harriet Phillips
Jersey City (N.J.) -- History
The other old houses that are left date from the early part of the
present century. The Van Reypen house, 201 Academy street, a little
west of the site of the original house built in 1660-61, was built in
1802. The Sip house on the corner of Bergen avenue and Newkirk street,
which, like the Van Reypen house has sheltered four generations, is
probably about the same age. The Van Horn house near Philip street,
fronting the New York Bay, was built in 1804, on the site of an earlier
house. It was here that Washington Irving wrote his "Knickerbocker
History of New York," and it is to this house he refers in his sketch
of "the House of the Four Chimneys." It has been remodelled, but the
lower portion remains not greatly changed. 631 Bergen avenue was built
in 1805, a square two-story brick and stone house, with an extension
at one side. The old tree which formerly stood in front of this house,
about which were clustered many stories connected with Washington, was
an English elm and probably set out about the time that the house was
built.
Then there are the Newkirk houses, built by the two families of that
name. The one on Newkirk street and Tuers avenue, a little northeast of
the site of the original house, was built in 1810. In the parlor is the
high, carved wooden mantle, and the wide hall has the Dutch half doors,
although the upper and lower portions are now nailed together. It is
said that the father of the present owner, Mr. Gerritt Newkirk, who
died in 1893, shot in Greenville, in 1873, the last wild deer seen in
Hudson County. The house 52 Sip avenue was built by Mr. John Newkirk,
on part of the Newkirk farm. The stone house at 36 Church street was
built in 1829, by a member of this family, Mr. Henry Newkirk. The other
Newkirk family built the old house on the east side of Bergen avenue,
between Magnolia avenue and the bridge, also the house on the southwest
corner of Bergen and Jewett avenues, which has been remodelled and is
now one of the prettiest houses in Bergen.
Another very interesting old house which has been remodelled is the
Halmagh Van Houten house, west of the reservoir, on Summit avenue
near Germania street. On the southeast corner of Bergen Square stands
the DeMott house, still in most excellent condition. The old house on
the southwest corner of Glenwood and Bergen avenues, was built about
seventy-five years ago by Mr. George Tise, upon the site of the old
Stuyvesant tavern, largely of the material of the former building; in
the rear wall is the date stone of the old house, marked "P. S. 1762."
This house was a tavern within the memory of comparatively young
people and was quite celebrated for the good dinners and suppers served
there. Fricasseed snapping turtle and roast pig were among the choice
dishes. The barns and sheds were on what is now the opposite corner of
Glenwood avenue, and here, the people who came from a distance, put up
their teams during the Sunday services.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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