Transcription
“In The Ramapos”
by
Evelin Armstrong Struble
A TRUE STORY OF THE TERHUNES AND THE LITTLE TOWN THEY LOVED
[title page]
[handwritten]
Magorie B. Nehrich
22 Academy Ave.
Chester, N.Y. 10918
"In The Ramapos"
by
Evelin Armstrong Struble
© EVELIN ARMSTRONG STRUBLE - 1966
A TRUE STORY OF THE TERHUNES AND THE LITTLE TOWN THEY LOVED
[preface]
Information about the Terhune Family has been taken from articles, written by Evelin Armstrong Struble under her pen name of "Susan Royal", and previously published in series form in the Suburban Trends Newspaper, Route 23, Riverdale, N. J.
[dedication]
This book is lovingly dedicated to my husband, Vincent, whose assistance in obtaining material has been invaluable; and to our two wonderful sons, Michael and Jim.
[page 1]
The puppy's howls of pain broke the stillness of the summer day, as the small boy calmly swung it back and forth by its long floppy ears.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, the child's father appeared, an~ without speaking, picked his young son up by the ears and swung him back and forth, twice.
Still not speaking, the man set the boy down, and left him there with tears flowing and rage in his heart.
The outraged little boy was Albert Payson Terhune, and the Rev. Dr: Edward Payson Terhune had just taught his young son more about kmdness to animals than a lengthy lecture could have.
Bert Terhune, noted author, breeder of thoroughbred collies, and lover of all wildlife remembered well the lesson learned that summer s ay on the Terhune homestead.
_The homestead was such a lovely place, with its forty acres of wooded mountains, meadows and lakefront. The rambling house sat on a gr~ssy plateau above the blue waters of Pompton Lake, in Wayne Township, New Jersey. A house of native oak whose solid beams would defy the bite of today's axe blade.
The natural beauty of the spot had attracted the Reverend and his wife, the former Mary Virgima Hawes, when they were visiting Pompton in the 1850's.
While riding near the lake one day, they chanced upon the property; and the beauty of the' great expanse of forest that ended at the lake front, captured their hearts at once.
The sound of axes drew them from the twisting trail above, to a group of men who were busily chopping down some beautiful old oak trees on the hillside, and Edward Terhune gave the men a dollar to stop work while he hunted up the owner.
Within an hour, the property was his, and the destruction of the mighty oaks was halted.
A few weeks after the purchase of the property, workmen had broken ground for the foundations of the Terhune home, and were hewing beams and joists from the fallen trees. That was the birth of
Sunnybank" ... home of the Terhunes for over a century.
The name of Terhune has come down through the years since Albert Albertse, an immigrant Huguenot, founded the Terhune family m America in 1642.
Albert Albertse, son of Albert, was probably born circa 1619, and came from Hunen ( Huynen), Holland in 1642. He was the sixth-great-grandfather of author Albert Payson Terhune . . . the small boy who was swung by his ears that summer day at Sunnybank.
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The first record of Albert Albertse in America is in New Amsterdam (New York) where in February 1654 he was carrying on his trade as a ribbon weaver.
In 1657 he rented and cultivated a farm in New Utrecht, Long Island. There he built a rude home, consisting of a dugout cellar covered with a heavy thatch of rye straw, but the shelter was considered unsafe from Indian attacks, and the Albertse family was forced to move into the village of New Utrecht where Albert became the owner of one of the first 12 houses built in the village.
The same year, Albert bought land in the village of Flatlands.
In 1664 he sold the lease of his New Utrecht farm, and the following year purchased more land in Flatlands.
About ten years later, Albert joined with others in the purchase of the Aquaekanock (Passaick) Patent of five thousand acres of land on the Passaic River in Bergen County, East New Jersey; and this purchase was the beginning of the settlement that resulted in the town of Hackensack.
The Albertse family settled then in Polifly ( later known as Hasbrouck Heights) and while there, took the name of Terhune. Probably from the name of Hurren in Holland, making it Albert from Hurren, or Albert Terhune.
Abraham Terhune, great-grandfather of author Albert Payson Terhune, was an officer of the American army m the Revolutionary War, serving as Lieutenant, and had command of his company at the battle of Springfield, Union County, N. J., June 23, 1780. He was also with George Washington at Valley Forge, and at Newburgh, New York.
Lieutenant Terhune was said to have greatly resembled George Washington in looks and figure, and as a member of Washington's bodyguard he is seen in Emanuel Leutze's famous painting of "Washington Crossing The Delaware". Abraham is pulling the starboard bow oar, nearest the viewer, and it was he who gave the artist a description of the eventful crossing; and Emanuel Leutze painted him in the same position he had occupied that night of December 25, 1776 in Washington's scow.
Abraham was only twenty at the time of the crossiing, and had not yet gained his lieutenancy. He was a giant of a man, with splendid physique.
Abraham's great-grandson, the author, evidently inherited some of his great-grandfather's physical traits; since he, too, was a giant of a man ... a splendid athlete.
Albert Payson Terhune's first memory of Sunnybank was a ride on "Hunter", his father's chestnut stallion. With his father behind him in the saddle, the small boy was so impressed with his first ride, that it was indelibly imprinted on his mind.
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Years later, as a man, he could recall the feel of the animal's body moving beneath him, and remembered the great distance from the stallion's back to the ground. Though not yet three years old, the experience left such an impression that he even remembered the way his brown knees stuck out from beneath his little white dress.
His second memory, of Sunnybank, was seeing his mother and father walking slowly through the rose garden, towards the blue waters of Pompton Lake; and of telling his nurse-maid, Rose O'Neill, that God was walking between them.
Bert had been told how God had walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and to the small boy the beautiful rose-garden, at the Terhune homestead, was that same garden.
In 1876 Bert's mother became very ill with tuberculosis and was given three months to live.
Rev. Terhune took his wife and family to Italy to live, hoping that the wonderful climate would cure her lung trouble.
Though Bert was just four years old, his young mind retained the memory of seeing King Victor Emanuel ride by with Crown Prmcess Margharita, Crown Prince Humbert, and Humbert's young son. He recalled also, seeing a short, stout man, with a beard ride by, and had been told that this was the great Giuseppe Garibaldi.
It is interesting to note that when Bert Terhune was twenty-one, he re-visited Italy, and again saw Humbert and Margharita; but this time they rode by in the royal carriage as King Humbert and Queen Margharita.
(In 1900 King Humbert was assassinated by an anarchist, named Gaetano Bresci, of Paterson, New Jersey; a city Just a short distance from Sunnybank.
Bresci, a silk weaver, quit his job in a Paterson mill to return to his native land to kill the king whom he considered a tyrant. For months the Paterson Anarchist had practiced target shooting in his backyard until he became an excellent marksman.
On July 29, 1900, as King Humbert was awarding medals at an Athletic Meet at Monza Italy he was assassinated by Bresci, who was thrown in prison and tortured. To escape the unbearable torture, Bresci hanged himself ten months later with a rope made from torn strips of his underwear.)
Bert's mother's health improved in Italy, and within two years the illness that had threatened her life was conquered, and the family returned to America, and Pompton, N. J.
Once again Bert could run and play on the lawns of the homestead. Great lawns of velvety green carpeting that sloped down to meet the sparkling blue waters of the lake.
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The rambling house nestled amongst the ancient oaks . . . oaks that had been spared from the woodsmen's axes by the Reverend that day in the 1850's.
The house that had begun with eleven rooms, and ended with sixteen, was almost hidden from view by the wisteria vines that covered it. Wisteria vines, planted at the edge of the veranda by Bert's grandmother when his mother and father first built Sunnybank.
Vines that framed the windows, and bathed the house in a lavender glow when in blossom.
Bert was glad to be home again and spent many happy hours with his father . . . fishing, rowing on the lake, and hiking in the Ramapo Mountains.
He learned to shoot a gun when he was so small that he could scarcely hold it to his shoulder, and learned to row when he was so young that he had to stand to get the full sweep of the oars.
The Reverend was pastor of a Dutch Reformed Church in Newark, New Jersey, a city some twenty miles away; and drove back and forth behind a pair of spirited horses.
In 1878, Reverend Terhune was called to the Old First Congregational Church in Springfield, Massachusetts; and for awhile his family remained at Sunnybank, with the reverend returning home once a week. However, later the family moved up to Springfield and lived at 151 Maple Street for five years; going back to Sunnybank every summer.
It was in Springfield that Bert and Annis Morris Stockton first met, and her first sight of him was in his father's church.
He was a solemn grey-eyed boy, who sat there drawing pictures with pencil and paper furnished by his mother. At other times the boy, with his brown face contrasting sharply with his broad white collar and red Windsor tie, sat and chewed the brim of his straw hat. That is ... until his mother gave the hat an alum bath!
Anice and Bert became good friends and played together during the Terhune's stay in Springfield; although dainty little Anice did not approve of the boyish pranks he indulged in with other boys. Boyish pranks brought on by his interest in reading.
Between the years of six< and twelve, Bert delved deep into the b_ook~ of his father's library; · and without knowing that he was getting mto the classics, he waded through books that few youngsters ever open. Shakespeare, Longfellow, Scott, Bryant, Tennyson and others.
You would think that this type of literature would have helped Bert develop along the proper lines, but he was known throughout the district as a troublesome boy. A ringleader of a gang that made itself as distasteful as possible to the community.
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As the leader he led the boys on twilight raids, trying to duplicate the acts that he had read about. The feats of Falstaff, Prince Hal, and Robinhood stirred the boy's imagination.
The "robbing" that the boys did was of clotheslines to be used for lariats, and clothespoles for lances, or they raided the orchards in the district. As some of Robinhood's men they broke windows of supposedly "robber barons", for which Bert's father received bills for damage done.
It was just before the Terhune family left Springfield in 1884, to go to Brooklyn, New York where the Reverend had been called, that a resident had Bert arrested for ruining his wife's bedsheets. Bert had tried to change the woman's sheets into pirate flags, as they hung on her clothesline, by throwing tomatoes and ink at them.
The only admirers of the band of boys were the small girls of the neighborhood however there was one little girl who did not share their admiration. Little Anice, the smallest and prettiest of them all.
Anice was the youngest pupil at Miss Kimball's School, on Mulben:y Street, that Bert attended before entering Blake's Military Institute for boys, and Bert did not know how to act with her. So, he alternated between bragging and becoming sheepish in her presence.
For all his boyish pranks, he showed little Anice a different type of boy . . . a gentler boy.
The troublesome streak persisted, though, and before leaving Sprmgf1eld, Bert climbed to the belfry of his father's church and stole fourteen of the white pigeons that roosted there. He said that he wanted them to have a home at Sunnybank, and didn't feel that he was stealing because, since it was his father's church, the pigeons must be his father's too.
The Reverend and the sexton of the church judged Bert, and allowed him. to keep the pigeons, and by 1934 there were seventy snow-white pigeons fluttering over the Terhune homestead at Pompton.
Yes, it was in Springfield that Bert got into more trouble than durmg the rest of his life.
When his first book was published, at nearly twenty-three years of age, a Sprmgfield newspaper prefaced their review of his work with the words "Bert Terhune is remembered by the people of this city as the worst boy we ever had here . . . now he has written a book".
Leaving Springfield in 1884, the Terhune family moved to Brooklyn, N. Y. Where the Reverend had been called to the First Reformed Church, an enormous red brick structure in the Eastern district.
The church was run down, in debt, and the congregation had dwindled to almost nothing. It took six years of hard work to build it up again, but the reverend succeeded, though it broke his health.
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In 1890 he was called to the Puritan Church on Marcy and Lafayette Avenues in Brooklyn, and after five successful years there, retired from regular pastoral service at the age of sixty-four; and returned to Sunnybank to live year around, instead of just spending the summers on the homestead.
Reverend Terhune and his wife had many friends from all fields of life. The clergyman knew and loved Abraham Lincoln. He knew Ulysses Grant and James Blaine, and an endless list of noted persons.
The Reverend's wife, who was an authoress, knew persons in the literary world and music world, and was famous for the gatherings she held.
Mrs. Terhune often told her children how Edgar Allen Poe had visited her parents home when she was a little girl, and the pride in her voice told them of the great honor it had been for her.
The Terhunes had five other children besides Bert. There were Edward Hawes, Christina, Alice Hawes, Virginia Belle, and Myrtle.
When the family had moved from Massachusetts, Christina, who had married a Mr. Herrick, stayed on in Springfield.
In 1889, when the Reverend was still pastor of the Brooklyn First Reformed Church in the Eastern District, Bert entered Columbia University in New York City, from which he graduated in 1893.
During Bert's Junior year at the university, he began to write when he entered, and won, a contest for the best short story by an undergraduate. His father had wanted him to become a clergyman, and his mother had always wanted him to become a lawyer; but early in life Bert made up his mind that, although he did not know what he wanted to become, it would be neither of those two professions,
It was during those years in Brooklyn that Bert learned to fence, and to box. He loved boxing, and received lessons from Professor Mc Dermott ( the "Daddy of footwork") three times a week, for years.
Long summers were spent at Sunnybank, and Bert often ran up on weekends during the winter months.
As a college boy, he used to do his vacation studying in the woods where he had rigged up a hammock in a secluded spot. From his secret "study" he could look down through the trees to view the cool blue waters of Pompton Lake. A quiet, ideal spot, beautified by Mother Nature.
On his way to his private studying place, Bert always picked apples from the orchard as he passed through, to help "lighten" his scholastic work.
It was there, in his secret spot, that he became acquainted with three little red squirrels. They were timid at first, and would climb onto the branches above and chatter away at him; then, becoming
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bolder, would creep very carefully down the tree trunk until quite close to the boy before scampering back up to their perch among the leaves.
Bert used to throw them bits of apples which, after some hesitancy, they would snatch up and carry back to the safety of the branch above; and they seldom failed to drop bits of chewed apple skin onto the boy's head.
As time passed, the furry trio lost all fear of Bert and would climb down into the hammock with him and eat pieces of apple from his hand, and always ran to meet him when he neared the edge of the woods.
With summer vacation over, Bert returned to the university. Long after, when he came to Sunnybank for a winter weekend, he found his friendly little trio gone. He thought that they might have gone deeper into the woods to live, but a school boy who lived on adjoining property, boastfully told Bert how he had gone hunting in the Sunnybank woods one day, and three red squirrels came scampermg towards him without a sign of fear ... and how he had got all three with one shot.
Bert's little friends were gone, killed by the neighbor boy . . . Cecil B. De Mille.
Cecil B. De Mille and his brother, William, were friends of Bert's.
Their father, Henry C. De Mille, had bought the place next to Sunnybank, at Pompton, and his two sons joined with Bert and other boys to form a swimming club which had its Iheadquarters in a room at the top of the De Mille boathouse.
Besides Bert and the De Mille boys there were Charles Brainerd, John Bartholf, Arthur Porter Amzi Steele, Ed Everitt. Morris Hawes, and one or two other boys.
Every summer afternoon, for years, the boys met at the boathouse, and after an hour of boxing and fencing, went swimmmg m Pompton Lake. Bert was an excellent swimmer and swordsman, an all-around athlete who had won many prizes for the hundred yard dash.
In those days Cecil B. De Mille was a slender, curly-headed by; a boy who w~s destined to become one of the greatest motion picture directors and producers of all times.
It W~s in 1891 that Cecil's father had come upon Pompton Lake for the .first time and the beauty of the lake, framed by the Ramapo Mountams, impre'ssed him so that he bought 76 acres on a hill above the lake.
Late that summer Cecil and his brother Bill broke ground for the De Mille home.
b . While the home was being built the De Mille family lived nearf Y, ~n an old house that had belonged to the Ryerson's ... a mining amily of Pompton.
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The De Mille home was a three-story house, with wide porch and turrets, and was given the name of "Pamlico" by Cecil's father.
Mr. De Mille became associated with the Episcopal parish of the Christ Church at Pompton, becoming senior warden and delegate to the diocesan convention. The congregation of the struggling church consisted mostly of families of the steelworkers, and the parish was so poor that is could not support a resident clergyman, so Mr. De Mille helped out by conducting services, as a lay reader, during 1892.
Mr. De Mille, a teacher, had become interested in religion, and spent eight years studying for priesthood, before turning away to become a playwright; but he loved his work at the church. He was a religious man, and every evening read to his two sons; a chapter from the Old Testament, a chapter from the New, and. often some American, English or European history, or some of the classics.
Cecil was eleven at the time, and it was there . . . under the light of the old lamp ... listening to his father's beautiful voice ... that the "King of Kings" and "The Ten Commandments" were born in Cecil's young mind and heart.
Tragedy struck at the De Mille family when Mr. De Mille contracted typhoid early in 1893, and died on February 10th, leaving his widow with three small children.
William Churchill was just fifteen, Cecil Blount was twelve, and baby Agnes Beatrice was not yet two years old.
Mrs. De Mille was a brave, resourceful woman, and set about making a living for her family.
Prior to the death of her husband, Mrs. De Mille had been instrumental in the development of a school in Pompton. She had rented space in a local store near the Susquehanna Railroad, and later moved th~ school to a space over Durling's grocery store. She had hired a Miss Acker as a teacher, and had canvassed the area for pupils.
Upon becoming a widow, Mrs. De Mille moved the school from Durling's building to "Pamlico", so that she could take charge of it herself; since she had been a school teacher before her marriage.
A school building was erected across the road from the De Mille home, and an addition was added to the large house so that she could board pupils from out of town.
J
A tennis court was built and a baseball diamond laid out, and a carriage was purchased to carry local day-students to and from school.
The advertisement in·-4:he Pequannock Valley Argus newspaper read that the Henry C. De Mille Preparatory Boarding and Day School, for boys and girls, offered full classical and scientific courses . . . The modern languages, theory of music, drawi~g, painting and physical culture. Available were tennis, base-ball, rowmg, skating and coasting. The grounds contained 76 acres and the location was ideal for health and beauty.
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Mrs. De Mille was named as Principal, and by April, 1893, the the school was ready, and the pupils arrived.
One of the most famous pupils of the De Mille School was a beautiful sixteen-year old girl who had been sent to the school by a New York business man, who had taken an interest in her.
The girl, Evelyn Nesbit, was sent to the school at Pompton to remove her from the attentions of a well known actor; however, he soon discovered her whereabouts and appeared at the school to see her. When Miss Nesbitt refused to see him, he left passionate love notes, addressed to her, about the grounds.
Tragedy struck the De Milles again, when in 1895 Baby Agnes died after an illness of only 24 hours.
Death from the grippe, claimed the little girl on February 12, and a saddened mother took the child's body to Long Island for cremation.
The week before had been one of hardship and severe cold when a snow storm struck the area. A snowstorm that most folks said surpassed that of the blizzard of 1888.
The storm raged on February 7th and 8th, and roads were blocked and trams derailed.
Pompton Plains was drifted in, its inhabitants isolated, with snow banks covering some of the houses.
The drifts on Boonton roads were iifteen feet deep . . . roads were blocked in all directions. Gale winds swirled th~ snow into huge _piles of gleaming whiteness, and hurled icy particles against the wmdows of the snowbound residents.
All communities in the surrounding area werE: affected. West Milford, Newfoundland Butler Bloomingdale, etc., m all directions roads were blocked for' several 'days. Cellars, filled with winter stores of potatoes, apples and other perishable foods, became so cold that all foods were frozen. The loss was great.
This coldest of all cold waves,· ever known to the oldest of inhabitants, lingered in the area until the sleventh. Each town suffered the same fate, and it was days before many residents got out of their homes.
When the storm struck and raged about the farmlands, farmers fas~ened great ropes from house to barn, so that th~y could find their way through the blinding storm to the nearby bmlding to car
for their animals.
e
In Newark, about twenty miles away, during the height of the storm ~en fires broke out between Thursday evenmg (February 7th) and Fnd~y morning; and the cold was so severe that the clothing of several fireman became so stiffly frozen, that they were unable t
take a step and had to carried away.
0
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The icy weather that chilled all outdoors, and much of the indoors, chilled Baby Agnes too; then swept on by to leave her eternally cold.
A few months later, the De Mille home was once again filled with sorrow when the widow's brother died at Pamlico, in June. He had arrived, from Staten Island, on Saturday, having come to Pompton for his health; and became worse and passed away on Monday.
Mrs. De Mille struggled on, courageously, for the sake of her two boys.
In Bert Terhune, Cecil had found an idol; and though Bert was nine years older, he always found time to share his knowledge of nature with Cecil and William. And he taught them how to defend theirselves with their fists. He was a good friend for a fatherless boy to have, and his kindness and friendship brought forth an idolizing love from the boys.
Years later, as a man, Cecil used to recall those days at Pompton.
Remembering, too, how one of their neighbors used to shoot at mud balls he tossed into the air.
The neighbor was Annie Oakley, famous American markswoman.
Marksmanship with a rifle and shotgun earned her world-wide fame.
Born Phoebe Ann Moses, August 13, 1861 at Woodland, Ohio, Phoebe learned to use a gun as a youngster and was with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show for 17 years. She was known as Miss Annie Oakley, even after her marriage to an expert marksman, Frank Butler.
Annie could slice a playing card with the thin edge towards her, at thirty paces; and could hit a dime thrown in the air. A playing card, tossed in the air, would be perforated a dozen times before it touched the ground.
Touring abroad with the show, Annie gave a Command performance before Queen Victoria; and in a match between Grand Duke Michael of Russia and Annie, the American markswoman beat him.
The De Mille family, mother and two sons, parted when William left to attend school in Germany to prepare him for college, and when in 1896 Cecil left to attend a military college in Pennsylvania.
In those days, when ;Bert and the boys were neighbors, Pompton Lakes was filled with fish and the forests were full of game. Most of the ostentatious homes in the area had slave quarters in the back gardens, and several churches held services in Dutch.
In the early 1890's the powder works came to Pompton.
Powder houses were built in the meadows across the lake from the homestead, and their many deafening explosions shattered the peace of the countryside.
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When Rev. Terhune had bought the property, years before, the nearest railroad= station was nine miles away at Paterson, New Jersey; and a twisting trail ran through the homestead.
.• (The New Jersey Midland Railroad came through Pompton in the early 1870's. Early m the 1880's reorganization brought forth the name that we know today . . . the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railroad.)
A twisting trail, lined with century-old oaks, that was later to become the highway that Albert Payson Terhune hated so . . . a highway that was to be given the name of Terhune Drive, in his honor.
The rambling old Terhune house was originally painted gray, but the paint soon peeled off to reveal a prime coat of bright rosepink color; and for some reason the house was not repainted. So for nearly. nineteen years the house of rosy hue nestled among the great oaks like a brilliant blossom.
When Bert was a young boy, the house was painted a ~ul~ chocolate brown color, and was left that way until he stuccoed it m gray after the house became his in 1909.
To the south of the lake, Reverend Terhune had a meadow cleared f br~mbles, drained, and planted an orchard.
While digging there, a few shreds of rotted blue cloth were unearthed, and alongside them lay a sheathed sword whose rusted scabbard had protected the swordblade from the elements.
During the hard winter of 1777-78 of the Revolutionary War, Lt. Colonel Van Cortlandt's Regiment had encamped there; and when pneumonia claimed the life of one of the officers, he was buried with military honors and his sidearms. Our Revolutionary Army had few ~words. except those taken from captured British; and the sword, foun~ _m the shallow grave at Sunnybank, contained the insignia of a British engineer regiment.
Rev. Terhune had the bones removed to consecrated ground, and the sword was placed upon the wall at Sunnybank.
The American and British armies fought back and forth across New Jersey for years during the Revolutionary War, and General George Washington st~yed at several New Jersey homes, including the Yellow Cottage at Pompton. Some historians say that it was his headquarters during his journeys to and from Morristown.
The Yellow Cottage stood in a grove of trees at the turn where the road from Pompton to Bloomingdale left the Wanaque Road. We_ know that spot today as Federal Square . . . ( or as some of the residents refer to it "The Cannon") ... at the intersection of Hamburg Turnpike and Wanaque Avenue.
The main part of the cottage was two _stories hi.gh in front, thirty feet across and twenty-four feet deep, with a slopmg roof that nearly. reached the ground at the rear. There was ~ small covered porch Ill the middle of the house at the front, and a kitchen extension on the east end which was about sixteen feet square, had a covered porch running dn along the front of it.
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It is understood that to this cottage Martin J. Ryerson brought his bride, Vroutje (Sophronia) Van Winkle, whom he married in 1778. The newly married couple soon learned that the privacy of their little home was to be invaded by weary travelers, since it was so conveniently located on a line that connected Morristown, West Point, the forges and other places.
Civilian, as well as military travelers stopped at the Yellow Cottage so often that the young couple moved out and it was used as a tavern for the duration of the war, under the management of a Mr. Curtis of Morristown. (Often referred to as a Mr. Courtheath, because of a difference in pronunciation by Marquis Francis Jean de Chastellux, a friend of Lafayette).
It was here that some historians say General George Washington was quartered from July 11 to 13th, 1777.
In 1782 Washington and his wife, Martha, stayed a... [truncated due to length]