Category: A Local Journey out of Manhattan

Aviation Hall of Fame 400 Fred Wehran Drive Teterboro, NJ 07608

Aviation Hall of Fame

400 Fred Wehran Drive

Teterboro, NJ 07608

(201) 288-6344

http://www.njahof.org

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Open: Monday Closed/Tuesday-Sunday: 10:00am-4:00pm/Three Sessions Daily: 10:30 AM-Noon, 12:30 PM-2:00 PM, and 2:00 PM-3:30 PM

Admission: Adults $20.00/Seniors and Children 3-12 $15.00/Children Under 2 Free

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46865-d3474448-Reviews-Aviation_Hall_of_Fame_of_New_Jersey-Teterboro_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The Aviation Hall of Fame Museum at 400 Fred Wehran Drive

The Wright Brothers display

The Welcome display when you walk into the museum.

The Aviation Hall of Fame Museum of NJ is a very unique museum if you are interesting in everything aviation from the history of flight starting with the Wright Brothers, the World War drama and battles and the influence of the NASA and members from New Jersey who have made a difference in the department.

NASA Display featuring Montclair, NJ resident Buzz Aldrich

There is a lot of interactive displays during “Open Cockpit Days” at the museum and equipment that you can walk into and explore from planes and rescue trucks. There is even a First Class section of a TWA flight. I was impressed that the airline even had a standard of dress for the flight.

The front of the TWA Flight plane

The TWA Display of items from the ‘Golden Era’ of flying

The History of the Museum:

(from the museum website)

Founded in 1972, the Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of New Jersey is dedicated to the preservation of the Garden State’s distinguished, two century aviation and space heritage. The men and women whose outstanding aeronautical achievements have brought world-wide recognition to the state are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

The Aviation Hall of Fame in the main part of the first floor

The inductees in the Hall of Fame

The Kelly Brothers from West Orange, NJ

Some of the most famous inductees

The recently expanded museum offers visitors an opportunity to view historic air and space equipment and artifacts, photographs, fine art and an extensive model collection. The library has more than 4000 volumes and hundreds of aviation video tapes. The New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum offers education programs for individuals or groups. Participants learn history and science.

The “Flying Aces” display

Our Aeronautical History Hunt is available to groups that visit the museum. By seeking the answers to historical New Jersey aviation questions, students develop problem solving, logic and communication skills. Our ‘Dare to Fly’ program, developed for children ages 7 to 15 focuses on ballooning and powered flight. Participants design, build and fly their gliders. Organize a small group and call for dates.

(Information from New Jersey’s Aviation Museums)

Museum Guide: A companion virtual tour for your electronic device is available free at http://www.njahof.org/

Welcome to the First State Aviation Hall of Fame in the Nation!

Founded in 1972, the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey (AHOF-NJ) is dedicated to the preservation of the Garden State’s distinguished aviation and space heritage. The men and women whose outstanding aeronautical achievements have brought world-wide acclaim to the state are enshrined in the AHOFNJ.

The set-up of the Museum:

Raymond R. Wells Theater

The first stop on your self-guided tour is in our 60 seat theater where you will experience the saga of NJ aerospace history in our information and concise nine-minute film “Flight”.

The Naval Display in the Flight Theater

Buzz Aldrin Exhibit:

Jersey boy makes good on the first mission to the moon. The story of his life and his time with the space program

The NASA Display with Buzz Aldrin

The full display

NASA Display

Hall of Fame:

Enter the heart of our museum and meet the men and women who embody NJ’s rich heritage of flight.

The NJ Aviation Hall of Fame

Dehmel Room:

See the world’s first electronic flight simulator built by legendary Curtiss-Wright, at one time the Garden State’s biggest aerospace company. The room also contains information about barnstormers, Tuskegee Airmen, flying aces, Flying Tigers, Enola Gay, etc.

NASA Hall of Fame

New Jersey Women in Aviation display

The Curtis Wright equipment

The Great Room:

History comes alive with air and space equipment, artifacts, photographs, fine art, multimedia displays, hands-on exhibits and interactive simulators.

Exhibits are:

*The worlds first hover craft

*Women in Aviation

The Amelia Earhart display

The New Jersey Women in Aviation display

*Aircraft and rocket engines built in NJ

*International Space Station Exhibit

*Dassault Fundamentals of Flight Exhibit

*Scorpion helicopter

*Actual fragments from the ill-fated German Zeppelin, The Hindenburg

The Hindenburg disaster

The artifacts from the Hindenburg disaster

*Hot-air balloon basket

*Working jet engine

*”Touchable parachute

*Curtis-Wright display

*Rutan “Quickie” home-built experimental aircraft

*Overhead Gallery

Outdoor Displays:

The outdoor plane display

Our outdoor displays incorporate a Martin 202A airliner from the 1950’s. Bell Cobra attack helicopter that flew actual combat missions during the Vietnam War. Bell 47-one of the first practical helicopters. Coast Guard Sikorsky helicopter. Lockheed LASA-60 bush plane. Grumman OV-1A Mohawk. Walters Airport Rescue & Firefighting Vehicle. Convair 880 Jetliner Cockpit (during open cockpit weekends.)

The helicopter display

The Jeeps and planes

The TWA display

Second Floor: From the balcony, enjoy the view of The Great Room. Sit in the cockpit of our “Little Cut Up” make-believe airplane and make things move on the wings and tail.

View from the second floor

The Teterboro Airport display

The area also includes: Newark Airport Diorama, B-52 ejection seat, Richard E. Byrd Exhibit, barnstormers, model airplane collection, Peoples Express exhibit, the NJ designed “Para-Plane”, a working airport beacon and Clarence Chamberlin Exhibit.

The Jump Seat display on the second floor of the museum

Silvio Cavalier Research Library: This library contains over 3,500 volumes and videos on aviation and space history.

Gift Shop: Don’t forget to visit the gift shop, brimming with aviation related gifts, books and mementos for yourself, family and friends.

Tours-Parties: We offer group tours, birthday parties and our educational Dare-To-Fly program for young groups. Call for details.

Special Events: Four times a year we have Open Cockpit Day where you and your family can sit in the pilot seat of airplane and helicopter cockpits. In December, Santa will fly over the museum in a helicopter, then visit with the children.

The vehicle display on the first floor

The Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey (AHOF) reserves the right to use for promotional purposed any photograph/video taken at AHOF or any AHOF event. By visiting AHOF or participating in any AHOF event, you are permitting AHOF to use these images.

This is such a great museum for families and especially for children.

(Information from the AHOF Museum Guide)

Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the AHOF pamphlets and I give them full credit for the information. Please call the museum for any further information.

Zabriskie-Quackenbush House 421 Franklin Avenue Wyckoff, NJ 07481

Zabriskie-Quackenbush House

421 Franklin Avenue

Wyckoff, NJ 07481

http://www.zabriskiehousewyckoffnj.org

https://www.wyckoff-nj.com/zabriskie-house-board-trustees

https://www.facebook.com/wyckoffzabriskiehouse

Open: Please check out their website for the dates when the house is open to the public.

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46945-d10359429-Reviews-The_Zabriskie_House-Wyckoff_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

I visited the Zabriskie House in May 2016 and 2019 for the Northwest Bergen History Coalition 6th Annual History Day. The house is left the way the last owner. Grace Zabriskie, willed it to the town with all the original furnishings.

The historic signage

It has period furnishes, family heirlooms and antiques. The docents will take you on a tour of the house and show you where all the later additions were added and how they make up the whole house. As you walk through the house, you can see the difference in structure of the home plus how the last owner lived.

The Zabriske House in Wyckoff, NJ

Don’t miss touring the gardens in the Spring as Mrs. Zabriskie worked with a Botanist to plant the gardens to bloom at different times. She planted it in stages so that she could entertain in them but still treated the gardens similar to the house as if you had to walk into a room. It is very nice and colorful in the Spring.

I have visited the house during the Northwest Bergen History Day and I was able to take a lot of pictures of the gardens next to the house on a rather gloomy day. The gardens were in full bloom in the middle of spring and the rain added a layer of beauty to the flowers and flowering bushes that lined the paths. They did a nice job maintaining the house.

On the terrace there are people to guide you through the house and docents to take tours. The ladies had a nice reception laid out for all of the people who came to visit.

The Van Voorhees-Quackenbush-Zabriskie House in the Fall of 2022

The original stone structure of the Van Voorhees-Quackenbush-Zabriskie House was built in 1730 by William Van Voorhees. It is believed to be the oldest house in Wyckoff, NJ. In 1824, William’s son, Albert, completed a major addition to the house in the classically Dutch colonial style. The original structure then became the dining room (NWBHC).

The historic part of the house from the 1700’s

The entrance of the Zabriskie House

History of the House: (Taken from the Wyckoff History Page)

The Van Voorhees-Quackenbush-Zabriskie House has been a local landmark for over 275 years and is believed to be the oldest structure in the Town of Wyckoff, NJ. In 1720, William and John Van Voor Haze, yeoman of Bergen County, purchases 550 acres of land in what is now Wyckoff. The brothers were descended from Dutch settlers who emigrated from Holland in 1660 (Wyckoff History).

The historic part of the house

The first stone house was built circa 1730 by William. The land was cleared and the family farmed, raising table crops and staples such as grain, corn, potatoes and grapes. Over time, apple orchards and dairy farming became main occupations in the area. The Jersey Dutch were especially skilled at animal husbandry. They were considered the best farmers and gardeners in the American Colonies (Wyckoff History).

The historic kitchen in the original part of the house

There were only about 20 families in the area in 1775, when the house served as the village store and tavern. William’s son, Albert, served in the Militia in the Revolutionary War. The original stone structure later became the dining room of the house, when a large addition was added in 1824 by William’s son, Albert when he was 86 years old. He had just one son, John, but likely expanded the house for his nine grandchildren and their wives and children. Over the years, in addition to serving as a home, the house served as a not only home, tavern and store but also as a hotel and ballroom for area parties (Wyckoff History).

The gardens on the side of the house

The gardens in April 2023 on a gloomy day

The original 1730 house has a steeply pitched roof and overhanging eaves designed to protect the building and foundation from rain. It has a two piece “Dutch” door to allow ventilation while keeping animals outside. Inside is a five foot high fireplace which originally was the sole source of heat and was used for all cooking (Wyckoff History).

The pathways to the gardens to the side of the house

The lawn next to the house

The pathways next to the house

The pathway to the gardens

The much larger 1824 structure is three stories originally tall with a sub-basement. It contains four fire places, again for heat. It has two half and four quarter moon windows and two oval windows. There are four bedroom with pegs to hand clothes on (no closets then). Its exterior demonstrates the classic Dutch Gambrel roof with an upper 23 degree roof line and then a lower 45 degrees roof line. This beautiful design was developed by the Dutch in northern New Jersey and up the Hudson River and is found nowhere else in the world. The typical Dutch front porch has two benches on either side of the entrance (Wyckoff History).

The house in the Fall

The property left the Van Voorhees family in the mid-1800’s. In 1867, it was purchased by Uriah Quackenbush. Uriah and Keziah Quackenbush had one son, John, who died as a young adult. Grace Quackenbush was his only child and was two years old when he died. She was raised in the house by her grandparents, who left the property to her when they passed on, after Grace had married John Zabriskie (Wyckoff History).

The Zabriskie Pond across the street

During her lifetime, Grace modernized the house (including adding an indoor bathroom) and restored the appearance of the home using authentic period antique furniture and furnishings. She also created three beautiful formal gardens on the landscaped property with her friend, Mrs. Elizabeth Spencer, a botany major (Wyckoff History).

The house is considered one of the finest examples of American architecture in northern New Jersey. The current House Museum has been called one of the finest in New Jersey. In 1973, Mrs. Grace Q. Zabriskie, who was the last resident, willed the house and its antique furnishings to the Township of Wyckoff, when she died that year. The “Zabriskie” house belongs to everyone in Wyckoff to enjoy (Wyckoff History).

The Zabriskie Pond in the Fall of 2022

Please check out their website for when the house is open to the public.

John Fell House 475 Franklin Turnpike Allendale, NJ 07401

John Fell House

475 Franklin Turnpike

Allendale, NJ 07401

(201) 783-8754

http://www.johnfellhouse.org

http://www.johnfellhouse.org/

http://www.johnfellhouse.org/history/

http://www.johnfellhouse.org/events/

Open: For special events and for corporate events. Please check their website for details.

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g29737-d10356749-Reviews-The_John_Fell_House-Allendale_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The John Fell House in April 2023 for the Northwest Bergen Historical Coalition event

I visited the John Fell House in May 2016 for the Northwest Bergen History Coalition 6th Annual History Day on “Day Forty-Three” of “MywalkinManhattan.com” blog site. The house is a stately home that sits at a busy point of the Franklin Turnpike, once the main artery of this part of Bergen County.

I was not too sure what this was as it was at the back of the house. I thought it might be a food cellar.

The only problem I found about visiting the John Fell home is that it is barely furnished. Most of these homes in Bergen County have furniture or heirlooms left by the family and this house is more used for entertaining. There are displays all over the house.

The backyard of the John Fell House in Allendale, NJ

The house is operated by the Concerned Citizens of Allendale and sits on 2.8 acres of land which includes the stately home, the Gothic Revival Barn, wetlands and old-growth trees. The house is across from the Celery Farm Bird Sanctuary, which was once part of the estate and is open to walkers year round (BCHS).

The front room of the John Fell Houser

The historic John Fell House is named in recognition of Founding Father, John Fell, a revolutionary war patriot, who purchased the property in 1766.

The Living Room at the Fell House in the late 1800’s addition

The house is located on the march route of Rochambeau’s army, on its way in 1781 to Yorktown, Virginia and the Seige of Yorktown that would decide the American Revolutionary War (Wiki).

The Music Room at the Fell House

The Living Room in the new addition of the house

The history of the Strawberry industry

The inside of the Fell House:

https://history.house.gov/People/Listing/F/FELL,-John-(F000065)/

https://revolutionarynj.org/rev-neighbors/john-fell

John Fell (1721-1798) was an American merchant and jurist. He was born in New York City in 1721, he was engaged in overseas trade and has acquired a small fleet of ships by the time he moved to Bergen County, NJ in the 1760’s and lived at ‘Peterfield’, a home in present day Allendale, NJ (that is now known as the ‘John Fell House’) (Wiki).

The original part of the house from the 1700’s

The main room of the original 1700’s part of the house

The Living and Dining Room of the original house

The original fireplace in the older part of the house

The inside of the Fell House

He served as judge of the court of common please in Bergen County from 1766 to 1774. With the coming of the American Revolutionary War, he became chairman of Bergen County’s committee of correspondence and the committee of safety. He was Bergen County’s leading delegate to the Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1775. In 1776, Fell was elected to a one-year term in the New Jersey Legislative Council representing Bergen County.

The antique dishware and tea pots in the kitchen at the John Fell House

The house is open for all sorts of special events and can be rented out. Please check out their website above for more details.

The Van Allen House/Oakland Historical Society 3 Franklin Avenue & Route 202 Oakland, NJ 07436

The Van Allen House

Oakland Historical Society

3 Franklin Avenue & Route 202

Oakland, NJ 07436

(201) 337-9652

Open: Seasonally; please check their website

http://www.oaklandhistoricalsociety.org

http://www.oaklandhistoricalsociety.org/

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46693-d10359401-Reviews-The_Van_Allen_House-Oakland_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The Van Allen House in 2023 during the next History Coalition

I visited the Van Allen House on my first trip on the Northwest Bergen History Coalition 6th Annual History Day tour of Upper Bergen County in 2016 and in 2019. It is mentioned on ‘Day Forty-Three’ of my blog, ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’. It had been my last stop of the day. The historic home is currently closed due to renovations on the house and will open in the Fall of 2019.

The Van Allen House during the renovation in 2023 with the added dormers

Of all my stops that day, I found that the Van Allen House was in need of a renovation. From the outside, it is very quaint. On the inside, the house needed a lot of fixing up and restoration work. The upstairs had water marks all over the ceilings. The gardens also needed some serious weeding and planting. IN 2023, the renovations of the upstairs had been completed and the home was replastered and painted. Most of the artifacts were stored in a few rooms that were being finished.

The kitchen is as you enter the home

During the renovation, a lot of the artifacts were being stored in the addition to the house that took place in the early 1800’s. Many of the things that had been donated were showcased in this room off the kitchen and shows the wide variety of the society’s collection. There were all sorts of items from the home, decorative pieces and a variety of things that would have been used at the house as it being a working farm. There were also many Native American artifacts.

Some of the artifacts in the downstairs room

Artifacts in the room downstairs

Household items donated to the society

More household items of the Van Allen House

More artifacts of the Van Allen House Collection

The vast array of items in the downstairs addition of the house will be used all over the house once the renovation is completed sometime in the next two years. There was still a lot to do around the house. There had been so much damage to the house over the years that it needed a major renovation.

The upstairs had been finished with the addition of the domers which a few of the society members had said that these were not part of the original house. They can debate about it but the house looks really nice with them and makes the house look realistic. Still from what the people said that they were not part of the original design.

You could see the vast improvement in the house over the last three years and the extent of the work that had been done already. All the outstairs rooms had been plastered and painted. The rooms looked very modern,

The upstairs has been nicely restored

The upstairs rooms now house many of the home furnishings of the collection along with clothes and personal items of families that have donated them over the years. The upstairs is just finishing the renovation so things will have to be organized in the future but at least you can see the things that the Historical Society has in the collection.

Household items in the collection upstairs

Clothing and bedding items at the Van Allen House

The smaller bedroom of the Van Allen House

One of the best things of the house is its gift shop. It has some of the most unusual handmade gifts that it was worth the trip out to the house. One of the members makes handmade cloth dolls for $5.00 that are just quaint and make a beautiful gift.

The Oakland Historical Society, who operates the house, was putting a lot of time and effort in the renovations of the house and their volunteers I was told would be working on the gardens. Either way, it is an interesting house to visit and it is steeped in history.

The upstairs beams leading to the bedrooms

The toy collection at the top of the stairs

The History of the Van Allen House:

The Van Allen House was built around 1740 as the home of farmer Hendrik Van Allen. During the Revolutionary War, it served as the headquarters for George Washington on July 14, 1777. At the time, he moving his troops from Morristown, NJ to New York (Wiki).

In 1778 and 1779, Bergen County used the house as a court. Edward Day Page, a dairy farmer, businessman and Oakland’s second mayor, owned the house as well as the northern fourth of Oakland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (Wiki).

Household items at the Van Allen House

It was saved from demolition by the Oakland Historical Society with aid from the Woman’s Club of Oakland. It is now maintained as a museum displaying colonial Dutch life. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1973. There were several branches of the family in the Paterson, Passaic and Bergen Counties in New Jersey (Wiki).

Items in the family collection

The Oakland Historical Society:

The mission of the Oakland Historical Society (Oakland, NJ) is to bring to life and help maintain the history of the Borough of Oakland by activating and preserving especially the Van Allen House site, with the Vygeberg Farm Office Building and by keeping a museum there showing living displays and memories of Oakland’s past. We support living displays and memories of Oakland’s past. We support the Borough’s efforts to continue and complete the renovations of both buildings with the help of the Bergen County Office of Historic Preservation (OHS).

The Children’s bedroom at the Van Allen House

During the year we offer opportunities from people to visit the Van Allen House and experience local life as it was in the 18th and 19th Centuries on a farm settlement in northern New Jersey. The Lenni-Lenape Indians are known to have used the path which followed the Ramapo River Valley north and south and has now become an interstate roadway, Route 202, which goes from Maine south into Maryland and beyond. Copies of letters George Washington wrote at the House are available there during open-houses, usually the 3rd or 4th Sunday afternoon many months during the year. Please check our events page to see when the house will be open (OHS).

The Van Allen House on that gloomy Saturday morning

The site also has a building from 1902, built by Edward Page, one of the industrialists who settled along Route 202 to develop agricultural for the growing cities of Northern New Jersey, such as Paterson or Newark (OHS).

The Van Allen House Marker

The house was really interesting to visit during the Northwest Bergen Historical Coalition. The docents were really nice and they gave some interesting insights about the family and the house itself.

The Christmas holiday event celebrating Sinterklaas and the Dutch Christmas:

The outside of the house decorated for Christmas

The front door wreath

The wreath

In December of 2025, I visited the historical site for the Sinterklaas celebration for the Christmas season. It was a nice festival with making in the hearth and gingerbread man decorating for the kids. These were delicious.

Baking in the hearth

Decorating gingerbreadmen

Indulging in freshly baked gingerbreamen

There was a woman playing Christmas songs on the harpsichord to the group of patrons in the main room of the house and an old fashioned Christmas tree decorated for the holidays.

The colonial woman playing the harpsichord

The performance

Sinterklaas, the Dutch version of Santa Claus was on hand to talk to the children and give out well wishes to everyone.

Sinterklaas talking to the guests

The jolly man greeting all of us

The house both inside and out was decorated for the Christmas holidays and had that early colonial look about it. Back then things were not as elaborate as the Victorian era and were simple pines, green and berries.

The simple table tree

The pines and greens decorating the mantle

The wonderful artifacts that are part of the collection

In the gift shop area there were very reasonably priced handmade dolls and ornaments made by one of the members. These one of a kind pieces are a perfect gift for the holidays. These are a very special gift for a lucky child.

The handmade items in the gift shop area

The grounds of the house and outside doors were decorated with wreaths and greens as well.

The wreath outside the Dutch doors

It was a nice event and the perfect way to start the holiday season. These Oakland Historical Society did a nice job with popular family event. It was a nice way to start the holiday season. The house was beautifully decorated for the season and the Society was planning all sorts of events for the Spring.

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