Sparta Historical Society/Van Kirk Homestead
336 Main Street
Sparta, NJ 07871
(973) 726-0883
https://www.vankirkmuseum.org/gardens.htm
https://www.sussexskylands.com/listing/sparta-historical-society-van-kirk-homestead-museum/90
Admission: The admission is free except when there is a special event and price is determined by the event
Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm (Second & Forth of each month)/Monday-Saturday Closed
The Museum is open from April-December. Please check website for seasonality.
My review on TripAdvisor:
The front of the Van Kirk family home which serves as the headquarters of the Sparta Historical Society
The History of the Site:
(from the museum website)
The Van Kirk Homestead, as it stands today, is 3.5 acres. There is one outbuilding both dating from 1930s – the red carriage barn. A detached garage, dating from the 1970s, is across from the carriage barn. The original log cabin is gone but its site is known (Sparta Historical Society website).
The house that exists today is from 1780s but because it was lived in by generational Van Kirks’ it has had a few expansions. It is this house which has been revamped into a museum. The original part of the house has a stone basement that was opened in 2019 as two exhibit galleries. The first floor has two original fireplaces comprised of four exhibit galleries. The second floor has the original wide plank floors and has another three exhibit galleries (Sparta Historical Society website).
The sign in the Main Street
The historical description of the house
The main part of the house was closed due to a renovation and the members were going to be opening a new exhibition upstairs. So I toured the lower level kitchen area.
The lower level of the house which was used for the kitchen and storage areas
The history of the kitchen at the Van Kirk House:
(from the museum website)
A two-year major restoration of century comparison period kitchens with the addition of several new gifts and collection purchases. This exhibit shows the original fireplace colonial kitchen, reopened after 100 years, and the numerous transitions experienced by American families during the Industrial Revolution and its effect on kitchen appliances (Sparta Historical Society website).
The kitchen and dining area with family China and cookware in the background
The prep area, washing equipment and summer storage area
The baking and prep area
The wash equipment and ice box and tongs in the back
The Mining Exhibition just off the kitchen:
(from the museum website)
Opened in October 2019, this permanent exhibit features original Edison artifacts, a scale model of Lime Crest Quarry, and a large fluorescent mineral display. Through these and other rare artifacts, the exhibit explores the town’s mines and the people who worked at them. Housed in the 1780 section of the Van Kirk Homestead Museum, expect insights into, and understanding of, the past which supplements our understanding of our once primary iron and lime industry in Sparta and elsewhere in Sussex County. It also provides a glimpse into the time-consuming, labor-intensive methods used in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries to prepare, and ship minerals (Sparta Historical Society website).
The other side of the kitchen has an exhibition on the Mining Industry which is a big fabric of the community. The exhibition included a model of the Lime Crest Quarry and the Sterling Quarry.
The sign for the Lime Crest Quarry Model
The Mining exhibition-the Lime Crest Quarry model
The Men, Mines and Minerals exhibition with the lights off
The minerals and the clock from the mines
The Mineral exhibition with the lights off
The iron ore and the magnet exhibition
After touring the inside exhibition, I then explored the grounds which are still being used for gardens and vegetable beds for the society.
The back of the house grounds. They were setting up for an afternoon concert
The grounds of the house and the garage in the background
The family garage on the property exhibition:
(from the museum website)
Opened in August 2019, this permanent old fashioned transportation exhibit is located in the multi-year restoration project of the Nicholson Family Wagon House. On display at the Historic Transportation exhibit, you will discover a horse drawn carriage wagon, an old horse drawn sleigh, an old antique car Model T Ford and transportation artifacts. Learn how horse buggies, vintage carriages and old antique cars set the path for historic transportation to the present (Sparta Historical Society website).
The inside of the garage had a Model T car in perfect shape, a buggy and a sleigh.
The inside of the garage
The Model T car
The buggy and the sleigh in the back of the garage
The Studebaker Doctor’s buggy sign
The buggy
The Sturtevant-Larabee Sleigh sign
The sleigh
Also in the garage is various pieces of equipment and even an old gas pump
The sign for the Gilbert and Baker Self-Measuring Gas Pump
The old fashioned gas pump in the garage
Along all the walls were old pictures of the farm when it was still active and under family control
The gardens an grounds in the distance
One of the old sheds was converted into a school house and the room was set up as an old fashioned on room school house. Here kids of various ages were taught the fundamentals of Math, English and History.
The One Room Schoolhouse
The history of the Schoolhouse from the early 1900’s:
(from the museum website)
Step back in time to when classes consisted of all ages together! Welcome to our One Room Schoolhouse exhibit which opened in 2023. Sparta had four one room schoolhouses. The first school was built at the Presbyterian Church in 1812 and was replaced in 1860 after a fire destroyed it. The one-room schoolhouses were established in New Jersey when a 1819 bill funded public education, and they remained active through the 1930’s, when regional schools were established. Students from grades one to eight attended these schools. Four of the structures that housed the one-room schoolhouse remain (Sparta Historical Society website).
Our schoolhouse replicates schools that were generally equipped with a teacher’s desk, student desks, a flag, a globe or map, books, a slate board, and a clock. Our schoolhouse has an 1860 map of Sussex County. At the back of the room is an old stove similar to those used to heat the room (Sparta Historical Society website).
The inside of the One Room Schoolhouse
The Teacher’s desk
The Grounds and Gardens of the Museum:
(from the museum website)
Besides the two fenced Sparta Community Gardens, the homestead grounds have a fir pine grove, a New Jersey Champion Big Tree, a herb garden, and a continual seasonal flowering landscape (Sparta Historical Society website).
The last thing I toured at the museum was the open vegetable gardens which looked like they were getting ready to harvest.
The vegetable gardens in the back of the schoolhouse
The inside of one of the flower and vegetable gardens
The entire museum complex of the Van Kirk House, grounds with the sheds and garage and gardens on both sides.. The grounds are beautifully maintained.
Video on the site from the Sparta Historical Society:
The tour of the house:
Tour of the house and the grounds:
Historical Tour of Sparta, NJ:
The museum has interesting exhibitions and an array of special events through December 13th when the museum closes for the season. It reopens again in April with the warmer weather.
Take time to stroll the grounds and take a look at all the exhibits. It is an interesting look into New Jersey’s past.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 