I have visited Lambert Castle a few times, most recently to see the Christmas decorations before they were taken down for the season. I found out from one of the director’s that they had not been put back up since their Holiday Bazaar back in November. I had seen them the year before and they had been very impressive.
Lambert Castle during the renovation in 2025
Right now the Castle is decorated for the Annual Christmas Craft Bazaar and it is just loaded with handmade crafts for the Christmas holidays. There are three floors of crafts and then on the third floor, there is a small restaurant to relax and look over the court of the house. After the bazaar in 2019, the Castle will close for a much needed five year renovation.
The Lambert Castle Christmas Bazaar 2019
I had a chance to visit the floors when they were not decorated for the holidays . The first floor is set up as if the family still lived there with the Billiards Room, Dining Room, Sitting Room, Music Room and Atrium still set as the family resided there. There is period furniture and decorations in all the first floor rooms to give a feel of what it must have been like to live there at that period.
The view of Lambert Castle from the second floor
The second floor galleries hold the collection of the Passaic County Historical Society with all sorts of objects, signs and historical items from all eras of the collection. You are able to see the footprint of the living quarters of the family.
The stained glass windows
The third floor at the time I was there was dedicated to the work of an Italian stone worker and artist who migrated and lived and worked in Paterson.
It is a very interesting way to see life at the turn of the last century in Paterson and the home offers a beautiful view of the City of Paterson and New York in the distance. I have never seen the grounds in the Spring but I am sure that they are quite lovely.
The view alone is worth the visit.
Don’t miss this virtual tour of the Castle and await until the renovations are done to visit again.
Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. commercial on Lambert Castle in 2019.
Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Project: “Take me back to Paterson, NJ”.
Catholina Lambert was born in 1834 in Goose Eye, England. In 1851 at the young age of 17, Lambert left home to seek his fortune in the “Land of Opportunity” that was America. After several successful ventures in the silk industry, Lambert decided to build a home that would be reminiscent of the castles he recalled from his boyhood in England. In 1892, he built his own castle on Garret Mountain in Paterson, NJ, then known as the “Silk, City of the New World.”
Catholina Lambert
Lambert’s home was built to showcase his elaborate art collection of fine European and American paintings and sculpture. At one time, his collection was so vast that it was considered to be “the nucleus of an American Louvre.” In 1913, Lambert fell into debt and his fortune started to dwindle. As a result, he was forced to mortgage the Castle and eventually sell much of his art collection. The proceeds allowed him to live comfortably in the Castle until his death at age 89 in 1923.
After Lambert’s death, his son, Walter sold the Castle to the City of Paterson, which later sold it to the County of Passaic. Today the Castle is still owned by the County and serves as the headquarters of the Passaic County Historical Society. The Society, a private not for profit organization, owns the historical artifacts and works of art.
Catholina Lambert and Company
The home and the museum, exist as a reminder of a bygone era and as a tribute to the great accomplishment of the Castle’s creator. Although most of the furnishings today are not original to the Lambert’s home, they represent period furnishings that would have been found in the Castle during the Lambert era.
For more information about the rooms and decor, visit The Lambert Castle Blog at:
The Passaic County Historical Society is a private non-profit educational organization founded in 1926 and dedicated to cultivation of interest in the history and culture of Passaic County and former home of silk magnate Catholina Lambert was built in 1892. The Castle is owned by the County of Passaic and has been the home to the Society since 1934.
Library & Archives:
Located in the lower level of the Castle is the Elizabeth A. Beam Memorial Historical Research Library, operated by the Passaic County Historical Society. Here scholarly researchers, genealogists and historical enthusiasts may find books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, genealogy records and other information that reveals the history of Passaic County. Access to the library is included with regular admission to Lambert Castle.
Membership:
The Society depends upon the support of its membership as well as museum admission to sustain its important mission. Please consider becoming a member and helping to preserve the history of Passaic County.
The Second Floor Galleries:
The Castles’s second floor has several exhibition galleries, each presenting a different historical display from the Society’s collections. To the right of the fireplace on the walls of the second floor balcony is an exhibition of works by noted Paterson artist Julian Rix. On the opposite side are portraits of notable Passaic County residents and a collection of historic engravings of the Passaic Falls. Behind the fireplace are the Lambert’s private rooms. To the left, in the former sitting room and bedroom of Mr. Lambert, are the Curiosities and Local Folk Art galleries and the famous Brass Dog Sculpture that served for many years as an advertising sign for a tinsmith’s shop in nineteenth-century Paterson. In the adjacent room, the former bedroom of Mrs. Lambert, is the Local History Gallery which features historical images of prominent businesses and people.
The Third Floor Exhibition Gallery:
The Third floor of Lambert Castle is reserved for changing or seasonable exhibitions.
Disclaimer: This information comes directly from the Passaic County Historical Society & Museum pamphlet and I give them full credit of it. Rather than transcribing the whole pamphlet with the description of rooms, I attached their website and blog on WordPress.com for more detailed viewing.
The Newark Museum at 49 Washington Place in Newark, NJ.
I have been a member of the Newark Museum for 29 years and have enjoyed the experience. There is a lot of things to do at all times of the year.
During the Summer months, I enjoy “Jazz in the Garden” where local and international jazz musicians perform in the beauty of the back garden of the museum under the trees. These almost hour and a half performance can be enjoyed on sunny, clear days in the gardens and in the auditorium on a rainy afternoon. It is something I look forward to every summer.
Jazz in the Garden at the Newark Museum. The gardens are amazing in the summer months.
The Newark Garden in the back of the museum.
Jazz in the Garden was a big event before the pandemic. It is on hiatus for now. It had resumed after COVID with a fee and did not happen in the Summer of 2023. Still, I had enjoyed these concerts for years.
I heard Vanessa Rubin perform at the last ‘Jazz in the Garden’. She is amazing.
The New entrance opened where the original once was:
The new entrance to the Newark Museum
The video celebration of the new entrance reopening
Entering the foyer of the museum
During December of 2019 I attended a holiday afternoon tea at the Ballantine House, the historic home attached to the museum. The Ballantine’s were one of the oldest families in Newark, NJ and were once major brewers in the city. They were considered High Society in Newark and the home, and its renovation reflect that.
The outside of the Ballantine House in 2019.
A new tradition was started this year with a Holiday Afternoon Tea and tour of the mansion. The caterer did a nice job with the food and their was plenty of it. We had finger sandwiches, various scones and pastries and different varieties of teas.
After the tea, we had a tour of the house and a talk about how the Ballantine’s and their crowd celebrated the holidays. They would be an open house for the neighbors during the holidays and then on Christmas day were church services in the morning and then a lunch afterwards with the family.
Ballantine House set for the neighborhood open house
Entering the newly renovated Ballantine House.
Another nice event is the Members Mornings of specialty tours of the galleries on a Sunday morning and a light breakfast afterwards. These are really nice, and you get a more in-depth view of the galleries with the docents. This is where I highly recommend membership.
The Ballantine House model
The Ballantine House reopened after a two year renovation of the property and I toured it in January of 2024 to see the redesign of the home. The home had been cleaned and new signage and carpeting had been added to the site. They were new signs with interpretations of the house with some major design changes.
The Ballantine children in portrait.
The house had gotten some much needed renovation work and cleaning and the house looked sparkling and looked like someone had just moved in. In 2024, the house continued its tradition of being decorated for the Christmas holidays but with a twist to it
The Foyer of the Ballantine House
The fireplace in the Foyer of the home at the holidays
The front door ablaze with colors
The Reception/Receiving Room for guests.
The Receiving Room at the Ballantine House.
The Reception Room decorated for the holidays
We started the tour clock wise through all the rooms on the first floor starting with the Reception Room where guests would be received for a visit and would wait until the Ballantine’s were ready to greet you. We then moved onto the Library where the whole family would gather in the evenings to read and converse with one another in a more casual setting.
The Library
The Library at the Ballantine House
Mr. Ballantine’s chair and desk in the Library of the Ballantine House.
The Library decorated for the Christmas holidays:
The Library decorated for the Christmas holidays:
The Library decorated for the Christmas holidays:
The Dining Room
The Dining Room set for dinner.
The Dining Room sideboard.
The Dining Room decorated for the Christmas holidays:
The Dining Room decorated for the Christmas holidays:
The Billiard Room across the hall from the Dining Room.
The Billiard Room at the Ballantine House.
The Parlor at the Ballantine House.
The Parlor for receiving guests for afternoon tea
The other side of the parlor.
The Parlor set for tea.
The Parlor set up for the Christmas Eve Tea:
The Parlor set for the Christmas Eve Tea service of the neighbors:
The Parlor would have been set for a light reception on Christmas Eve for the neighbors in the immediate neighborhood to stop in and join the family for a casual conversation and have a light snack. No one would stay more than an hour and it was in bad manners to stay longer than that.
The reception foods would be replenished as they ran out and this would take place for about two to three hours on Christmas Eve night as people would be leaving for church services or on their way to other celebrations.
The tour took us next upstairs to see the renovated bedrooms on the second floor and the galleries where some of the jewelry and art objects were on display.
The Staircase decorated for the Christmas holidays
The beautiful stained glass window on the landing to the second floor.
Mr. & Mrs. Ballantine’s Bedroom
The Boudoir where Mrs. Ballantine did her work.
The Boudoir where Mrs. Ballantine worked.
Alice’s bedroom on the second floor that was adjoined to her parents room by the way of the Boudoir.
Alice’s bedroom on the second floor looking over Washington Park.
The staircase to the Third Floor to Alice’s family apartment.
This was the main room of the apartment that was used by the family for entertaining friends and family. Alice, her husband and their four children lived in this apartment until 1919 at the time of Mrs. Ballantine’s death. Then her daughter moved to another part of Newark and then onto Morris County.
The Third floor apartment for Alice and her family that Mrs. Ballantine build for Alice and her family.
The beautiful skylight in Alice’s apartment on the Third floor of the Ballantine house.
The decorative fireplace that worked in Alice’s family apartment on the third floor of the house
On my most recent trip to the museum, I attended the opening of the new ‘Norman Bluhm Metamorphosis’ exhibition on February 11th, 2020.
Artist Norman Bluhm
Norman Bluhm: Metamorphosis celebrates six decades of painting by post-war American artist Norman Bluhm (1920-1999), who combined action painting with a lavish sense of color and formal experimentation on a grand scale.
Paintings and works on paper dating from 1947 to 1998 are on view in the Museum’s Special Exhibition Gallery and the Traphagen promenade galleries surrounding the Charles W. Engelhard Court (Newark Museum publication press release).
These large works showcase the artist’s work over a fifty year period.
Norman Bluhm’s work is quite dramatic
In 2022, I went on the first Members Morning that we had in almost two years. We toured the “Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collusion” exhibition featuring the works by American San Franciso born artist of Philippine decent Carlos Villa.
Artist Carlos Villa in the exhibition “Worlds in Collison”
Video on the Exhibition “Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collison”
What made this exhibition interesting was the feather work that he used in his art. He was trying to capture the ethnic history of identity not just of the Asian but the Pan-Pacific cultures of Hawaii. He used robes and other costumes to show the dynamic of the background of these cultures. Not just that but what describes Americans who are not of white decadency and where their role plays in society. The impression I got from his work and from the tour was feeling like an outsider in the country he was born in.
One of the feathered cloches that are in the exhibition
I also visited the interactive exhibition “Endangered”, showing video screenings of nature on the walls of the Natural Science Galleries. The exhibition highlights how human behavior is affection the natural environment and what we can do to stop it.
In the Summer of 2022, we had a member’s tour of one of the ongoing exhibitions at the museum and the docent described the works of local Brooklyn based artist Saya Woolfalk.
I joined the membership one morning to tour the exhibition on artist Saya Woolfalk who is based out of Brooklyn. Her current exhibition “Tumbling into Landscape” is being featured on a long-term exhibition. The works are a communication with nature and our relationship with nature and with one another. When you walk through it you are so relaxed between the music and the lighting. The artist ‘uses science fiction and fantasy to reimagine the world in multiple dimensions’ (Newark Museum).
The videos in the Saya Woolfalk exhibition
Her look at nature is very interesting. She looks at our relationship with the natural world and to each other and where we belong. Here works have a calming effect on the visitor and our interaction with the art.
‘The Four Virtues’ (Justice, Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude)
She even did a study of the Hudson River School and how her art worked into that perspective of nature. She included between six paintings from the School of Art with a self-portrait of herself.
It was interesting how she used her own self to compare to the stylized view of nature taken on by these past artists.
Recently, I joined other members for a special “Members Morning” that happen every third Thursday entitled “The Art of Collecting Abstracts”. It was a look at the contemporary works that have been collected by the Newark Museum over the years. We got a look at works from the early part of the last century to today. Each of the pieces chose were a way for us to think about the artist and what they were trying to convey. Some used bold strokes and colors to tell their story. I thought they were quite colorful.
The group of us on the tour walked through various galleries, admiring and learning about the contemporary collections of abstract work from artists from various periods. Each docent took their take on pieces they admired in the collection.
Abstract by Ilya Bolotwosky “Study for Mural for Hall of Medicine, Public Health Building, New York World’s Fair.
Artist Bony Ramirez is a Dominican artist born in the Dominican Republic and works in New Jersey. He is known for his island influences in his works and reflects life in the Caribbean nation. He uses all sorts of materials to achieve his works of art (Artist’s bio).
The gallery opening of the artist’s work on the second floor of the museum.
The write up on his work.
Cow sculpture
Painting and sculpture
One of the artist’s paintings on Colonialization.
One of the artist’s recent sculptures.
The exhibition was small and it was one of the first shows that the artist mounted at a major museum. I thought the work was okay but nothing dramatic. Still it was a nice opening and a reception. The artist seemed thrilled by it all.
Newark Museum History and Highlights tour:
Welcome to the Newark Museum. Our unique approach to exhibiting our extraordinary art and science collections provides unforgettable experiences for people of all ages. It is a place where people of different generations, cultures and communications encounter a robust science collection and world-class act including the arts of Africa, Ancient arts, Arts of Asia, Decorative arts and American art.
The American Wing galleries at the Newark Museum. The Max Webber piece is to the right.
Take an inspirational journey through our many galleries. Marvel at shooting stars in our popular planetarium. Travel to another era in the Victorian Ballantine House, a National Historic Landmark. Pause at a Tibetan Buddhist altar consecrated by His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. Stroll through our beautiful sculpture garden, visit our Museum Shops and enjoy delicious light fare or snacks at our Cafe (will be reopening soon).
For the Lunar New Year in 2025, the Newark Museum had a wonderful family celebration for Chinese New Year. The museum had all sorts of games and crafts for the kids and tours for the families.
A Chinese musical group started the festivities for Chinese New Year at the Newark Museum. This was the folk band from JTL Band. They sang traditional songs in Chinese.
The group entertained the crowd with a wide applause
After the performance, we were treated to a Ribbon Dance. Dancer Lina Liu
The traditional Ribbon Dance by the Lina Liu Artist Group
The beauty of the dance
The end of the performance
The museum did a wonderful job with all the entertainment. The Planetarium also had a interesting show in the Moon and the phases that show in the evening sky. It was a very interesting show. Even though it was geared towards children, they made it so easy to understand in fun and engaging way.
The museum did a nice job for the Lunar holidays. In 2026, they had another interesting festival of Korean music and dance.
Entertainment from the Korean Cultural Society
The best was the resfreshments at the end of the program. They had the most delicious Korean Chicken and Dumplings along with other dishes.
The Korean dishes I enjoyed that afternoon. I had to go back for seconds of the chicken and dumplings.
Coming back for seconds
I then walked around the main hall to enjoy the works of local Korean-American artists. I have to admit it was a quick afternoon
The works of local artists
Come visit us. You’ll wonder why you waited:
(from the website and from the museum pamphlet)
The Newark Museum exhibits world-class art and science in a unique way. Visitors feel enriched by what they had planned to see and excited about the unexpected discoveries that they made along the way.
The new entrance of the museum
American Art:
With more than 12,000 paintings, sculptures, works on paper and multimedia art, the American art collection at the Newark Museum, many on view in the Picturing America galleries, is one of the finest in the country. Surveying four centuries, the Museum’s American holdings range from the Colonial to the Contemporary and are particularly strong in works from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Ancient Art:
The Museum’s art of the ancient Mediterranean cultures, Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome, includes a remarkable array of classical antiques, as well as an Egyptian collection featuring the coffin lid of Henet-Mer. The Eugene Schaefer Collection of ancient glass offers a visual history of the evolution of glass technology in Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Islamic worlds and dates from 1500 B.C. to 1400 A.D.
Arts of Africa:
With works ranging from Moroccan textiles in South African beadwork to contemporary fine art, the Museum’s African art collection is as diverse as the continent itself. The collection is among the most comprehensive in the United States with more than 4,000 art works dating from the 17th century to the present day. Its holdings are also distinguished for their breadth of artistic representation, including masks and figural statuary, dress and adornment, photography and paintings.
Arts of Native North America:
The Native North American art collection spans the continental United States, as well as Alaska and Canada. Most of the works date from the 19th to the late 20th centuries. The collection represents the diversity and richness of indigenous arts with a range of object types including tools, household items, personal effects, clothing, ritual and ceremonial objects, paintings and drawings.
Arts of Asia:
The most extraordinary historical collection of Tibetan art in the Western Hemisphere is on permanent view. Additional galleries dedicated to the arts of Japan, Korea, China as well as South and Southeast Asia feature superior examples of sculptures, paintings, ceramics and decorative arts from the past 2,000 years.
Decorative Arts:
Furniture, silver, ceramics, glass, jewelry, costumes and textiles comprise the vast Decorative Arts holdings, which range from the 16th century to the present. A wide variety of American and European household furnishings create an international context for New Jersey-made and owned objects displayed in rotating gallery installations.
Ballantine House:
Built in 1885 for Jeanette and John Holme Ballantine of the celebrated Newark beer-brewing family, this brick and limestone mansion was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. Wander through history in House & Home, a suite of eight Victorian period rooms and accompanying thematic galleries depicting how people have decorated their homes in America, from the 1650’s to the present day.
The Ballantine House
Science:
You will also find New Jersey’s first planetarium here and an 83,000-specimen natural Science Collection, which is the basis of the exhibit Dynamic Earth: Revealing Nature’s Secrets, located in the Victoria Hall of Science. This engaging exhibit features interactive and multimedia displays that make the natural sciences come alive and help adults and children better understand the natural world.
Newark Fire Museum:
Housed in the circa 1860 Ward Carriage House in the Alice Ransom Dreyfuss Memorial Garden, the newly refurbished Newark Fire Museum tells the story of the challenges faced by firefighters in the 19th century and includes historic fire apparatus and equipment. An exciting new exhibit adds a potentially life-saving element to our mission with a high-tech interactive Fire Safety Center designed to teach fire safety and prevention to children and families.
The Newark Fire Museum in the gardens.
1784 Old Stone School House:
The oldest standing school building in Newark, this one-room school hosted generations of students between 1784 and the early 20th century. Recently restored, its detailed bring the past to life: the foundation built with sandstone from a local Newark quarry, the floorboards sawed by hand from trees cut from a local forest and the old cast iron stove used to heat the school with wood provided by the students.
The Old Stone Schoolhouse in the gardens.
The historic plaque at the Old Stone Schoolhouse
Planetarium:
The Alice and Leonard Dreyfuss Planetarium provides an immersive, out-of-this-world experience through which adults and children can learn about astronomy, planetary science and space travel. Featured is a state-of-the-art, full dome digital video system, a 5.1 surround-sound system and a Zeiss ZKP3B star projector.
Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the Newark Museum pamphlet. The museum is the pride and joy of the State of New Jersey. It has great programming and wonderful events. Please call or email the museum for more details.
The Pascack Valley Historical Society is now celebrating their 75th Anniversary.
The Pascack Historical Society Museum (John C. Storms Museum), headquarters of the award-winning Pascack Historical Society, is located in the 1873 church building that was dedicated by the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. The building and all the exhibitions have gone through an extensive renovation and have been reinstalled with more signage and information. Please check out their new displays.
The sign that greets you in the front of the building.
The Historical Marker in front of the building.
As you enter the building, you are welcomed to a comfortable spot.
The extensive exhibits include a general store, colonial kitchen, a Victorian Living Room, dolls, clothing and other displays of American life in the Pascack Valley. The front gallery as you enter serves as a classroom and lecture hall for the society. There you can see a variety of artifacts in the collection from china to guns and clothing.
Artifacts in the front room.
Artifacts in the first gallery.
A collection of antique guns in the front gallery.
A selection of hats in the front gallery.
There is also a special exhibition that features the world’s only wampum drilling machine as well as a collection of early colonial currency.
The Wampum Machine sign and how Wampum is made.
Their early Colonial Financial exhibits include an early wampum machine that the tour guide had said that it was the only one of its kind that made a type of rolled wampum from the inner section of a conch shell. Early New Jersey currency is well represented in the collection with several types of dollar bills at a time when states printed their own currency for its citizens. Really take a look at the early detail work of these bills.
The Wampum display of shells and tools.
The uses of Wampum and how it is made.
The oldest working Wampum machine in the world.
The Van Ripper General Store exhibition features many types of early Colonial artifacts that include weights and measures, food items found in an early grocery store, turn of the last century bottles and many types of appliances for cooking. Several treasures are tucked here and there to create the mood of shopping at the turn of the last century in Bergen County. There are classic groceries, weights and measures to weight groceries and several artifacts from the Van Ripper and Stockdale Farms which used to be located in the area.
The General Store sign
The General Store display.
Stockdale’s Dairy Farm was a popular farm in Park Ridge before the 1960’s.
Tools need on the farm and in the home.
The Tool display at the General Store.
The Toy Collection is extensive and covers several time periods. They have a interesting collection of dolls over the ages that include cloth and china dolls that would cater to children from different economic status. There are also games, wooden and metal pull toys and hobby toys such as marbles and jacks.
The Early Dutch Farmhouse Kitchen & Dining Room features one of the first beds that has no mattress but constructed by a series of ropes that are tightened. The tour guide explained that this might be where the expression “Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite” might have come from as the ropes needed to be tightened each evening before the family went to bed.
Early Dutch life sign.
The exhibit also had early furniture hatches, chamber pots, a butter churner, various chairs that were manufactured in the area and several detailed decorative pieces.
The Early Dutch Kitchen and Living Space
The Victorian Dress of the church visitation.
The Victorian Living Room features many plush pieces of furniture, decorative knick-knacks that used to dominate the décor and a graceful piano with mother of pearl keys and decorative carved sides. This model was one of maybe a hundred made for a very elite client. The display also featured one of the early record players that still works.
The ‘Victorian Afternoon’ exhibition in 2024:
The sign for the Victorian home:
The ideal Victorian Home ‘Parlor’
Early Edison products
Early Edison recording equipment was not just musical but decorative.
The horse display.
The new exhibition 2025: ‘Collignon Chairs’
The exhibition is on the Collignon Chair factory of River Vale, NJ and the selection of chairs that the factory once manufactured.
The sign from the exhibition
Some of the collection of Collignon chairs on display including the popular deck chair used on streamlines.
The popular folding rocker from the collection
The display of chairs and a drawing of the old factory
Off to the side, there is an early sleigh and horse display, an exhibit of typewriters and carbon paper as I found out the area was once the leading manufacturer for carbon paper and a complete workshop with tools from all eras.
Typewriter collection at the museum.
Early Electronics
The schoolhouse desk of the school master.
The workshop is a very detailed in its artifacts with early saws, hammers and items that even I could not figure out what they were.
In the main room, there are more cases of toys, Revolutionary items and Native American artifacts to explore.
Native American Artifacts
The Lenape display
The Native American display.
A small gift shop is off to the side selling items donated by members.
Become a Friend: From the Friends of the Pascack Historical Society Museum pamphlet:
Pascack Historical Society Information and History:
The Corner Cupboard of early American china.
(From their pamphlet):
Membership Benefits:
Become a member of the Pascack Historical Society, a 501C3 organization. Dues are modest and membership has its privileges!
One year of free admission to the museum and most of its activities.
A one year subscription to the Society’s award-winning quarterly newsletter, RELICS.
10% discount on museum gift shop items (Sale items and new books excluded).
50% discounts on programs for children and adults.
You will receive Members Only advance notice mailings and emails about upcoming events and activities.
Members only “behind the scenes tours” of the museum. (By Appointment Only).
You will have the satisfaction of knowing you have joined the ranks of the area’s most passionate historical preservationists, who have a commitment to educate and enrich their neighbors’ lives-young and old.
The Military embellishments
In 2026, the museum was celebrating the ‘250th Anniversary’ of the Revolutionary War and had an exhibition of artifacts from the Pascack Valley.
The ‘250th Anniversary’ of Revolutionary War
This included all the stops that General Washington made in Bergen County, battles and confrontations with British soldiers and family battles by members who were loyalists and patriots.
The currency of the war years
The exhibitions shows New Jersey’s contributions to the war effort. This part of the exhibition has Colonial currency from New Jersey.
New Jersey Colonial Currency
The full exhibition of the ‘250th Anniversary’ of the Revolution War
Uniforms and accessories of the War years
The Baylor Massacre attack
The Tarlatan Calvary helmet
The Lenape artifacts from that era
Membership Opportunities:
Preserving and disseminating local history is a labor of love when you become a PHS member. It is a partnership between you and your fellow members. We encourage you to think about volunteering at some level at the museum or its events. Check out the volunteer opportunities below and give us a call if you would like to participate in any of them.
Docent: Act as a guide when people visit the museum. A simple one-day training session is all it takes.
Researcher: Do you like to wander through books and archives searching for answers to questions?
Archivists: Preserve and catalog the history of the Pascack Valley.
Educators: Work with youngsters and licensed teachers at Society events.
Tech Savvy: Volunteer your time to help with our website or graphic design.
Handy Helpers: Do you like to repair things? Can you sew, do carpentry? This might be for you.
*Disclaimer: Information on Volunteer and Membership opportunities are taken directly from the Pascack Historical Society Museum pamphlet. Most of the descriptions of the displays is what I was able to see in my short time visiting. The museum has a treasure trove of items to look at in detail.
The Reformed Dutch Church with its Colonial cemetery and the Wortendyke Barn is right down the road so take a few hours to explore the area. The members of the Wortendyke family are buried in the church’s cemetery.
Visit from Bergen Community College for the Bergecco- Parc Consulting Inc. on April 9th, 2025: for the ‘Bergen 250’ project:
The project we created for the “Bergen 250: the 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War” that was created:
As part of my International Marketing class, I took my students to visit the three sites for our project on the ‘Bergen 250’:
The students toured the museum with the assistance of the Museum’s Board members
As part of the assignment for our ‘Farm to Table Dinner’, the project starts here with a Cocktail Party and tour of the museum. The back room of the museum was where the party takes place and then the guests would tour the museum before heading to dinner at the Wortendyke Barn down the road.
Peter Meany, the First Vice President of the Board explaining the Wampum machine to the students. This form of Native American currency is the only machine in the world like it and is a rare artifact.
Our Team group picture at the Pascack Valley Historical Society with members of the Museum’s Executive Board Peter Meany, Ralph Donnell Jr. and Christopher Kersting.
We want to thank the Board for taking time out of their busy schedule to support the students on this project.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 