Tag: Exploring Ridgewood NJ

Old Paramus Reformed Church 660 East Glen Avenue Ridgewood, NJ 07450

Old Paramus Reformed Church

660 East Glen Avenue

Ridgewood, NJ 07450

(201) 444-5933

http://www.oldparamus.org/

https://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/ridgewood_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm

Open: Please check the website for full hours

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46772-d25252234-Reviews-Old_Paramus_Reformed_Church-Ridgewood_New_Jersey.html

The Old Paramus Reformed Church at 660 East Glen Avenue

I have toured the Old Paramus Reformed Church at 660 East Glen Avenue in Ridgewood, NJ many times during the year. I have been on cemetery walks and talks during the summer. I have had Christmas services at the church during the Epiphany. I have also toured the grounds during Halloween when the Ridgewood Historical Society had lead tours at the church.

Signage from Route 17

During the Christmas holiday season I was so busy that I was not able to visit my local church. So when I was able to celebrate the Epiphany, I visited the Old Dutch Reformed Church in Ridgewood, NJ. The Church is one of the oldest in both Bergen County, NJ and the State of New Jersey. It is especially beautiful during the holidays. I love coming here because it just reminds you of Christmas and what a church should look like during the holidays. It looks like a Currier & Ives woodcut during the holiday season. The congregation does a nice job decorating it.

The entrance to the Old Paramus Reformed Church at Christmas time

It really was a nice service with music, the choir singing Christmas hymns and a bell service. It reminded me of my years at the Dutch Reformed Church in Woodstock, NY when I celebrated Christmas there. The whole church was decorated in holly and garland with Christmas trees in the corners and white candles lit in the corner.

The Inside of the Old Paramus Reformed Church for the holidays

The interior of the church during Epiphany services 2022

The start of the Epiphany Services January 8th, 2022

The Choir singing during church services at the Epiphany services

The beautiful decorations at Christmas time at the Paramus Reformed Church

What I liked after the service was over was that everyone walked up to me to greet me. I was one of the younger people in the church and I guess that they were happy to see some young blood. The congregation is so welcoming as I think they want newer members to join and I have to say that the services there are very inspiring and though provoking.

I find that message very positive and very contemporary in an environment that may seem old-fashioned to some. It is called manners, curtesy and a sense of spiritualism that is lacking in the world today. They make the church so welcoming again.

Paramus Reformed Church at nighttime during Christmas 2022

Paramus Reformed Church during night time Christmas services

Nativity scene at the Paramus Reformed Church during Christmas 2022 at night

The Nativity scene during the day

The services there are very nice and I thought the church with its wooden benches and older architecture made the service even more special. It was a combination of the decoration, the music, the songs and the friendliness of the congregation that made the last day of the 12 Days of Christmas special for me.

I had also been to the church a few years prior for a private cemetery walk through the back part of the church looking at the old tombstones, The church is the burial place of many of Bergen County’s original settlers so the headstones are very old. Some of the tombstones were made of sandstone and the other of shale. Many had not survived the weather after all these years.

The cemetery at the Old Paramus Reformed Church is an interesting place

The interesting part of the pre-Halloween walk was that the tour guide from the Ridgewood Historical Society told us the reason the cemetery was shaped the way it was today. The cemetery was placed around the original church and when the new church was built in 1800, the newer part of the cemetery was created. It is interesting to walk amongst the graves and look at all the names of the original families of Bergen County that included the Haring’s, Zabriskie’s, Terhune’s, Blauvelt’s, Van Ripper’s and Demarest’s.

The cemetery at the Old Paramus Reformed Church

The cemetery guide at the Old Paramus Reformed Church

If you get a chance to tour the church or the grounds you will know the reason why this is such a special church. Maybe it was the church’s rich history in Bergen County.

The History of the Old Paramus Reformed Church of Ridgewood, NJ:

The Old Paramus Reformed Church has a rich past. The congregation was formed in the year 1725. During the American Revolution, the Paramus Church was the site of a Continental Army military post for four years during which clashes between American and British forces tool place. It was also in the original church building that General George Washington held a session of the court-martial of General Charles Lee who disobeyed order at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. Washington had his headquarters here at the church a total of ten times during various days from 1778-1780.

Other noted Revolutionary War figures such as Alexander Hamilton, the Marquis de Lafayette, Anthony Wayne, Richard Henry Lee and Aaron Burr also were here from time to time during the war. From early colonial times, slaves were members of the church congregation, the upper galleries on both sides being designed for their use during services.

The present church building was built in 1800. An interesting feature is that the pews are numbered. The members of earlier days rented them on an annual basis. The most expensive were numbers 50-57 at $52.00 per year while the least expensive were numbers 38-100 at $4.00 per year> Needless to say, the less expensive pews are at the rear of the sanctuary.

On each side of the pulpit, there are three pews placed at right angles to the rest of the pews in the church. These were reserved for the Elders and Deacons (on the left and right respectively). These persons collectively are known as the Consistory, which is the governing board of the church. It was their duty to sit in these pews each Sabbath with their Bibles and copies of the day’s sermons to check on the “Domine” as to his conduct of the service as well as sticking to his sermon!

That tradition (as to seating) was kept alive for many years in Old Paramus by members of the Consistory who sat in the first pew facing the pulpit each Sunday. The only similar practice in use today is that the Elders serving Communion sit in the first rows on either side of the center aisle.

The decorated organ pipes in the rear of the chancel (choir loft) behind the pulpit date back to 1892. In that year, they were installed when the church received the gift of a new organ from a congregation member.

The inside of the Old Paramus Reformed Church

At the top of the arch the pulpit, there is a Dove of Peace. The dove is made of wood and is hand-carved. The exact date of origin of the dove is unknown. One authority claims that, “The bird is an eagle and was a donation by Dr. Garrett D. Banta in 1800.” Records from the Consistory minutes read: 1874, August 3rd: Resolved that the Consistory thankfully recognize the kindness of Mrs. Catherine Wessella for repairing and regilding the Dove, which has been a part of the decoration of the old church.

There are three flags on the pulpit-the American flag, the Christian flag and the flag of The Netherlands, the last representing our Dutch heritage. In a similar vein, for many years the Dutch flag was flown under the American flag on the staff in front of the church. Today only the American flag is flown on the flag pole.

There are several plaques on the inside walls of the church. Some honor the ministers and others honor the various Consistories since 1725. Another just inside the front door notes that this church has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In display cases you will find various bits of memorabilia concerning our history.

When attending Old Paramus Reformed Church, you will have come to a warm and comfortable historic church to your whole being.

On the church campus, you will find modern Educational Building which houses the church offices and facilities need for Christian nurture. Another building is the one-room church like schoolhouse. This building houses the Ridgewood Historical and Preservation Society and is known as The Schoolhouse Museum. It was built in 1872 and was used as a school until 1905. It contains many items of historical note to this area. Make it a point to visit this museum during visiting hours. You should find it to be a very interesting and reward visit.

The signage of the historical landmark status

So what kind of church is Old Paramus Reformed Church? It is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, the oldest Protestant denomination with a continuous ministry in America. The first church was established in New York City, then known as New Amsterdam in 1628. The Collegiate Churches presently represent the origins of that original Congregational. The best known is Marble Collegiate Church, which is where Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was the minister for fifty-two years. The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is an historic denomination coming out of the Reformation when the Church was “re-formed” and re-organized according to the teachings of the Word of God, the Bible. The Reformed Church of is Biblical in doctrine, semi-liturgical in worship. Presbyterian in government and evangelical in practice.

This year, Old Paramus Reformed Church celebrates 295 years of God’s Loving Spirit. Come join us next Sunday at 10:00am. We would be most happy to see you and you will surely feel rewarded for the experience.

(Disclaimer: This information was taken from the Church’s history and I give them full credit for the information).

The James Rose Center 506 East Ridgewood Avenue Ridgewood, NJ 07450

The James Rose Center

506 East Ridgewood Avenue

Ridgewood, NJ 07450

Phone: (201) 446-6017

Email: http://www.jamesrosecenter.org

Fee: Adults $8.00/Children $5.00

Open: Tuesday-Sunday-10:00am-4:00pm/Closed Mondays

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46772-d15190166-Reviews-James_Rose_Center-Ridgewood_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

Originally designed as his own home, today the James Rose Center serves as the headquarters of a non-profit educational foundation, the mission of which is to improve the environment through research, education, preservation and design.

I recently toured the James Rose House with members of the Ridgewood Historical Museum. We had a lecture on the house and James Rose’s work in the industry as an architect and the other projects he had worked on over the years before his death in 1991.

James Rose House at 506 East Ridgewood Avenue

http://jamesrosecenter.org/

The lecture was followed by a tour of the house with the group and then a small lecture and tour with the guide. We got to see the whole house, what he was trying to achieve in the design and the renovation work on the house as it is in pretty bad shape. The materials that were used to build the house were not the best quality and have rotted over the years. There is a lot of restoration work on the house that is needed.

We were able to walk all around the house and what struck me was the use of nature in the design of the house. He used the trees and brook on the property to achieve the aesthetic of the design of the house but over the years it has been used against it as the trees have either grown too big around the house or have died, in which one did and caused thousands of dollars of damage on the house. Still, it was an interesting tour of how the house was used as a studio and a family home for him, his mother and unmarried sister.

History:

James Rose (1913-1991) was a maverick landscape architect whose rebellious nature caused one writer to refer him as the “James Dean of Landscape Architecture.” Here Rose created a unique work of art fusing modern sculpture, architecture and landscape into a single unified place for living.

(Information from the Center’s pamphlet)

For its unique modern spatial language, its expression of an alternative approach to conventional post war suburban residential development and as the constantly changing laboratory of one of landscape architecture’s most inventive minds, the Ridgewood home of James Rose is one of the twentieth century’s most important landscapes.

The Vision:

Rose began the design while in Okinawa during World War II with a model he made from scrapes found in construction battalion headquarters. “I wanted the spaces flowing easily from one to another, divided for privacy and for convenience.” Rose wrote in 1943. “I wanted the arrangement flexible and varied. Most of all, I wanted all this integrated with the site in a design that seemed to grow, to mature and to review itself as all living things do.”

The Reality:

Constructed in 1953, Rose described his home as a “tiny village” build on an area half the size of a tennis court. It was a composite of three buildings-a main house for his mother, a guesthouse for his sister and a studio for himself. This experimental landscape achieves a fusion of indoors and outdoors perhaps unequaled by other leading designers of this time. Rose later described it as “neither landscape nor architecture, but both; neither indoors, nor outdoors but both.”

The Metamorphosis:

It was conceived to accommodate rapid twentieth century charge. “I decided to go at the construction as you might a painting or sculpture.” Rose wrote. “I set the basic armature of walls and roofs and open spaces to establish their relationships but left it free in detail to allow for improvisation. In that way it would never be “finished,” but constantly evolving from one stage to the next-ametamorphosis,” Rose wrote, “such as we find commonly in nature.”

Consistent with this, the design changed dramatically during the almost forty years Rose lived here. From 1961, when Rose was invited by the Japanese government to participate in a World Design Conference (WoDeCo), he founded a mirror to his modern American design sensibility in the ancient culture of Japan. In changes such as the addition of the roof garden and zendo in the early 1970’s a fusion of ancient East and modern West is effected as Rose compares the filigrees of plant forms to the filigrees of structure. “In the bare architecture outline is a pattern of organic (rather than cosmetic) decoration and an inter division of space.”

The Reincarnation:

Unfortunately in the eighties this remarkable design, built to accommodate rapid growth went into rapid disrepair. Neglect, fire and water damage threatened complete destruction until a foundation was established by Rose, Dean Cardasis and a few of Rose’s close friends was formed just before Rose’s death in 1991. In 1993 the rehabilitation of this important property began and continues to this day. The site serves students, scholars and the general public in its new life as the James Rose Center for Landscape Architectural Research and Design.

The rehabilitation reversed rampant deterioration of the previous decade. Support systems were revamped. Fire damage was repaired. The leaking roof was rebuilt and Rose’s roof garden was reconstructed. Salvageable wood was reconditioned and woven with new lumber. Garden pools were rebuilt and important planting edges re-established. Murals and other original artwork were reconditioned. Through the center’s ongoing efforts, Rose’s enduring creation has entered a new stage of its metamorphosis from which it will continue to evolve.

But it remains consistent with its origins as a important modern work and serves the same larger purpose it always had for Rose to pose for us elemental questions about the nature of design. “Change is the essence,” Rose observed. “To reveal what is always there is the trick. The metamorphosis is seen minute by minute, season by season, year by year. Through this looking glass, ‘finish’ is another word for death.”

(Ridgewood-James Rose Center History)

James Rose, landscape theorist, author and practitioner

Along with Garrett Eckbo and Dan Kiley, James C. Rose was one of the leaders of the modern movement in American landscape architecture. Rose was only five years old when his father died and with his mother and older sister, moved to New York City from rural Pennsylvania. He never graduated from high school (because he refused to take music and mechanical drafting) but nevertheless managed to enroll in architecture courses at Cornell University. A few years later he transferred as a special student to Harvard University to study landscape architecture. He was soon expelled from Harvard in 1937 for refusing to design landscapes in the Beaux Arts manner.

The design experiments for which he was expelled served as a basis for a series of provocative articles expounding modernism in landscape design, published in 1938 and 1939 in Pencil Points magazine (now Progressive Architecture). Subsequently Rose authored many other articles, including a series with Eckbo and Kiley as well as four books which advance both the theory and practice of landscape architecture in the twentieth century.

Rose was employed briefly in New York City in 1941 as a landscape architecture by Tuttle, Seelye, Place and Raymond where he worked on the design of a staging area to house thirty thousand men to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. For a short time, Rose had a sizable practice of his own in New York City but he quickly decided that large-scale public and corporate work would impose too many restrictions on his creative freedom and devoted most of his post WWII career to the design of private gardens.

Fusion of indoor and outdoor space:

In 1953, he began building one of his most significant designs, the Rose residence in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Rose conceived of the design while stationed in Okinawa, Japan in 1943. He made the first model from scraps found in construction battalion headquarters. After construction, the design was published in the December 1954 issue of Progressive Architecture, juxtaposed to the design for a traditional Japanese house built in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; the article cites Rose’s design for its spatial discipline. The design clearly expresses Rose’s idea of fusion between indoor and outdoor space as well as his notion that modern environmental design must be flexible between indoor and outdoor space as well as his notion that modern environmental design must be flexible to allow for changes in the environment as well as in the in the lives of its users.

Practice based on improvisation:

From 1953 until his death, Rose based an active professional practice in his home. Like Thomas Church and many others. Rose practiced a form of design/build because it gave him control over the finished work and allowed him to spontaneously improvise with the sites of his gardens. As a result of this, most examples also exist in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, California and abroad.

Establishment of a landscape research and design study center:

James C. Rose was one of the most colorful figures in twentieth century landscape design. While skeptical of most institutions during his lifetime he served as guest lecturer and visiting critic at numerous landscape architecture and architecture schools. Before he died he set in motion an idea which had been in his mind for forty years; the establishment of a landscape research and design study center and created a foundation to support the transformation of his Ridgewood residence for this purpose. Rose died in his home in 1991 of cancer.

(James Rose Foundation-James Rose Center)

The upper part of the house.

The upper part of the house

Ridgewood Arts Council Ridgewood, NJ 07451

Ridgewood Arts Council

P.O. Box 183

Ridgewood, NJ 07451

The Ridgewood Arts Council recently came to talk to my Support Group that is based in Ridgewood, NJ and went over the different programs that they sponsor. This is more information on the organization.

The mission of The Ridgewood Arts Council (RAC) is to support and promote the vital role all arts play in our lives, the lives of our children and in our community at large.

Accomplishments: In its first year as a volunteer organization formed by the Village Council, the RAC has established a website, an online interactive community arts calendar and a permanent art installation entitled Ridgewood Art at Village Hall.

Future Goals: Endeavors of the RAC for the future include supporting existing arts organizations and events throughout Ridgewood, hosting our own unique arts-related programs and instituting an ongoing scholarship program for Ridgewood students involved with the arts.

Support Needed: No organization such as the RAC can be sustained without the hard work of volunteers and we welcome your involvement. The Ridgewood Arts Foundation, an independent New Jersey Nonprofit Corporation with 501 (c) (3) tax status, has been formed to assist in the promotion of the arts in Ridgewood through the use of private donations. To join the Ridgewood Arts Council (program arm) or to become a trustee of the Ridgewood Arts Foundation (fund-raising arm), please email rac@ridgewoodnj.net.

Disclaimer: This information was take directly from the Ridgewood Arts Council handout and for more information on the organization, please check their email site or Google the organization.

The Schoolhouse Museum-Ridgewood Historical Society 650 Glen Avenue Ridgewood, NJ 07450

The Schoolhouse Museum-Ridgewood Historical Society

650 Glen Avenue

Ridgewood, NJ 07450

(201) 447-3242

Current Exhibit

150 Years of the Schoolhouse

RidgewoodHistoricalSociety@Verizon.net

Open: Sunday 2:00pm-4:00pm/Monday-Wednesday Closed/Thursday and Saturday: 1:00pm-3:00pm (please check the websites for changes in the schedule)

Admission: Donation $5.00

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46772-d10353516-Reviews-Schoolhouse_Museum-Ridgewood_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

The Ridgewood Schoolhouse Museum at 650 Glen Avenue

I have visited this interesting small history museum a few times and they do a wonderful job in presenting their displays with interesting facts catering not just to a local crowd, but anyone interested in history and events.

The historic marker outside the museum

The one-room schoolhouse, built in 1872, operated as a public school until 1905. It was part of the district school system formed in 1864 or 1865, which was geographically defined rather than by township. It was operated as School District No. 45. When the towns incorporated in 1894, that district system was dissolved, and the school became part of the Ridgewood school district.

The Ridgewood Schoolhouse Museum’s permanent collection

Tradition has it that the original land grant to the Dutch Reformed congregation from Pierre Fauconier and his daughter, Magdalena Valleau, stated that room should always be given upon the church land for a school. We know that a small school building opened in 1785. A second stone school was built in 1820 and eventually replaced by a frame structure in 1845.

Eventually the present schoolhouse was built in 1872 at a cost of $4600.00. It is likely that other schools existed on the church property from the time the church was built in 1735 to 1785, for the consistory assumed responsibility for education and the exact time when that responsibility was handed over to the public is not known.

The large bell summoned children from miles away to school each morning. The original belfry is gone but the bell stands in the entryway. It was used in other schools and a church after the school closed in 1905 but was returned to the historical society in 1977.

The original entry was divided into separate entrances and cloakrooms for boys and girls. The potbelly stove is original as are the windows and the two central lamps. The black boards around the room have been removed except for one behind the teacher’s platform.

There is a recreation of the old schoolhouse when you walk into the museum

When the Historical Society started the museum, the privy building was attached to the main building to provide more display area. In their special display area, they have an exhibition space for farming and a local comedian.

The schoolhouse display

In April 2018, they have a very interesting exhibition call “The Thread of Life” which tells the story of family’s progression in home life from the end of the Civil War until the beginning of the Depression and times changed between the Civil War and WWI. Between the Victorian Era, the sinking if the Titanic and the devastation of WWI, the baby boom of the teens and the ‘Roaring Twenties’ with the stock market built changed the attitudes.

The way of life for an entire generation until the Great Depression put a halt on it. You can see the changes of behavior in the displays of clothes and household decor. It is an interesting display.

A Morning Outfit during the Victorian Age

Union Army outfits and display for the “Civil War” artifacts

They also have an ongoing exhibition of farm equipment and a continuation of their “Farming in Bergen County” exhibition that just closed before this show. This is how farmers of Bergen County produced their crops.

Dutch items in the collection

The Blauvelt, Zabriskie and Haring families are known farming family names in Bergen County and were important in business and politics during the after the Revolutionary War.

The “Farming and Agricultural” display

Also, see their ‘Halloween Cemetery Walk” in my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” entry “This is Halloween” Day Ninety-Six, October 31, 2017. Don’t miss it this year!

Day Ninety-Six: This is Halloween-MywalkinManhattan.com:

https://wordpress.com/post/mywalkinmanhattan.com/7062

The Cemetery Walks in October are extremely popular

Don’t miss the “Here comes the Brides” exhibition that just opened up in May of 2019. It shows the history of formal wear for weddings along with accessories, menswear, invitations and even cakes toppers.

‘Here comes the Bride’ Exhibition 2019

In July of 2020, as Phase Three of the Opening in the State of New Jersey, the Museum is now open from 2:00pm-4:00pm for viewing with a new exhibition “A” is for Artistry: Celebrating Centuries of Art, Artists & Creativity”. The exhibit is a combination of local donated art and heirlooms from Ridgewood and the surrounding towns.

There are interesting displays of early photography and portrait painting as a way of preserving a persons’ image for the future. The use of oil painting, tin and then photo ‘sittings’ came in vogue as the technology changed.

Portraits were the form of imagetry before photography was invented

There was an interesting display of Children’s toys from the handmade farm toys of clay and corn husks to the fancier toys of bisque and cloth when imports and specialty toy stores were created for children’s playthings. They even had a collection of the famous “Punch & Judy Dolls”.

The Punch & Judy Dolls at the “A is for Artistry” exhibition

Children’s playthings over the last two hundred years

Another standout of the exhibition was the display from General Westervelt, a local citizen of Bergen County whose shipping expertise helped the North during the Civil War. His use of navigation and sailing was a detriment to the South and there was a $1000.00 bounty on his head. He died during the Civil War.

The “Object Lessons-Treasures that tell our Stories” exhibition

In 2022, when the Museum reopened after a long closure with COVID, they opened with two exhibitions: One was “Object Lessons-Treasures that tell our stories”, in which household objects, farming equipment and all sorts of artifacts from the pre-Revolution, Revolutionary War and Civil War periods were shown. It showed the progression that life took for families between the Revolutionary War and the beginnings of the Victorian Age.

“American Revolutionary War” display

They had local Dutch family heirlooms such as chests, cabinets, china, clothing and even documents. The average Dutch family kept their family linens, china, silver and bedding in a locked chest as these were valuable family luxuries that needed protection and proper care.

Dutch Chest with family items that were locked up.

There was a “Lincoln display” at the museum. They had a copy of the poster from the night that President Lincoln was assassinated at Ford Theater during the performance of “My American Cousin”. There was a family shot of the Lincoln family and items from the period.

The “Lincoln Display” that showed an original poster from “Our American Cousin” the night Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

The other exhibition was “Toying with the Past: Antique Toys & Games”:

Toying with the Past was an interesting exhibition in that it showed how much toys have developed and changed over the years and how much they have stayed the same. There was a beautiful collection of china and bisque dolls, some that were made as playthings and others used as marketing tools to show women the latest fashions coming out of Europe. The dolls would be dressed in the dressmakers’ newest designs.

The Doll Collection is beautifully displayed

There were older versions of modern board games, everyday items like marbles and Jaxs. There were kitchen-based items that a little girl might be given to improve her domestic skills and there was even an early version of an “Easy Bake Oven”, with an electric oven that could be plugged in and boil water.

The items a young girl would receive to prepare her for homelife

Fancy rocking horses and dolls

Vehicles and Board Games that sparked children’s imagination

More dolls and vehicles over the last 100 years

There was also all sort of toys on wheels and rocking horses that could entertain a grumpy child for hours. They even had a selection of play clothes and school items to show what classroom work was like at the turn of the last century.

Childhood was changing for young people after the Civil War and during the Victorian Age

The Latest Exhibition that was on display in April 2023 was the “History of Hats” that replaced the Toy exhibiton:

Hats from all ages

Men’s hats through the ages

Military Hats

General’s Hat

Ladies bonnets

‘Fashion of the 1880’s’

Special Events and Lectures at the Museum:

Don’t miss their ‘Cemetery Walks’ during the day. I took one recently at the old Dutch Reformed Church and we discussed the history of the church, the location of the old church versus the building of the new one, which is why the cemetery looks the way it does and the locations of the tombstones as well as how time and advancement in carving went from sandstone, which fades and chips over time when to the production of granite and marble for future tombstones.

The Cemetery Walks in Valleau Cemetery across from the museum

The cemetery is filled with names famous and prominent in Bergen County and North Jersey history which includes participation in the wars and the building of Bergen County including the Westervelt’s, Van Riper’s, Haring’s, Zabriskie’s, Terhune’s, Demerest’s, Blauvelt’s and Tice’s families. It is a fascinating place to learn Bergen County history and its development.

The Cemetery Tours that take place the week before Halloween are interesting as well. The paths of the Valleau Cemetery in Ridgewood are lined with candles and you follow the path with the town historian who takes you on a creepy tour of the famous dead residents of Ridgewood. These include prominent athletes, business people and local laborers. You pretty much tour about a third of the cemetery as you move from one tombstone to another met by costumed actors, who they themselves have to sit in the cemetery in the dark waiting for you. That is a horror movie into itself.

The best part of the tour is you are greeted at the museum with a tour of the museum and a table laden with fresh apple cider and cider doughnuts that make the perfect refreshment on a cool fall evening. Make sure to take the 7:00pm tour when it is dark out and make the reservation well in advance as these tours fill up fast.

The Cemetery Walks are a fascinating look into Ridgewood, NJ’s past

Taking the Cemetery Tours is interesting!

Don’t miss their upcoming tours for Halloween, Christmas and their lecture series.

Please check out the museum’s website for all their very original special programming.

The museum’s latest acquisition, a Native American on horseback

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