The Wyckoff Historical Society was established to research, preserve and educate about the rich history of Wyckoff, NJ. The organization was founded in 1974 and is incorporated. Recent programs included a walking tour of Wyckoff.
The Society recently restored the old Wyckoff barbershop that was donated to them and now sits on the town property by the Zabriskie Pond and the historic Zabriskie Home. Inside the building houses all sorts of local artifacts, farm tools and vintage furniture along with historic photos of the town of Wyckoff, NJ.
The little building sits right on the Zabriskie Pond.
The Zabriskie Pond in Wyckoff, NJ
History of the Museum:
This 1890’s structure was recorded as being a barbershop in 1905 when it was owned by John Lawrence, who worked for the railroad by day and cut hair at night. It was also a cobbler shop for several years and again a barbershop. The building was on Main Street and Everett Avenue relocating to its current home and donated to the Wyckoff Historical Society by resident and member, Sebastian Gaeta.
The farming display at the Barbershop Museum
The history of the building
The building was neglected for several years and was restored several times, most recently in the summer of 2018 by the society including a full paint job of the interior and exterior and refinishing the bare floors.
The barber chair from the old barber shop
On display are artifacts from Russell Farms, a barber chair from longtime Wyckoff barber, Frank Muscara, a 1905 child’s dress, Lenape artifacts, a Hoosier cabinet and photographs.
The Native American Collection
Artifacts from Wyckoff’s past
Artifacts from old businesses in Wyckoff and the surrounding areas
The tiny museum has a display of its own history as a barbershop on the Main Street of Wyckoff, NJ and how the building served as a local center for its citizens. It was eventually moved as times changed and became the museum it is today telling the story of the Town of Wyckoff, NJ.
The history and movement of the building when it left its original location
The history of the barbershop
The history of the building and the barbershop and of Wyckoff, NJ
Where the building was located in Wyckoff, NJ
Please check their website for opening dates.
The beauty of the Zabriskie Pond on a fall day in 2022. The area is just beautiful.
The Zabriskie Pond in Wyckoff, NJ
Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the Wyckoff Historical Society pamphlet and I give them full credit for the information. Please email them for more information.
I recently visited the Arnault/Bianchi House for a historic lecture by an actress who portrayed Amelia Earhart. It was an interesting afternoon of listening to the actor keep in character and describe her life just before her flight around the world. After the show, the actor was available for conversation with the audience and there was a light lunch after the performance. I thought this was a nice touch to end the afternoon.
The second time I visited the house, it was for the 125th Anniversary Celebration and the Society had all sorts of artifacts out on display. They had the history of the schools, fire department and the police department. They had old council pictures as well as pictures of World War II veterans who fought in the war who lived in town.
There was a also a nice display of the Curtis Wright Plant that once stood at the edge of town and its part in the war effort. There were all sorts of pictures and documents on display of the factory when it was in full function.
After walking the three rooms of artifacts, there was a light reception with cookies, tea and coffee.
The History of the Arnault/Bianchi House:
The town of Wood Ridge, NJ, where the Arnault/Bianchi House is located has made a commitment for the house to be used for cultural events and hands on programs such as poetry readings and author visits.
The house was built in the 1880’s by one of Wood Ridge’s founding father’s, French wine merchant, Fridolin Arnault. The Frenchman used to sell his Bordeaux blends on Fifth Avenue in New York City. His relatives, Rudolphe and Annick Proust, traveled from Paris last year to visit the ‘country house’ of their uncle (The Wood Ridge Historical Society).
The second owner was designer Joseph Briggs, Louis Tiffany’s right hand man. Briggs is responsible for the stained-glass window designs at the Church of St. Paul’s and Resurrection in Wood-Ridge. He eventually sold the house to the Bianchi’s . Not much is known about the Bianchi family (The Wood Ridge Historical Society).
The inside of the house.
The backyard features gardens, meticulous landscaping, enough lawn space for a a grand social affair reminiscent of the Great Gatsby, benches, decorative stone and the exterior buildings the outhouse and carriage house. The second and third floors are not open to the public and are used for storage and the home still needs some repairs. In most of the lower floors are period furnishes and art work (The Wood Ridge Historical Society).
Please watch the papers and the town’s website for future events.
I have visited the FDR Library over the summer for two separate days along with visiting the Vanderbilt Mansion after the tour. It takes about two days to really look through the museum as there is so much to see and read that it can be over-whelming. If you don’t know much about Franklin Roosevelt you will definitely learn it here.
You will learn more about the family at the house tour but here you will learn of the policies of the Presidency, the acts and laws that he put in place and their effect on the county. It outlines why the policy was put in place and the effects on the American people. It was interesting to see how the policies like Social Secretary, Welfare and the Banking regulations are still in affect today.
Each room is another discussion in policy with things leading to the war and it effects on bring us out of the Great Depression. Also the attributes leading to the treaties after the war was finished.
The FDR Library
My recommendation it to take two days and at least an hour and a half each day to visit the museum and break it down into rooms as it can be a lot to take in on one visit. Couple the trip up with a visit to his house, Springwood and learn how the house played a big part in his politics.
About the Museum:
For information about the Museum, Archives, Education and Public Programs and the Henry A. Wallace Center call (800) FDR-VISIT or go to http://www.fdrlibrary.org.
Membership: Membership forms a vital base of support for many of the Library’s key initiatives. To learn about the benefits of a membership and to become a FDR Presidential Library and Museum member today, please visit http://www.fdrlibrary.org or call (845) 486-1970.
The Roosevelt Institute:
The Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute is dedicated to informing new generations of the ideas and achievements of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt through programs, events and publications. With offices in Hyde Park, New York and New York City, the Institute enjoys a special relationship with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. It also works across the country to nurture leaders in public service inspired by the models of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, through a network of 100 progressive college campus-based think thank organizations that include more than 10,000 student members. In the years ahead, the Institute plans to play an even stronger role in nurturing and advancing progressive people and ideas. It will also continue its unique and important relationship with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
The Museum:
As he planned his presidential library, FDR took care to include space for a museum to display his many personal treasures. An avid collector, the President has spent a lifetime gathering extensive collections ranging from stamps and coins to rare books and ship models.
When the FDR Museum opened June 30, 1941, it featured elaborate displays of these collections and the many gifts the Roosevelt’s had received from governments and individuals.
Displays in the Library
Today, the Museum continues to display items from the President’s personal collections. But there are also extensive state of the art exhibits where visitors can experience the lives and times of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
After a privileged childhood on the banks of the Hudson River, FDR entered politics only to endure illness and a lifetime of paralysis after a heroic battle with polio. As President, he led America out of the greatest economic depression in its history and guided the Allied Powers to victory in World War II.
Eleanor Roosevelt improved the lives of millions as a reformer, teacher, journalist, political activist, First Lady, advocate for the underprivileged and as delegate to the United Nations, champion for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today the woman known as the “First Lady of the World” continues to inspire new generations.
Experience the powerful story of these two extraordinary individuals in the Museum’s permanent exhibits. Rare documents and fascinating artifacts bring you face to face with history. Immersive audiovisual programs and interactive displays take visitors vividly into the past. A special “Behind the Scenes” area gives a look inside museum and archives storage rooms to see even more of the Library’s collection. And the Museum’s special exhibitions gallery offers changing exhibits on a regular basis. Repeat visitors will always find something new to see.
Displays in the Library
Archives and Research:
FDR was the first president to give his papers to the American people and they form the core of the Library’s research archives. Since that original gift, the Library has acquired additional important collections related to the Roosevelt era, including the three million page archive of Eleanor Roosevelt. Today the Roosevelt Library houses 17 million pages of manuscript materials in some 400 distinct collections; 51,000 books including FDR’s own personal collection of over 22,000 volumes and 150,000 photographs, negatives and audiovisual items. The Library conducts one of the busiest research operations in the entire Presidential Library system and is used by several thousand on-site and remote researchers each year.
Education and Public Programs:
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum conducts educational programs designed for K-12, college and university students, teachers and adult learners based on the Library’s documentary, audiovisual and museum collections. Programs include on and off site classroom workshops, museum programs and teacher development seminars.
Public programs include the annual reenactment of a World War II “USO Show and Bivouac” over Memorial Day Weekend, the Roosevelt Reading Festival in June and a Children’s Book Festival in December. The Library’s website http://www.fdrlibrary.org has over one million visitors each year including researchers using the digital archive, teachers and students exploring educational resources and those visiting FDR’s interactive daily calendar through our affiliated Pare Lorentz Center http://www.parelorentzcenter.org.
The FDR Library
Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum pamphlet and I give their writers full credit on the information. Please check out their website on Admissions as they do change.
Springwood, the home of the Roosevelt family in Hyde Park, NY
I have visited the childhood home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt many times over the years. It is an interesting part of not just Hudson River Valley history but of American history.
Parts of the house were built in the late 1700’s and added on later by the families who lived in the house. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s father bought the house and continued to add on to it. Most of the estate is still intact as well as the homes that the President built separate from the main house to give he and his wife some privacy from his mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, who owned the home until her death.
The entrance to Springwood was decorated for the holidays
Visiting Springwood is like a step back in time. Unlike the grand mansions of the Mill’s and Vanderbilt’s up and down Route 9, Springwood looks more like a home just on a larger scale. The self-guided tour takes you through the first story of the house which includes the dining room, living room, sitting rooms and offices of the President and of his mother, who ran the staff and the household.
The inside of Springwood as you enter the foyer which was decorated for Christmas
The house is done in dark woods, representing a time before the Victorian age when the Federalist look was in and the later additions represent the trends in Victorian style. The furnishings were functional and very homey not like the elaborate ‘over the top’ furnishes in some of the other mansions. The Roosevelt’s were old money Hudson River Valley compared to the Vanderbilt’s who money was earned after the Civil War and did not have to prove themselves to Upper Crust Society.
The Living Room/Parlor of the house where people would gather after dinner
I was impressed with the amount of sporting goods, stuffed animal species and just the general hominess of the house. It looked like someone still lived there. The downstairs area for the servants and the kitchen are functional and not huge. This is a house that was built for a family and for entertainment but not on the scale of the Astor’s or Vanderbilt’s. It ran for a growing family that lived in the house.
The Library and the Dining Room were decorated for Christmas as well as the foyer was decked with garland and bows. I am not sure how many times the family celebrated Christmas here being in the White House but I am sure that the family came home for the holidays. Mrs. Roosevelt, Franklin’s mother, ran the roost so the house functioned a certain way while she was alive.
Our first part of the self-guided tour was of the Living Room, Dining Room and Library on the first floor. The Living Room was smaller than most of the homes in this area again reflecting that the mansion was a home not a showplace. It was used all year long by Franklin’s family and was built to accommodate the growing family that he and Eleanor had created.
Th tour guide told us that the house was set up for Christmas the last year that FDR was alive and they had taken it from pictures and accounts that the family had done that year. The Dining Room had been set for Christmas lunch circa 1940’s with elaborate china and silver and even a children’s table so the kids would not be left out.
Christmas lunch at Springwood
The full Dining Room with the kids table in the background
The Library was decorated for the holidays as it had FDR’s last year alive and everything the site did was based on those pictures and accounts from family members.
The Library has gone through a full renovation and was decorated beautifully for the holidays
The Library was a very comfortable place to relax and socialize
The Christmas tree and the family presents in the Library
At the holidays when I visited in 2019, the house was going to be closed in April of 2020 for a full restoration and renovation of the lights, interior alarms and plumbing for about a year so the only Christmas decorations in the house was a tree in the library (the books had started to be removed from the shelves) and the formal dining room had been set for dinner. The rest of the mansion was in the process of being packed up so we didn’t get to tour it that time. During December 2022, the whole house was finally opened post-COVID and renovation and you could see it all in its glory.
Springwood at Christmastime
Even the upstairs bedrooms looked like any other American home at the time but a touch bigger. I could see by Eleanor’s room that she did not spend much time there. You can see where the adjustments were made when the President developed polio. I am glad that the man showed determination and did not let that stop him in his life. It proved to me that a disability limits you only if you let it.
The upstairs held the bedrooms of Mrs. Roosevelt, Franklin, Eleanor and the all the children. Each room was carefully cleaned and refreshed during the renovation so they look pristine now as if the family was still living there.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Bedroom
Sara Roosevelt’s Bedroom
The Pink Room is where the King and Queen of England stayed when they visited the Roosevelts
The Pink Room where dignitaries stayed
Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Bedroom
Franklin’s bedroom
The modern bathroom with indoor plumbing
There was a large household staff to take care of things on the estate and in the house. The kitchen was the last stop on the tour in the basement. There must have been a lot of action here with such a big household to feed.
The kitchen at Springwood
The kitchen at Springwood was a busy place with so many people in the household and visiting
The grounds were interesting. The formal rose gardens are beautiful when in season and the estate does have views of the river. On the grounds of the estate as well is the Presidential Library, Museum and the gravesites of the President and his wife, Eleanor. Thes are located in the Rose Gardens that they loved so much.
The Springwood Estate
The Stables were very elaborate and held the trophies and ribbons of the family’s champion horses. The stables are now long empty but still display all the glories of the past when this was still a working farm.
The Stables
The inside of the Stables
The only problem we faced on our visit in the Summer of 2019 was that the house was that a sweltering heat wave hit the Valley and the humidity hit 98 degrees. The house was boiling hot because they could not open the windows for fresh air and the whole house smelled musty and old. That is the bad part of all that wood trimming and paneling, it does smell when it is hot.
Still the ranger talked about the history of the house and the role it played not just with the government influence during WWII but at the holidays and how Sara Delano Roosevelt had influence on her family.
Still it was an interesting tour that takes about 45 minutes and is an important part of the foundation of a very important family.
History of FDR at Springwood:
Franklin’s father, James Roosevelt purchased the 110 acre estate in 1867 for $40,000. The property included a house overlooking the Hudson River and a working farm. FDR was born in the house on January 30, 1882, the only child of Sara and James Roosevelt. Growing up with a view of the majestic Hudson River, he developed a love of the river and the valley through which it flowed. By age eight, he was sailing the Hudson. As a young adult, racing his ice yacht “Hawk” was a favorite winter pastime.
Franklin accompanied his father on daily horseback rides. During these times, he became immersed in the land, its history and particularly the trees. In later years, he expanded his parents’ land holding to nearly 1,500 acres and planted over half a million trees. His interest in tree farming translated into a New Deal program, the Civilian Conservative Corps (CCC). The CCC provided jobs to unemployed men age 17-28. Over 10 years, enrollees planted over three billion trees and built over 800 parks nationwide.
Surrounded by the rich agricultural heritage of the Hudson Valley all his life, FDR felt a strong affinity with farmers. One of the first New Deal programs instituted during the Great Depression, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was designed to help farmers retain their land. His subsistence homestead projects relocated poverty-stricken families into government subsidized rural communities that provided decent housing, cooperative work and farming and schools.
When Franklin Roosevelt married Eleanor Roosevelt in 1905, they resided in both at Hyde Park and their New York townhouse. Franklin and Eleanor had six children, one who died in infancy. FDR supervised the expansion and redesign of the house to accommodate his growing family and his political ambitions, ensuring it reflected the Dutch Colonial architecture of the Hudson Valley.
FDR contracted polio in 1921 and was paralyzed from the waist down. He held out hope for a cure but was never able to walk again unaided. The multi-level home was adapted to his needs with ramps along the short steps. The trunk lift, installed years before the onset of FDR’s polio became his transportation to the second floor.
In 1932, FDR was elected to the first of an unprecedented four terms as President of the United States. His presidency redefined the role of government in America, establishing programs designed to improve the lives of all Americans. These programs included Social Security, the Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation, the Securities & Exchange Commission, the establishment of minimum wage and unemployment insurance.
During his 12 years as President, FDR led the nation through an economic crisis of enormous proportions and the Second World War. He continually returned to this home he loved, seeking strength and relaxation. He entertained foreign dignitaries here including British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In the small study, FDR and Churchill initiated a document known as the “Hyde Park Aide Memoire”, that outlined possible future uses of the atomic bomb.
On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, FDR died from a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, GA. He was laid to rest on April 15th in the rose garden here. One year after his death on April 12, 1946, the home was opened to the public. At the dedication, Eleanor Roosevelt said, “I think Franklin realized that people would understand the rest and peace and strength which he gained here and perhaps go away with some sense of healing and courage themselves.”
(Home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Historic Site pamphlet)
History of the Springwood:
The estate was part of the 1697 agreement of the English Crown that gave 220 square miles to a group of nine businessmen from New York City. To ensure that everyone had access to the river, the land was divided into “Water Lots”, one of which was deeded to William Creed, one of the nine partners.
The central part of Springwood is believed to have been formed from a large farmhouse which was constructed around the year 1800 in the Federal style. In 1845, the estate was purchased by Josiah Wheeler, a merchant from New York City. Wheeler undertook a remodeling of the house, giving it a then fashionable Italianate style with a three story town at the south end as well as front and rear piazzas spanning the entire length of the house.
In 1866, the estate which has been reduced to one square mile, James Roosevelt bought the house and expanded the main house adding the servants wing, two more rooms and the carriage house. James Roosevelt passed away in 1900.
In 1915, FDR and his mother, Sara made the final additions and renovations to the house for the growing family and for entertaining political and family friends. Sara Roosevelt used the New York firm of Hoppin & Koen and doubled the size of the house by adding two large fieldstone wings (designed by FDR), a tower and a third story with a flat roof. The clapboard exterior of the house was replaced by stucco and most of the porch was replaced with a fieldstone terrace with a balustrade and a small columned portico around the entrance. The inside layout of the house was redesigned also to accommodate FDR’s growing collections of books, paintings, stamps and coins.
The grounds were also changed with the planting of almost 400,000 trees all over the estate in a thirty year period. Today large portions of the estate have been turned over to the Forestry Department of Syracuse University.
(Wiki)
Disclaimer: The history of the Springwood and of FDR are living there was taken from Wiki writings and the pamphlet of The Franklin Delano Roosevelt National Site and I give their writers full credit for the information. Please see the attachments from the National Park site for more information.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 