The Dutch Van Wickle House in Somerset, New Jersey was built in 1722 by Symen Van Wickle. His father Evert emigrated from the Netherlands to New Amersfoort in the late 1600's and became a successful carpenter. The house, designed with Dutch, Flemish and English influences, is well preserved and it is now maintained by The Meadows Foundation.
Your correspondent attended a Board meeting of the Foundation in the Van Wickle House last week and got a tour of the Van Wickle House.
The Meadows Foundation
The treasurer reported on the results of a recent fundraiser and the general financial state of the The Meadows Foundation. The finances are somewhat troublesome because the State Historic Committee was unable to provide the customary GOS grant in 2009 due to the economic situation. This was one of the reasons a due increase was voted on during the board meeting.
The Meadows Foundation has almost 200 members and organizes frequent events in and around the houses. This includes the Colonial Weekend, which attracted more than 200 visitors, and the upcoming Halloween attraction "Enchanted Forest" for which "body part sellers" and "gravediggers" were being recruited. There is a clear Dutch influence in the events and celebrations that the Foundation organizes. For example during the board meeting the date for the Koninginnedag celebration was set to be May 1, and the Sinterklaas celebration was discussed. Sinterklaas will visit the Van Wickle House in full costume, even with a white horse if the roads aren't icy.
There were about 15 people attending the board meeting. At least three of them had historic ties with the Netherlands. Jan ten Broeke immigrated from Overijssel, the Netherlands over 50 years ago. Ellen Hamilton's mother grew up speaking Dutch in Pella, Iowa and John Mullen discovered through genealogical research that he is a descendant of Pieter Claessen Wyckoff, an emigrant from the Netherlands who arrived in New Netherlands in 1637.
Historic manure
The executive director reported on projects in the various houses. In the Hageman Barn, one of the historic houses that the Foundation maintains, a pole was threatening to fall over during the renovation. Apparently the dirt around it wasn't packed very solid. "That's because it's not dirt, but cow-poop. It's 100 year old manure!".
Each of the houses has a few rooms that are rented out to a 'care-taker', someone who lives in the house and takes care of basic maintenance.
Van Wickle House
The Van Wickle House is constructed from wood and is in good shape for a building nearly 300 years old. The floor in the main room is original and made of dark wooden beams. The front door of the house is typically Dutch with its two panels that can be opened separately. The name in American English for such a horizontally divided door is telling: a Dutch door. From much later date are the Delft Blue ceramics in the kitchen, popular souvenirs from contemporary Holland.
In the kitchen a nice 'tea table' was arranged for the board meeting with tea, hot chocolate and lots of different cookies including speculaas. On the board in the kitchen there were newspaper articles about Sinterklaas celebrations in previous years. In one of the room was a display with historic Dutch costumes from places like Marken, Zuid-Beveland and Walcheren.
The Van Wickle House, Somerset NJ
http://www.themeadowsfoundation.org/van-wickle.html
The house is open to the public during events. Dates can be found on the website of the Meadows Foundation.
Interior of the Van Wickle House.
Kitchen.
Newspaper articles about Sinterklaas.
Dutch costumes.
Sunday night we traveled back home together. The flight was overbooked but after some exciting moments we managed to both get seats, even next to each other.