Jacob Baluvelt House
Jacob Blauvelt's ancestors
arrived from Holland in the early 1600s.
In 1741 Jacob's great grandfather bought a section of
land in New City, which passed down from father to sons
for generations. In 1832 Jacob, who built the house, retained
about 100 acres of farmland. Included on the property
was a barn, a carriage house, sheds for tools and animals,
a woodlot, an orchard, an herb garden and a vegetable
garden. Jacob and his wife Margaret had been married about
16 years and had five children when they built this traditional
Dutch style home.
A middle
class farming family, the Blauvelt's home is bigger
and somewhat fancier than homes built in the Colonial
period (1620s-1770s). The Blauvelts were able to produce
more milk, butter, eggs, rye, and corn than they needed
so they sold the extra for profit. This additional money
allowed them to have some of the well-made furniture
and other small luxuries you will see in the house.
Descendants of the Blauvelts lived
in this house from 1832 until 1970 when the family sold
it to the Historical Society of Rockland County. Some
of the furniture is original to the house, and the rest
is from the lower Hudson Valley area.
The Blauvelt house is of special interest
because it is one of the few remaining examples of Dutch-Flemish
architecture, once prevalent throughout Rockland County.
The house was constructed in three sections with an
out-kitchen, common room and main house. The main house
dates from the 1830s and is constructed with a mixture
of hand hewn and machine sawn lumber and bricks from
nearby brickyards. Important to remember is that the
Blauvelts were a middle class family, the style of the
house, its furnishings and decorative elements reflect
what a typical family of this area would call home.
The Blauvelt House is open for guided
tours on Sundays from 1-5 PM and by appointment. |
