The Jacobus Vanderveer House
Jacobus Vanderveer Sr. was a wealthy Dutch miller who purchased 439 acres May 10, 1743 along east side of the North Branch of the Raritan River from Lewis Johnston. About the same time he also purchased a large tract of land on the west side from Major Daniel Axtell. It was on the east side that Jacobus built a house in 1745. Prior to 1762, he built a saw mill which was mentioned in an advertisement for a local property sale. A grist mill was also constructed. The saw mill would have been in operation during the winter of 1778-1779 when the hamlet of Pluckemin welcomed a famous Revolutionary War figure we will mention later. The mill burned in the 1870's.
Inside the newly constructed kitchen wing of the JacobusVanderveer House completed in 2007.
After the death of Jacobus Sr. November 17, 1776, the house and property was split between Jacobus Jr. and his brother Elias. In his will he wrote: "Son, Jacobus, the land over the river of 560 acres... Son Ellas, plantation I lie on, and bounded north by by Peter Perne, south by Jacob Offs, being 435 acres."
Elias wasn't able to live in the house for very long. At age 33 he was taken prisoner without a coat and hat on during the second British raid in the area and died in the Revolutionary War on November 29, 1778. The house was eventually moved and the Kitchen Wing was reconstructed in 1976 at East Jersey Ole Town in Piscataway.
Elissa Parish demonstrating tape loom weaving in the Bed Chambers on the second floor
The house is a typical Dutch-American vernacular frame house with a Federal style addition added in the 1800's. The house was extended to the east in 1813 by Mary Hardenburg, Henry Vanderveer's daughter. Two windows were removed on the east wall and a south porch may have been added at this time.
A small room upstairs on the second floor. Notice the wide plank floors.
What makes the Jacobus Vanderveer House important historically took place during the winter and summer of 1778-1779 as mentioned earlier. In late November 1778, Captain Benjamin Frothingham, Deputy Commissary of Military Stores, took a pre-scouting expedition of Pluckemin and the Watchung Mountains. He reported back to Brigadier General Henry Knox, Chief of the Artillery who chose Pluckemin to be the first formal officer training and military academy. It was known as the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment or The Academy and was the predecessor to West Point.
Private Ray Anderson of the John Lamb's Artillery talking to Leslie Molé, President of the Board of Trustees
Brigadier General Knox sent for his wife, Lucy and daughter, Julia who left to join him November 27, 1778. It would be the Jacobus Vanderveer House where they would call their quarters during the winter. It can't be certain that the Vanderveer House was the house Henry and Lucy lived in. Remember the house where Elias lived in to the east was available. However, the nineteenth century of Somerset County identifies the house owned by Jacobus as the house they lived in. His pay at the time to support his family was $3 per day.
A decorated Christmas tree behind a windsor chair and a claw foot drop leaf table.
Sadness reached the Vanderveer House when Lucy lost her newborn daughter, Julia to fever July 2, 1779. Knox's daughter was refused burial in the Dutch Reformed cemetery because Knox was a Congregationalist. The Dutch Reformed church also denied burial of Jacobus Vanderveer's insane daughter in the same cemetery. Instead she was buried
in a field just beyond the line of "God's acre." It is said that Jacobus took Knox by the hand and lead him to the grave of his daughter saying, "Gen'ral, this is my ground, bury your child here."
This area was twenty-five west of the Reformed Church. A few years later, the Dutch Reformed Church softened its stance and removed the fence that separated the excluded graves. The inscription of Julia's tombstone reads,
Under this stone are deposited the remains of Julia Knox, an infant who died the second of July, 1779. She was the second daughter of Henry and Lucy Knox, of Boston, in New England.
Visitors in the Back Parlor of the Jacobus Vanderveer House
Brigadier General Knox traveled along the road south from the Vanderveer House across the Raritan River to meet up with his troops at the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment which design was shaped like the letter "E" on its side. In the center was the thirty by fifty foot academy building with a cupola with the headquarters building on the left and a line of barracks on the right. On top of the hill to the left of the line of barracks was the officer's barracks. To the north and stretching from the top of the hill down 450 feet was a line of individual barracks. The field officer's quarters were on the top of the hill overlooking the entire cantonment site.
Drawing completed by Captain John Lillie in 1770 showing the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment
The south end of the cantonment was dedicated to supply and logistics and consisted of buildings which housed the artificers and their workshops. The chimneys were in the rear of the building. Some of the new goods that would have been made were muskets, bayonets, canteens, and cartridge boxes. Repairs to existing equipment would have been done in this area. Although Captain John Lillie's map shows these buildings, no archaeology dig has ever found any evidence of these buildings. They were most likely lightly built structures.
Volunteer Hunter Stiles representing young George Washington inside the Front Parlor
"The Academy is to be opened on Monday next when Mr. Colles the preceptor will attend every day in the wee Sundy excepted for the purpose of teaching the Mathematicks & cc. ... As the Officers of the Corps will be those means have an opportunity of acquiring a more particular and expansive knowledge of the profession and making themselves better qualified to discharge the duties of their respective stations - The General expect that they will apply themselves in good earnest to the study of this so essential & necessary Branch of Science - The duty they owe themselves - a regard for their own reputation and the just expectations of their Country: The General hoes will induce every Officer to pay the closest & most diligent attention."
Front Exhibit Area decorated for Christmas.
There has been various archaeological digs since 1916 that have uncovered over 300,000 objects. The only building still standing in relation to the cantonment site is the historical Vanderveer House. There are plans for establishing a museum for exhibiting artifacts from the Pluckemin cantonment. With its historical significance, the Vanderveer House was listed in 1995 on the National Register of Historic Places.
Artillery Officer's sword belt tip found in the excavation of the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment site.
The Vanderveer House was decorated in the holiday tradition in the kitchen hearth, the parlor, Knox bedroom, and the Lumber Room. There was holiday shopping on the second floor.
We spoke with Private Ray Sanderson about the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment and the more than 300,000 artifacts uncovered. Out of his pocket he pulled an artillery officer's sword belt tip which shows a cannon and a flag. He stated that this was the earliest artifact known to be pulled from any archaeological dig which shows the first American flag. It was believed to have been engraved by a Philadelphia silversmith. The flag would have represented the actual flag which was present at the Pluckemin cantonment.
We wish Merry Christmas to all our readers for 2012 and hope you help out the Friends of the Jacobus Vanderveer House next year with their fundraising. They have plans already in the works.
Source: Text and Photos by Bryan Wright
