Now and Upcoming Events

Jacob Blauvelt House Tours

2024 JB House Tours 1
June 30, 2024 —October 27, 2024

The Historical Society of Rockland County Invites You to

TOUR THE JACOB BLAUVELT HOMESTEAD
 A New York State Path through History Site

When: Sundays at 1, 2 & 3 pm through October 27, 2024
Where: HSRC History Center, 20 Zukor Road, New City, NY 10956
Admission: $5 per person

Take a trip back in time…

Our guided tours explore the grounds and historic homestead built around 1832 that was part of a thriving 100 acre farm in the heart of 19th century Rockland County. Visitors learn about the Blauvelt family who called the house their home for more than 130 years. The house’s first-floor rooms have been restored to reflect the Jacob Blauvelt family’s occupancy. Period wallpapers and floor coverings, as well as much of the original Greek Revival woodwork, complement a collection of 18th- and 19th-century furnishings made in the Hudson Valley.

Admission is $5 per person and includes a visit to the 2024 exhibition, “‘When This You See, Remember Me’: Inscribed Quilts from Rockland County,” showcasing quilts that feature the names or initials of local women, including members of the extensive Blauvelt family.

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The ca. 1832 Jacob Blauvelt House is owned and operated by the Historical Society of Rockland County, a nonprofit educational institution and principal repository for documents and artifacts relating to the history of Rockland County.

Jacob Blauvelt’s ancestors came to the New World from Holland in the early 1600s. In 1741, Jacob’s great-grandfather bought the land in New City on which the Historical Society's facilities now stand and passed it down from father to sons for generations.

When Jacob built his house in 1832, it sat on about 100 acres of farmland. The property also contained a barn, a carriage house, sheds for tools and animals, a woodlot, an orchard garden, an herb garden, and a vegetable garden. Jacob and his wife, Margaret, had been married for about sixteen years and had five children when they built the traditional Dutch-style home.

The Blauvelts were a middle-class farm family, and their 1830s home is bigger, and somewhat fancier, than homes built in the Colonial period (1620s–1780s). The Blauvelts were able to produce more milk, butter, eggs, rye, and corn than they needed, so they sold the surplus for profit. The additional money allowed them to buy some of the well-made furniture and small luxuries present in the house.

Descendants of the Blauvelts lived in the home 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; the rest is from the LowerHudsonValley region. 

The historic house is open for guided tours on Sundays from April through October and by appointment. To make an appointment or arrange a group tour (10 or more people), contact Jennifer Rothschild, Director of Programming, [email protected], (845) 634-9629.



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