1759 Vought House

We are thrilled to announce that New Jersey Cultural Trust voted today to approve our grant application for ceiling stabilization and repairs!!! With this desperately needed funding we’ll be able to save our extraordinarily rare wattle-and-daub ceilings and the original decorative plaster designs, including the priceless serpent design on the formal center hall ceiling! 🐍

Thank you to Homestead Disposal LLC for their in-kind donation! The help from a local business in achieving our mission is greatly appreciated!

Check out this video from Preservation Works, Ltd. on their test recipes for historically accurate daub at the 1759 Vought House!

How to Recreate Daub for a Historic Home Patrick Webb of Preservation Works Ltd. makes a special appearance at the Vought House in Clinton, NJ. Here he is experimenting with the land's clay-rich soi...

You can't spell history without a story. Please consider the 1759 Vought House today.

Click to donate: http://bit.ly/45c5zB3

There are two sides to every story. Help us save the second story!

We’ve had great success with our grant applications this year, but we still have much to accomplish in time for the highly anticipated 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Please donate to our “Save the Second Story” campaign to raise matching funds needed for grants in 2024 to 2026. Since we’re an all-volunteer non-profit Board, your contribution goes directly toward historic preservation of the 1759 Vought House and community education. Donate at the following link, or mail a check to: 1759 Vought House, PO Box 369, Annandale, NJ 08801.

Click to donate: http://bit.ly/45c5zB3

There are two sides to every story. Help us save the second story!

We’ve had great success with our grant applications this year, but we still have much to accomplish in time for the highly anticipated 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. Please donate to our “Save the Second Story” campaign to raise matching funds needed for grants in 2024 to 2026. Since we’re an all-volunteer non-profit Board, your contribution goes directly toward historic preservation of the 1759 Vought House and community education. Donate at the following link, or mail a check to: 1759 Vought House, PO Box 369, Annandale, NJ 08801.

Click to donate: http://bit.ly/45c5zB3

Historian, Dr. Donald Sherblom, moderating a panel to help spread the word on NJ Loyalists during the American Revolution.

As the Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, Tahesha Way, shared, "History is an ongoing story."

Revolution NJ New Jersey Historical Commission - NJHC

This year's theme for the New Jersey Historical Commission's annual conference is "Unfinished Revolution". The panel session “All the horrors of a Civil War: Loyalist Interpretations in New Jersey" will be moderated by our Board Historian, Dr. Donald Sherblom!

See the NJHC post below for more information and registration.

Unfinished Revolution: New Perspectives on the American Revolution in NJ The New Jersey Historical Commission is pleased to announce our 2023 New Jersey History Conference.

Attic archaeology site work was recently wrapped up at the 1759 Vought House! Dr. Brad Phillippi of Hofstra University and volunteer Lauren Kirk and board member Karen Smith spent nearly three full days sifting through an enormous volume of material in the attic, meticulously bagging and labeling a number of interesting artifacts for further study. An interpretive report is expected in Jan 2024. Completing this project paves the way for restoration of the priceless decorative plaster ceilings next year!

Do you feel that breeze? Not anymore! Thanks to Rob at Preservation Works, Ltd. for donating his time, equipment, and expertise to train us on historically accurate lime mortar preparation. We have three Board members (Glenn, Ed and David) to thank for working two days to complete the mortaring around the doors and windows and stone masonry under the brick arches.

Next up…check back for photos of the attic archaeology site work that was recently conducted!

With our recent grant award from the New Jersey Historical Commission, we’re excited to start our garret (attic) archaeology project in partnership with the Hunterdon County Historical Society! This project will expand our understanding of the 1759 Vought homestead and the people who lived there. We know from multiple Lebanon Store Day Book records that that there were two enslaved people, a man and woman, in the Vought family household. Our archaeologists will be looking for any objects or evidence indicating that these enslaved people lived in the garret. We hope to be able to expand on the story of slavery in New Jersey, building on the knowledge gained from similar investigations at other sites such as Marlpit Hall in Monmouth County.

The 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence is coming soon! There are two sides to every story, and the American Revolution is no exception.

We need donor support to reach our goals to restore the second story of the Vought family homestead and tell the story of New Jersey Loyalists during the American Revolution.

Click to donate here: http://bit.ly/45c5zB3

The Vought House is seeking a new Treasurer for our Board of Trustees!

Role includes:

- Creating and managing a budget for this very small historic non-profit
- Managing cash flow, paying and recording income & expenses and bank statements
- Filing annual non-profit tax return
- Attend monthly Board meetings (by Zoom or in person)
- CPA preferred
- Time Commitment - approximately 3-4 hours per month

If you or someone you know is interested, please email [email protected]

We want to thank everyone who visited us and worked on the event! The beekeepers Wendy Tabor and Maureen Cahill, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the NJ Frontier Guard!

Here are some additional pictures of the day!

Huzzah!

Learn about the Voughts, their house, DAR, beekeeping and a great display by the NJ Frontier Guard!

Come on out to see us today between 10am - 1:30pm!

Come join us for this free event on May 20th! Updated info below...

Come join us for this free event on May 20th! Updated info below...

Free family event 4/23 at Durand-Hedden: "Shuttles, Spindles, and Flyers: Spinning and Weaving in the 21st Century." Durand-Hedden hosts spinning, weaving, and sheep shearing on Sunday, April 23. https://mailchi.mp/e568309ce18e/april2023-spinning

What's all the buzz about? Come and find out!

This baby mastodon skull was collected in Monmouth Co., NJ & studied by NJSM Research Associate, Barbara Grandstaff. Among her published findings Barbara & coauthors concluded the skull is over 11,500 ys old and likely suffered from tuberculosis!

Do you know what a Springhouse is? It is a small building built over a spring and because of its cool temperature, it would keep food, dairy and fruit cold and away from critters.

Unfortunately we no longer have our springhouse but we know one was there many many years ago!

Happy Spring, everyone!

Thank you to the members of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR - local chapter: Old White House - General Frelinghuysen - Colonel Lowrey) for visiting us today! Vought House president, Donald Sherblom, gave a fantastic overview of the Vought family, house/local history, a tour and explained how unique this gem of a (Loyalist) house is in Hunterdon County and New Jersey! Thanks to Karen Krieg Smith for arranging this great opportunity and connection!

A little about the National DAR: For more than a century, the members of the DAR have dedicated themselves to historical preservation, promotion of education, and encouragement of patriotic endeavor. These goals are as relevant in today's society as they were when the organization was founded in 1890. To learn more or find your local chapter, go to https://www.dar.org/

The Old White House - General Frelinghuysen - Colonel Lowrey Chapter's mission: members are dedicated to honoring and preserving the legacy of their patriot ancestors, work to preserve historic sites and documents of the past, and foster patriotism in future generations. For more information, go to http://www.owgfcl.njdar.org/

That Historic House at the Clinton Township Middle School entrance...

That’s the Vought House, built just before the American Revolution. Christoffel Vought and his son, John Vought along with several local farmers and men from the nearby Union Iron Works (in today’s High Bridge) were among the many who remained loyal British Americans during the War for Independence. More online at http://voughthouse.org/

In this video, Christopher Vought (a direct descendent and namesake of the man who built the house), architect Michael Margulies, Congressman Leonard Lance, and local history teacher Chip Riddle briefly talk about that time and place: https://njhomes.biz/Vought

Thank You - The Chamber Celebrates 107 Years Strong Our 107th Anniversary of the Hunterdon County Chamber of Commerce Happy Anniversary! The Hunterdon County Chamber Celebrates 107 Years Today! January 28, 2023 “We keep moving forward, opening new door

Makers Alley to show annual Art and Artisan Exhibition in new location Makers Alley – an artisan and craft collective that supports makers creating works across all artistic disciplines and skill sets in the Delaware River Valley – is on the move to Milford, N.J.Its …

Daughter of a loyalist, married a patriot.

Christiana Vought was born in the stone house her grandfather built at the entrance to today’s Clinton Township Middle School on September 9, 1773, three months before the “Boston Tea Party”. In 1777, her mother, Mary Grandin Vought took Christiana across enemy lines to join her father John on Staten Island, where he served with the Loyalist New Jersey Volunteers. The Patriot government confiscated and sold at auction the Vought’s house, furniture, farm tools, livestock, and 488 acres. Christiana was ten in 1783 when the war ended. Her family was exiled to Nova Scotia.

Her father brought the family back to the United States in 1792. Eighteen years old, Christiana kept a journal as they sailed down the coast to New York City, where the Vought family dined on board Captain John Bogart’s sloop. In June they sailed up the Hudson to Albany with, as Christiana wrote a “good wind and everything agreeable, our Capt. Is very Polite and obliging.” A few years later, Christiana Vought and John Bogart married. Follow the family’s return and her daily journal, mapped at http://LoyalistsReturn.org and http://VoughtHouse.org

Come join us at our January 5th monthly meeting featuring Dr. Jennifer Janofsky, for “A History of Archeology at Red Bank Battlefield” Curator of the Whitall House and Red Bank Battlefield, Jen is the project director for the archaeological survey that occurred this summer at Red Bank Battlefield. The seminar will be held at the RiverWinds Community Center and begins at 7 p.m.