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Bouman-Stickney Farmstead / Eversole-Hall House / Cold Brook School / Taylor's Mill
If you would like a guided tour, click here to start at the begining.>
History | Inside | Barn
Readington's Link to its Dutch Heritage
/ Welcome to the Bouman-Stickney Farmstead. The property is named for two of its former owners. Dutch homesteader, Thomas Bouman, originally purchased the property sometime before 1740. The house was built in 1741 and stayed in the Bouman family until about 1855. In 1935, Broadway playwright and producer Howard Lindsay purchased the house and surrounding property as a gift for his wife, Broadway and movie actress Dorothy Stickney. Ms. Stickney and Mr. Lindsay used the house as a weekend and vacation retreat until Mr. Lindsay's death in 1968. The house and surrounding 68 acres were purchased by Readington Township from Ms. Stickney in 1997.
Thomas Bouman was a very important person in early Readington Township. He was a prosperous farmer, an elder in the Readington Dutch Reformed Church, and because he owned more than 50 acres of land, he was a Freeholder. The house is a magnificent stone bank house with Dutch and German architectural influences. The stone for the facade, as well as the timbers for the frame were harvested from nearby Cushetunk Mountain. Thomas died in 1755, leaving the homestead to his son, Cornelius. In Thomas' will, his eldest son Cornelius was also the recipient of the "grate Duch Bible", a treasured family possession. In 1935, the famous Broadway actor and playwright, Howard Lindsay (Life with Father, Sound of Music), bought the house and surrounding property for his wife, actress Dorothy Stickney. Mr. Lindsay and Ms. Stickney treasured their weekend and holiday retreat. /
/ Our Township is fortunate to have an example of a relatively rare farming structure - a New World Dutch Barn. We can thank Readington Historian, Stephanie Stevens, for her vision and leadership in the the effort to save the barn from destruction. The original barn sat on the Wade Farm property and was moved to the Bouman-Stickney property in 2000. The barn's skeleton was taken apart piece by piece and carefully labeled to facilitate reconstruction at the Farmstead. The cladding is new, but the supporting structure is original.
Have a look inside the Bouman-Stickney House >
History | Inside | Barn
Inside the Bouman-Stickney House
/ Welcome to the Bouman's parlor. The room's prominent feature is the magnificent walk-in fireplace. The beautiful blue paneling on the fireplace wall was added during the house's restoration to replicate the interior finish of the house of a prosperous eighteenth century rural farmer. The color was chosen after careful research of paint colors found on a piece of original chair rail molding. The table is set for tea.Though not the Bouman's "grate Duch Bible", our bible belonged to another early Readington Dutch family, the Eick family. The bible was an important part of eighteenth century life. It provided reading material for the family, moral and religious teaching, and a method for recording important family events such as births, deaths and marriages.
The bedchamber is next to the parlor. Our chamber is fitted with a bedstead, a tick (mattress) on the floor, and a cradle. It's possible that the entire family, from adult to the smallest child, used this chamber. Privacy was obviously not an issue!The bedstead is a rope bed. The ropes formed the foundation of the bed. To keep the bed from sagging, the rope had to be tightened periodically using an instrument called a "bed key". Hence the phrase, "sleep tight". /
/ The kitchen is the heart of the house. The "blue dresser" or hutch was mentioned in Cornelius Bouman's inventory. Wills and inventories of former inhabitants give us clues to the life and times of Readington's earliest farming families. We use these documents to furnish the house in the most authentic manner as possible. In addition to the blue dresser, inventories have listed windsor chairs and delft plates as part of the house's furnishings and accessories. The massive fireplace provided heat, cooking facilities and light to the family.
The Wade-Wyckoff Barn is also on the Bouman-Stickney property.>
The Wade-Wyckoff Barn
/ The design of a "Dutch" barn really comes from a region of the Netherlands that borders Germany. Immigrants from that region (Dutch and Palantines from Germany) brought the basic design to the New World. Most New World Dutch Barns can be found in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys of New York. However, Somerset, Monmouth and Hunterdon Counties were also home to Dutch immigrants, and examples of New World Dutch Barns are found in these counties as well. One of the distinguishing features of a New World Dutch Barn is the low side walls and the steep, symmetrical roof. Double doors intended for wagons were most often found in the gable end. The wagon doors access the "threshing floor", the largest of three bays in the barn. The smaller doors on either side of the gable end access the side bays, originally used for sheltering farm animals.
Another distinguishing feature of a New World Dutch Barn is the "H-frame" construction. This type of construction is characterized by a heavy anchorbeam (the large horizontal beam) attached and braced to end posts. This type of construction allows for a wide central bay for wagons to enter through one gable end, unload their goods, and exit through wagon doors in the other gable end. Grain was stored above the anchor beams in a loft with a sapling floor. This floor allowed for good air circulation during storage. When the time came grain was dropped onto the floor and threshed in the central bay. /
/ The anchor beams in our barn are mortised through the end posts and pegged. In the picture to the left, the anchor beam has an orange tag - this tag is the label that assisted in the reconstruction of the barn. The tenon extends through the end post and ends in a taper. Experts who have seen pictures of our barn describe it as a "scribe rule" barn, most likely built before 1820. "Scribe rule" refers to a method of framing.
Continue to Eversole-Hall House >
History | Bed Chamber | Keeping Room | Shoemaking Shop | Spinning Room
The Eversole Hall House
/ Welcome to the Eversole-Hall House, located next to the Readington Township Municipal Building on Route 523 south. The house is named for two of its previous owners. Charles Eversole, a German immigrant and weaver by trade, arrived in this country in 1753 and built the original portion of the house. After Mr. Eversole's death, his grandson eventually sold the house and a portion of the surrounding land to Abraham Hall, a farmer and shoemaker, who enlarged the house and added a second story. The house remained occupied, without indoor plumbing until 1988, when the Township purchased it. After renovation by community volunteers, it opened as a museum in 1991. We have chosen to interpret, or present the house much as it would have been in the late 1830s, the time when "Master Hall" and his family lived here.
As you approach the house from the front entrance on Route 523, you'll notice its proximity to the road. While we cannot definitively date the oldest portion of the house, we do know that it appears on the map of Revolutionary Roads drawn by Robert Erskine, George Washington's cartographer. Achitecturally, it is defined as "pre-revolutionary". The oldest portion of the house is the northernmost room on the first floor - also known as the keeping room. /
/ The barn (above) was erected after the Township acquired the property as a museum. Mr. Hall would have had a barn on the property to house his animals and farm implements. There is also a corn crib in back of the house. The corn crib would have been used to store ears of corn to feed the animals, but it is likely that other grains would have been stored in the barn.
There are a number of outbuildings and important work areas at the back of the house. Just outside at the back of the house is a hand pump, which still provides the only source of water to the house. The little white house next to the main house is the "wash house". This structure holds the Museums' collection of wash day equipment. The other "little white building" on the grounds is the outhouse. Even though the house was inhabited until 1980, it had no indoor plumbing - the outhouse was and is the only restroom on the property. /
Continue to the
Bed Chamber >
The Bed Chamber
/ The second floor of the house is the bedchamber. This area was added by Abraham Hall in his early nineteenth century renovation of the structure. In our interpretation, all of the Hall children would have shared this sleeping chamber. Click on the bedstead to learn more about sleeping arrangements; click on the clothing hanging on the peg board to learn more about the multiple uses of the sleeping chamber. This room has three types of sleeping arrangements. The bedstead is a rope bedstead, similar in construction to the bedstead in the keeping room. One the floor next to the bedstead is a "tick", which is a mattress cover stuffed with corn cobs or feathers. On the other side of the bedstead is a cradle.
Since there were no closets, clothing was hung on pegs for storage. Clothing was made from fibers spun by Mistress Hall. Since making clothing was so labor intensive, clothes were handed down through the children and used until they (the clothes, not the children) wore out. Each child had a limited number of outfits, one being reserved for "good". The bedchamber also served as the bathroom. Our chamber contains a washstand with a bowl and pitcher for washing up. The chamber chair, or commode chair, in the picture to the left, would have been a luxury in rural farm houses, but was much appreciated on cold nights when going to the outhouse was uncomfortable, to say the least. /
Continue to the
Keeping Room >
The Keeping Room
/ The Keeping Room is the original house. You'll notice that the room is set up for a number of different family activities - cooking, eating, spinning and sleeping. Immediately ahead as you walk into the room, you'll notice a rope bed. The rope "base" serves the same purpose as a modern day box spring. To keep the bed from sagging, the rope had to be tightened periodically using an instrument called a "bed key". Hence the phrase, "sleep tight". Although the one room house originally had a sleeping loft, beds were placed where they were needed. Privacy was not an issue. The mattress, called a "tick" is nothing more than a fabric bag filled with corn husks, straw, feathers or bits of wool. Click on the doorway to enter Mr. Hall's shoemaker's shop.
If you stand by the bed and look toward the front of the house, you'll notice the cupboard and a spinning wheel. The spinning wheel is next to the window for light. The Halls most likely grew flax and raised sheep on the farm. The flax and wool would be harvested and Mrs. Hall would have the job of spinning the wool into thread which would be used for weaving and eventually for making the family's clothing. The cupboard houses the Museums' collection of early to mid nineteenth century china. /
/ The table is set for dinner, using some of the Museums' transferwear china. On the table is an original copy of the Newark Daily Advertiser. Mr. Hall most likely would not have read this particular publication. Newark and city life were very far removed from rural farm life in Readington. After dinner, Mr. Hall might have read passages from the family bible to his family. The family bible was not only a source of religious training and thought, but it also served to chronicle family events such as births, deaths and marriages.
During the remodeling (adding more rooms and a second floor), Mr. Hall removed the fireplace and replaced it with a much more modern wood stove. Ours is a "ten plate" stove, made in this country in the mid nineteenth century. The stove has an oven on the side, making it a precursor to modern cooking appliances. The fireplace or stove would have provided both cooking facilities for the family and heat for the house. Click on the staircase to go upstairs to the bedchamber. /
Continue to the
Shoemaking Shop >
The Shoemaking Shop
/ Master Hall's shoemaker's shop is next to the keeping room. Since Master Hall was a farmer as well as a shoemaker, he most likely would have worked in his fields during the day and in his shop at night. The shoes he made and sold provided an additional source of income for the family, as well as a source of goods that he could use to barter for services or goods not produced on his farm.

Continue to the
Spinning Room >
The Spinning Room
/ This is the spinning room.