Rutherfurd Hall Among the Historic Tour ‘Stars”

WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND! Perfect weather, to be out and about, Exploring Warren History Trails throughout beautiful Warren County!

Let us begin this article with “A SINCERE & HEARTFELT THANK YOU!!” FIRST – To Everyone in the public, our friends and family, for taking the time, getting out and about, to visit these wonderful Historic Sites/Sights amid our beautiful Warren County. SECONDLY, THANK YOU, to all the many, many individuals and organizations who have worked so hard, over the years to Preserve, Protect, Maintain and SHOWCASE these treasures! JOB WELL DONE! Keep up the great work!

I first want to “TOOT A FEW HORNS HERE” All involved did a great job in getting the word out, informing the public about Explore Warren History Trails!!! You might ask the question, “How do you know, they did a good job advertising?” To answer same, I will use another old adage, “The proof was in the pudding.” The pudding, in this case was Rutherfurd Hall. I was part of the team of four docents who conducted tours through the building. Our initial sentiment was that people would gradually show up, sign in and then the tours would begin when there were enough people. We thought this would be an ongoing yet gradual relaxing process throughout the day. OK, that was our original SENTIMENT. Now for the OBSERVATION part/ OR REALITY CHECK/ And ANSWER to the above question, about good advertising!

Our day started at 10:45 a.m., 15 minutes before the scheduled start, with the side vestibule almost overflowing with people! I took the first tour and was beginning in the ‘Chapel Room’ adjacent to the vestibule. A few minutes goes by with a tour and suddenly Joan Salvas (Rutherfurd Hall’s Historian and a docent) steps in and checks and sees that the vestibule is filled again! We moved and the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the rest of the day was lead the tour, all the while passing by or adjusting what rooms we would visit next to avoid those other tours! When my tour ended, there was another group of people already waiting to go and begin their tour! The scenario I just portrayed was the same for the other three docents! Nonstop Touring/passing by/avoiding/adapting which room to showcase as they were available!

Everything went just fine! Our guests really enjoyed themselves (AND THAT IS WHAT COUNTS!). Thank goodness, Rutherfurd Hall is pretty user friendly and roomy so we can adopt and handle this type of scenario! FYI we had over 125 guests! I think I am safe in saying, “Somebody Got The Word Out!!” GREAT JOB!!

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO OF THE WEEK

During the last four week period I have been posting some articles about Historic Sites, with the hope of introducing you to those specific sites (Shippen Manor and Ramsaysburg Homestead) along with alerting/reminding you to the upcoming Explore Warren History Trails Event which took place this past weekend.

My game plan was to make Rutherfurd Hall my article for this Photo of the Week. Friday, Nov. 5^th was a beautiful day and I decided to go to Rutherfurd Hall and take some current outdoor photos for my article. I was also planning on taking some photos during our tours on Saturday. My game plan was to take a couple of photos of the tours and then use them for this article. However, the early start of the tours and large continuous crowds, I never got a chance to get to my camera, so PLAN B, take a photo of our Rutherfurd Hall Tour Team after we closed down by the beautiful fireplace in the dining room.

RUTHERFURD HALL – FYI, I am using our latest, fresh off the press, brochure for my information. On the cover, “Rutherfurd Hall, Protects and preserves history, culture, architecture and the environment with integrity and education” Address 1686 Route 517, Allamuchy, NJ 07820 (908) 852-1894 ext 334.

Rutherfurd Hall is a cultural/event center and museum owned and managed by the Allamuchy Township Board of Education. It is sustained by public funding, foundation and individual support, donations, volunteers, event-based fundraising and through an active earned-income program in the form of rentals and other income programs.

RUTHERFURD HOUSE – Overlooking Allamuchy Pond is the 38 room brick mansion built in 1903-1905 by Winthrop Rutherfurd as the manor house of his 1,300 acre estate, Allamuchy Farms. The Tudor-style building, with its solid oak doors, ballroom-size drawing room, marble fireplaces, game room and high windows was visited by many of the socially-prominent persons of the early 20^th century. Rutherfurd engaged 12 servants inside the huge residence and six outside, two of them exclusively to care for the 30×30 ft. formal garden. Mr. Rutherfurd died in 1944 and the mansion, along with the remaining 35 acres of grounds including fruit orchards and the lake were sold in 1950 to the Congregation of the Daughters of Divine Charity, a Roman Catholic order. The sisters called their new home Villa Madonna.

ALLAMUCHY FARMS – The 1300 acre estate was renowned for cattle breeding as well as the raising of dorset sheep. The grounds surrounding the “Big House” were designed by the firm of Olmsted and Sons. Frederick Law Olmsted is known as the father of American landscape architecture.

WARREN KENNELS – Winthrop Rutherfurd was also a notable breeder of short-haired fox terriers. The kennels were located on what is now Route 80. Winthrop’s dog, Warren Remedy, is the only dog in Westminster Kennel Club history to win Best in Show 3 times; 1907, 1908, 1909.

The Rutherfurds of Allamuchy

Walter Rutherfurd, born in Scotland in 1723, arrived in this county with his wife Catherine about the time of the Revolutionary War.

Their son, John, was twice elected to the United States Senate from New Jersey, the last term ending in 1798.

John’s grandson, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, abandoned his law practice to become a pioneer in astrophotography and spectral analysis. His marriage in 1841, to Margaret Chanler, would bring great opportunity to the Rutherfurd clan.

In 1902, their son Winthrop married Alice Morton, daughter of Levi P. Morton. That same year Winthrop commissioned his friend Whitney Warren to design a summer cottage near the original family estate. Alice, mother of six, died in 1917 of appendicitis.

In 1920, Winthrop married Lucy Page Mercer. Their daughter Barbara, was born in 1922.