Path Through History Weekend: Tour the Jacob Blauvelt Farmhouse!

The Historical Society of Rockland County invites you to join us on Father's Day for

NYS Path Through History Weekend
Tours of the Jacob Blauvelt Farmhouse

When: Sunday, June 16, 2019, at 1, 2 & 3 pm
Where: Historic Jacob Blauvelt House, 20 Zukor Road, New City, NY
Price: $5/person (all proceeds benefit the Society's education and preservation mission)

Path Through History Weekends are a showcase of New York State's rich and fascinating history, featuring hundreds of events happening at historic and cultural destinations throughout the state. As a designated Path Through History site, the Jacob Blauvelt House will be open for guided tours on Sunday, June 16, at 1, 2 & 3 pm.

The Jacob Blauvelt House was the home of a Rockland family whose roots go back to the earliest farming settlements in the county. The Blauvelts took a prominent role in the local community and economy, and their story reflects patterns of growth and change not only in our county, but also throughout the state and nation. Because it remains on four acres of its original site, with several of its outbuildings still intact, the Jacob Blauvelt House is a particularly fine record of the agricultural roots of Rockland's historical experience.

The architectural style, furnishings, and decorative elements of the Jacob Blauvelt House reflect a typical family of Rockland County in the early nineteenth century. 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–1770s). The Blauvelts were able to produce more milk, butter, eggs, rye, and corn than they needed, so they sold the surplus for profit, which allowed them to buy well-made furniture and small luxuries.

Members of the Blauvelt family lived in the house from its construction in 1832 until 1970, when it was acquired by the Historical Society of Rockland County. It has been restored to its original period and furnished with Blauvelt family pieces, as well as Rockland County and Lower Hudson Valley pieces from the Society’s collection.

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The Historical Society of Rockland County is a nonprofit educational institution and principal repository for original documents and artifacts relating to Rockland County. Its mission is to acquire, preserve, and exhibit objects, buildings, and sites that reflect the history of Rockland County and the Lower Hudson Valley and to research, document, promote, and publicize the county’s rich historical heritage for the people of Rockland. The HSRC’s headquarters at 20 Zukor Road, New City, NY, consist of a four-acre site featuring the 7,200 square foot History Center; the historic Jacob Blauvelt House; and the post-and-beam Historic Barn and Carriage House.

The HSRC is open Wednesdays-Fridays, 10 am–5 pm and Sundays, 12–4 pm (during exhibitions, events and programs). Library research and tours of the Jacob Blauvelt House are available by appointment by contacting (845) 634-9629. For additional information about HSRC, visit our website at www.RocklandHistory.org.