1832 Blauvelt House: General Information

Jacob Blauvelt's ancestors came to the New World from Holland in the early 1600s. In 1741 Jacob's great grandfather bought this land in New City and passed it down from father to sons for generations.

In 1832, when Jacob built this house, it sat on about 100 acres of farmland. There was also a barn, a carriage house, sheds for tools and animals, a woodlot, an orchard, an herb garden and a vegetable garden. Jacob and his wife Margaret had been married about 16 years and had five children when they built this 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-1770s). The Blauvelts were able to produce more milk, butter, eggs, rye, and corn than they needed so they sold the extra for profit. This additional money allowed them to have some of the well-made furniture and other small luxuries you will see in the house.

Descendants of the Blauvelts lived in this house 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, and the rest is from the lower Hudson Valley area.

The Blauvelt House is open for guided tours on Sundays during exhibitions from 1-5 p.m. and by appointment.

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