Historic New Bridge Landing includes the Steuben House, New Bridge, a colonial river landing, mills, relocated historic buildings, and a landscape shaped by Indigenous, colonial, Revolutionary War, and later local history. Jan and Annetje Zabriskie built and enlarged the stone house between 1752 and 1767, then fled to British-held Manhattan during the American Revolutionary War after siding with the Crown. George Washington used the house as his headquarters for 16 days in 1780, and in 1783 New Jersey presented the confiscated property to Major-General Baron von Steuben, who restored the war-damaged house, retained it as the only extant house he owned, and sold it back to the Zabriskies in 1788. A New Bridge with a sliding draw was built here in 1745 at the first bridge above Newark Bay, making it a strategic crossing contested during the war; the present Pratt-type low-truss swing bridge opened on Feb. 2, 1889, could be turned by one person for passing ships, and closed to automobile traffic in 1956. A narrow mill landing built of log cribbing in 1744 handled sloops carrying local products, including iron from Ringwood and Long Pond Ironworks, while goods from city markets were sold in the Zabriskie store. Nearby, Johannes Ackerman built a tide-powered gristmill in 1714 at Cole’s Brook, where trapped high tide drove a waterwheel during ebb tide; Jan Zabriskie bought the mill in 1745, his grandson John J. Zabriskie died trying to free the waterwheel in 1793, and the mill burned in 1852. The site also includes the Demarest House Museum, built in 1794 for miller John Paulson and moved here in 1955-56; the Campbell-Christie House, built in 1774 by Jacob Campbell, later operated as a tavern and associated with inventor J. Walter Christie, then moved here in 1977; the Westervelt-Thomas Barn, built in 1889 and relocated in 1955; an out-kitchen built in 1990 using antique materials; Brett Park, part of the Revolutionary battleground and later named in 1971; and the Meadow, remediated by 2010. Long before these later structures, the west bank clay flat was known as Tantaqua’s Plain and was inhabited by Tantaqua, a Hackensack sachem, and his kin, with artifacts found here dating back as much as 5,000 years. The surrounding region preserves the history of the Hackensack and Tappan Indians, their villages and land sales in the late 17th century, and early European settlement beginning near the Steuben House in 1683.

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin

Photo: Bill Coughlin