Van Riper-Hopper Museum Bustling Through Summer Heat

Although temperatures hovered near the 90-degree mark, crochet balls were still wheeling through the thick, ripe-colored lawn this morning at Van Riper-Hopper Historic House Museum. There, campers at Back-in-Time Morning Camp basked in their opportunity to absorb the merits of a museum that is teeming with history.

The camp, running from July 8 through 12 from 9 a.m. to noon, is for children aged eight to 12, and activities revolve around a pre-determined daily theme.

In the last hour of the camp, children get to rejoice with historical toys and games; including croquet, hopscotch, record playing, storytelling and movie observing.

Monday’s theme was “Artifact Day,” where counselors (two college interns) got to show children how to preserve and maintain artifacts and learn their way around the museum.

“They also learned new vocabulary words,” said counselor Raymond Austin, soon to be a senior history and education major at Caldwell College. “They learned words such as: antiques, replicas, artifacts, and so on.”

Tuesday was “Buildings, Preservation and Archaeology Day,” Wednesday was “Music and Home Entertainment Day,” Thursday is “Garden to Table and Manners Day,” and Friday is “Clothing of Different Times Day.”

“My favorite part about this is playing Colonial games, because it’s really quite interesting to see how leisure changed through the time periods,” said Austin. “Today, we have Xbox, Gameboys, etc., but it’s nice to see how children were entertained hundreds of years ago.”

Caroline Gharibian, 8, a camper at Back-in-Time, said, “I love all the games. My favorite is probably Graces.”

Graces, according to the counselors, is a game dating to the 1700s with two sticks, a hoop and a quick reaction time.

“I love the history, and to see how old the museum is,” added Gharibian. “I look forward to coming to camp in the morning.”

Jennifer Fraunberger, a camp counselor, museum intern and junior at TCNJ, said, “My favorite part about this whole experience is learning a lot of different things…Not only how to curate museums, but how to maintain them and learn different aspects of history.”

Additionally, Wayne Township’s Museums Coordinator, Carol D’Alessandro, who completes a rigorous part time shift each week writing grants, providing tours, completing educational sessions and providing necessary upkeep for the museum properties, oversees the camp.

“We cover all types of topics here,” said D’Alessandro. "We try to be as hands-on and interactive as we can.”

A Peak Inside Van Riper-Hopper

Aside from the weeklong camp being held at Van Riper-Hopper this week, the museum is highly active in the community, providing projects for Girl and Boy Scouts, education for students of all ages, and it has housed the Wayne Teen Historic Preservation Club, a group of young girls who sifted through museum artifacts to create a sumptuous fashion exhibit.

“We try to have outreach from preschool through high school,” said D’Alessandro. “We have a research lab, and cover all types of topics, including slavery, for one.”

Van Riper-Hopper also has a brand new, handicapped-accessible garden, where people of all ages can come and see how plants/crops grow and were grown in the past.

Stationed directly behind the Van Riper-Hopper house (of luxurious stature for the time), sits another, even older house called the Van Duyne House. Built in 1706, it was originally positioned six miles away, but in 1974, when Route 23 was widened, it was dug up and placed on a flatbed and brought to its new location behind Van Riper-Hopper.

Now, museumgoers can not only see the capacious Van Riper-Hopper, but they can see an even older house of more modest means that the Dutch Americans built even earlier.

Meticulous Grant Writing

With a property filled with historical value, the going is never easy for D’Alessandro and Historic House Museums. With cedar-shake shingles on the houses, one piercing branch can inflict permanent damage on the homes, so in 2012, D’Alessandro reached out to the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund.

Seeking documents and specifications for roof stabilization, the museum applied for a competitive Historic Site Management Grant. It is worth over $9,000, for design and contract documents for restoration of the roofs and chimneys, and the museums would have to match the remaining approximate $3,000 in cost. Also, they will need to bid out for the actual hard labor.

However, according to D’Alessandro, the mayor and council have voted to provide some money for the stabilization, although D’Alessandro did not say precisely how much.

Their next event will be Friday, August 16 from noon to 3 p.m. and Saturday, August 17 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. It will be a sale and exhibit for Albert Payson Terhune, the prolific early 20th century writer who had classics about the adventures of a dog named Lad and other noteworthy journalistic columns. He resided in the former Sunnybank House in Wayne, where only a park remains.

A Product of Dutch Colonialism

Aside from Terhune, the story surrounding the Van Riper-Hopper house remains quite magnetic for anyone interested in history.

Built in 1786 by Uriah Van Riper, the house (built on an original 145-acre plot bought by Richard Van Riper), stayed in the family for ages, and in 1872 Uriah’s great-granddaughter, Mary Ann Riper, married Andrew Hopper. (The name of the museum would come from the surname given to the children of that couple). In July of 1964, it was dedicated as the Wayne Township Museum.

Also unique about the house is that its Dutch Colonial Architecture is exclusive to the former ‘New Netherland’ area (New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Connecticut). The ample doors fit larger than six-foot men and the jambless fireplaces helped impact New Jersey wood shortages that would force later remodeling. Also, the two front door, opposing back door and fireplaces made the layout extremely unique. 

Partially due to that, today, the Van Riper-Hopper House, along with Van Duyne and Schuyler-Colfax Houses are on the National and State Register of Historic Places.