The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1890-01-26
Old CASTLE POINT.
The Historic Family Seat
Of the Stevens Must
Soon Disappear.
UNRELENTING PROGRESS.
Wharyes, Warehouses and Streets
Will Soon Destroy a Pic
turesque Hudson Land
mark.

1uc plopDbttlOu u the new 4 VI 4
Harbor Commissioners to cut away a
portion Of Castle Point and fill in large
portion of the river extending this side
and beyond the Point in order to
straighten the line Of piers on this side of
the river, has revived interest in enc Of
the most historical spots in Hudson
county.
Already the old River Walk and what
is left of the famous Elysian Fields has
been 'transmographied, TO borrow an
expression from Jenny Twiteher, by the
blasting and cutting away of a portion OF
the Point and filing in the river Dy the
HoDoken Land and Improvement Com
pany IN its efforts to straighten the shore
line from Ferry street 10 Fourteenth
street, and where once the tread of
the placid pleasure-seeker, the gay
laughter of the boistcrous picnicker or
the subdued whispers of strOlling lovers
alone were heard above the murnlurs of
the North River waYelets or the rustling
of the oaks and elnis that lined the ia
nous River Walk around the Point and
along the Elysian Fields, there viii ere
long be heard the international babble of
tongues, the clatter of machinery, the
rumbling Of trucks and other noises Incl
dental to the busy work of loading and
UulGdQAu8 cbCdliHllpSs lLCtA WILL lhC
commerce of two hemispheres.
Is NEW YORK JEALOUSY
That Jersey City or Hoboken Will even
tuafly become port of entry no one &C.
quainted with commercial navigation can
fail to be convinced. This, it is claimed.
is why the New York Harbor Commits
sioners, actuated by jealousy are working
like beavers to establish an outside boun-
Diary line for piers upon this side of the
river, which will greatly impair their
usefulness. The Commissioners, 1t is
alleged, desire to make Hudson county
piers SO short that they cannot accomm0-
date the largest class of ocean steamships.
The Hoboken Land and improvement
Company has already brought about
great changes In the appearance of the
shore line. Thousands OF workmen have
been employed in blasting and cutting
away the rock at Castle Point and filing
in the river from Fifth to Tenth streets
and from Twelfth TO Fourteenth streets
and waliing in the river on q line with
the bulkheads of the piers at present oc-
cupied by the various steamship lines
whose owners lease property from the
company. Already there are applications
from new steamship companies who pro-
pose to locate their piers in this vicinity,
most prominent of which Is the Ocean
Steamship Company. OF Savannah.
In the vicinity of Twelfth and Thir-
teenth streets Charles l.. Bucki, the New
York lumber man, has leased acres
extending out ON the filled land for a
mammoth lumber yard, and the company
is erecting for W. d. Fletcher, the boiler
manufactures, a monster brick building
that also extends mainly out upon the
new ground In his neighborhood also
the company has erected a public pier ex-
tending some 800 feet into the river.
HEARTLEss PROGRESS.
One may easily guess that 1t is not
without pang that Colonel ID. A. SteY-
ems. the head Of the Hoboken Land and
Improvement Company, sees modern
progress thus invading the beautiful re-
treat, which was SC long the home of his
family. Soon, he must recognize, the
shady park on the bluff will be gridironed
with streets, and presently the stout and
stately old "castle" Itself must be pulled
down to give place to the business struc-
lures.
AT THE CASTLE.
I 1 called at the castle Yesterday. 1t is
one of those houses where almost every
article of use or ornament tells something
of old family history. Straight backed
chairs that must have adorned the
home of Mr.. Stevens in the days of
Queen Anne stood upon each side of the
wide fire place, with it's highly polished
old English dog irons. A mammoth
French plate mirror, hanked with mas
sive candellabra and antique vases
reached from the carved marble mantel
to the decorated ceiling above. Carved
ANTIQUE furniture of various designs
filed the rooms, tables and cabinets
filled with bric-a-brac. an old fashioned
treasure chest, such as one reads of in
old novels.
AS / sat waiting the appearance of
Colonel Stevens / could not help contrast
ing the present of this beautiful home
with the contemplated future of the
premises.
AN OLD STORY.
The Colonel seemed to shun converse
ton referring to the future destiny OF the
place. But he dwelt lingeringly over the
picturesque episodes of its history. He
told me that 1.-The Island of Hobokenn
was in the days of Queen Anne conveyed
to the Bayard family bya deed now framed
and hanging in the Castle Point mansion.
William Bayard. who held the estate at
the time of the Revolution was a warm
Tory. He mad to suffer for his opinions
and did his best 10 get square with his
neighbors.
At the close OF the war he left with the
English garrison of New YORK and his
estate was declared forfeited and sold
under an act of the New Jersey Legisla-
ture affecting loyalist emigrants. lt is
curious fact that Mrs. Stevens, the
Colonels mother, was descendant of
the same family.
The estate passed by sale to John
Stevens in 1884, and about that time the
name Of Castle Point as applied to the
headland seems first to have came into
general use. The more general name of
Hoboken was enough to describe the
whole place in colonial times.
The Castle Point homestead proper in
cludes some twenty-five acres lying to the
east of the line of River street, the bal
ance of the property now enclosed in the
grounds being the property of Mrs. Ste
yens. The growth OF the city of HobokeD
began soon to emphasize the distinction
between the town and the homestead, as
well as the Elysian Fields lying to the
north of it. The latter plot has disap-
peared A few trees, a BIT of beach, here
and there stretch of grass are the only
monuments that remind one of the most
popular out-of-door resorts OF thirty years
ago.
plot has remained in the Stevens family,
and some one of that name has lived there
ever since.
THE MANSION HOUSE AND GROUNDS.
The mansion house, which is land
mark OF the lower Hudson was built
about thirty years ago on the site OF the
old house, which was torn down. The
view from the roof of the tower stretches
from Yonkers on the north to the Nave
sink Highlands, and from the Orange
mountains TO Long Island and the Sound.
The place has changed its aspect COM
pletely in the last century. When 1t was
sold.hy Cornelius Haring agent of forfeited
estates the vegetation consisted mainly of
~ a.