page_title: Newkirk House
section_title: Old Bergen
hierarchical_section_title: Newkirk House / Old Bergen
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Bergen and Buyten Tuyn showing the1660 Cortelyou plan of Bergen.
context_page_description: The Newkirk House, also known as the Summit House, located at 510 Summit Avenue is the oldest surviving structure in Jersey City, New Jersey. The two-story Dutch Colonial building, composed of sandstone, brick, and clapboard dates to 1690.
  Originally one story, the outer walls are two feet of stone fitted in lime and mortar. Beams of timber in the basement are six-by-twelve inches and those on the second floor are four-by-six inches spaced four-feet apart. Eight-inch wood pegs, rather than nails, were employed during the time of construction.
context_section_description: The part of New Netherland that would become Hudson County was first settled in the 1630s as Pavonia. In 1660, Director-General Petrus Stuyvesant granted a charter for development of a fortified village at what is now Bergen Square. Upon the British takeover of New Netherland it became Bergen Township, while the population remained rooted in native tradition and became known as the Bergen Dutch. Bergen, New Netherland became Bergen County, which in 1840 was divided, with its southern part becoming Hudson and long referred to as Old Bergen. The building is one of many in Northern New Jersey built by these early colonial settlers and their descendants.
  Mattheus Cornelissen Newkirk and his brother Gerrit Newkirk arrived in New Amsterdam aboard De Moesman in 1659. Their surname, van Niewkercke, translates as "from new church" near their birthplace. Mattheus C. moved to Bergen in 1665. His family acquired lots in and near the village and built another homestead nearby.
  During the American Revolution Bergen was nominally under the control of the British, although the Americans frequently made forays in the area for reconnaissance and foraging. The Newkirk House was located near Five Corners, and important crossroads where Summit Avenue ran north into the Bergen Woods. After the Battle of Paulus Hook, the Americans originally planned to retreat via ferry over the Hackensack River, but were forced to return to wait at Sip and Summit Avenues. The house was later identified on British military maps drawn in 1781 for General Henry Clinton.
caption: Newkirk acquired lots in the village, including #125, the site of Newkirk House northeast of the square (not shown), originally granted to John Berry and sold to Samuel Edsall.[3] The northern perimeter of the square became Newkirk Street.[4]
exif: {}