Princeton Preservation Group Presents:
Down the Brook
Historic Preservation at Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage
Paul F. Soltis
July 17, 2025
7pm, Virtual via Zoom
Abstract
Two hundred and fifty years ago in December 1775, Scottish emigrant and Philadelphia merchant John Wallace purchased from Dutch Reformed minister Rev. Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh 95 acres along the Raritan River in Somerset County. In the opening years of the Revolutionary War, Mr. Wallace constructed the Wallace House at "Hope Farm" unknowingly in time for the Wallace House to serve as George Washington's Headquarters for the Continental Army's Middlebrook Cantonment of December 1778 - June 1779.
Two hundred and fifty years later, the Wallace House is going under construction again, undergoing a major historic rehabilitation in time for its 250thbirthday in 2026 and the 250thanniversary of Washington's Headquarters at Middlebrook in 2028-29. Follow the history of historic preservation at the Wallace House, from the historic home's opening as a museum by the Revolutionary Memorial Society of New Jersey in 1897 to the Revitalization of Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage State Historic Sites underway now for Revolution NJ.
About the Speaker
Paul F. Soltis is the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's historian for Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage State Historic Sites. Paul contributes to Revolution NJ, New Jersey's official observance of the 250thanniversaries of New Jersey's first Constitution July 2, 2026, and the American Revolution in New Jersey on now through 2033.
The Princeton Preservation Group has been meeting several times per year since 1983 to hear lectures on a wide range of topic relating to the preservation of cultural artifacts, including but not limited to books, manuscripts, artwork, furniture, photographs, tombstones, Lucy the Elephant, costumes, videotapes, and buildings. Recent meetings have been held in Manalapan, Princeton, New Brunswick, Morristown, and Lawrenceville. Meetings are open to the public without charge.
Among others, topics have included:
Disaster Recovery: Mold and Water Damage
Preserving Ethnic Materials
Binding Rare Books
Historic Building Conservation
Digitizing Photograph Collections
For more information, including membership (dues are $5 per year) and a list of past programs, see http://princetonpreservation.org
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