Welcome to the Bouman-Stickney Farmstead. The property is named for two of its former owners. Dutch homesteader, Thomas Bouman, originally purchased the property sometime before 1740. The house was built in 1741 and stayed in the Bouman family until about 1855. In 1935, Broadway playwright and producer Howard Lindsay purchased the house and surrounding property as a gift for his wife, Broadway and movie actress Dorothy Stickney. Ms. Stickney and Mr. Lindsay used the house as a weekend and vacation retreat until Mr. Lindsay's death in 1968. The house and surrounding 68 acres were purchased by Readington Township from Ms. Stickney in 1997.

Thomas Bouman was a very important person in early Readington Township. He was a prosperous farmer, an elder in the Readington Dutch Reformed Church, and because he owned more than 50 acres of land, he was a Freeholder. The house is a magnificent stone bank house with Dutch and German architectural influences. The stone for the facade, as well as the timbers for the frame were harvested from nearby Cushetunk Mountain. Thomas died in 1755, leaving the homestead to his son, Cornelius. In Thomas' will, his eldest son Cornelius was also the recipient of the "grate Duch Bible", a treasured family possession. In 1935, the famous Broadway actor and playwright, Howard Lindsay (Life with Father, Sound of Music), bought the house and surrounding property for his wife, actress Dorothy Stickney.   Mr. Lindsay and Ms. Stickney treasured their weekend and holiday retreat.

Our Township is fortunate to have an example of a relatively rare farming structure - a New World Dutch Barn.  We can thank Readington Historian, Stephanie Stevens, for her vision and leadership in the effort to save the barn from destruction.  The original barn sat on the Wade Farm property and was moved to the Bouman-Stickney property in 2000.  The barn's  skeleton was taken apart piece by piece and carefully labeled to facilitate reconstruction at the Farmstead.  The cladding is new, but the supporting structure is original.

The double corn crib wagon house built in the 1820s sits in the northeast corner of the property. Donated to us by Merck, it was originally located on a farm which is now part of the Merck Property. Though it was originally used to store wagons and grain, today it holds the Museums' collection of early farm tools.

Welcome to the Bouman's parlor.  The room's prominent feature is the magnificent walk-in fireplace.  The beautiful blue paneling on the fireplace wall was added during the house's restoration to replicate the interior finish of the house of a prosperous eighteenth century rural farmer.  The color was chosen after careful research of paint colors found on a piece of original chair rail molding.  The table is set for tea. Though not the Bouman's "grate Duch Bible", our bible belonged to another early Readington Dutch family, the Eick family.  The bible was an important part of eighteenth century life.  It provided reading material for the family, moral and religious teaching, and a method for recording important family events such as births, deaths and marriages.

The bedchamber is next to the parlor.  Our chamber is fitted with a bedstead, a tick (mattress) on the floor, and a cradle.  It's possible that the entire family, from adult to the smallest child, used this chamber.  Privacy was obviously not an issue! The bedstead is a rope bed.  The ropes formed the foundation of the bed.  To keep the bed from sagging, the rope had to be tightened periodically using an instrument called a "bed key".  Hence the phrase, "sleep tight". 

The kitchen is the heart of the house.  The "blue dresser" or hutch was mentioned in Cornelius Bouman's inventory.  Wills and inventories of former inhabitants give us clues to the life and times of Readington's earliest farming families.  We use these documents to furnish the house in the most authentic manner as possible.  In addition to the blue dresser, inventories have listed windsor chairs and delft plates as part of the house's furnishings and accessories. The massive fireplace provided heat, cooking facilities and light to the family.

The design of a "Dutch" barn really comes from a region of the Netherlands that borders Germany.  Immigrants from that region (Dutch and Palantines from Germany) brought the basic design to the New World.  Most New World Dutch Barns can be found in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys of New York.  However, Somerset, Monmouth and Hunterdon Counties were also home to Dutch immigrants, and examples of New World Dutch Barns are found in these counties as well.  One of the distinguishing features of a New World Dutch Barn is the low side walls and the steep, symmetrical roof.  Double doors intended for wagons were most often found in the gable end.  The wagon doors access the "threshing floor", the largest of three bays in the barn.  The smaller doors on either side of the gable end access the side bays, originally used for sheltering farm animals.

Another distinguishing feature of a New World Dutch Barn is the "H-frame" construction. This type of construction is characterized by a heavy anchorbeam (the large horizontal beam) attached and braced to end posts.  This type of construction allows for a wide central bay for wagons to enter through one gable end, unload their goods, and exit through wagon doors in the other gable end.  Grain was stored above the anchor beams in a loft with a sapling floor.  This floor allowed for good air circulation during storage.  When the time came grain was dropped onto the floor and threshed in the central bay.

The anchor beams in our barn are mortised through the end posts and pegged.  In the picture to the left, the anchor beam has an orange tag - this tag is the label that assisted in the reconstruction of the barn.  The tenon extends through the end post and ends in a taper.   Experts who have seen pictures of our barn describe it as a "scribe rule" barn, most likely built before 1820.  "Scribe rule" refers to a method of framing.