941 E Main St
Bridgewater, NJ, USA

Van Horne House

Built circa 1750, for Colonel Philip Van Horne (1719-1786) and his wife Elizabeth Ricketts (1725-1778), when it was known as "Phil's Hill" or "Convivial Hall". The Van Hornes were both generous hosts and skilled diplomats - after the Battle of Bound Brook (1777) they hosted British General Charles Cornwallis for breakfast and American Generals Benjamin Lincoln and Nathanael Greene for dinner! Their house was then requisitioned by General Lincoln and again the following year (1778) by General William Alexander when "Light Horse" Harry Lee was among those billeted here. Today, it serves as the headquarters of, and an exhibit space for, the Heritage Trail Association.

In 1706, Philip French (Mayor and Speaker of the Assembly at New York) purchased 2,754-acres between the Raritan River and the First Watchung Mountain from Thomas Codrington to whom the land was first granted by the proprietors of East Jersey. He gave the land to his three daughters and in 1735 they sold this portion to Jacob Janeway. He died in 1747 and in 1750 Philip French's grandson, Philip Van Horne, bought it back from the Janeways and built this house at about the same time. Ironically, the cut stone house was remodelled in the Colonial-Revival style as seen today between 1937 and 1944.

After Colonel Van Horne died in 1786, it came into the possession of his wife's nephew, Major James Ricketts, who held it until 1794 when he sold it to John Campbell. Both men lived in Elizabethtown but had considerable sugar and slave interests in Jamaica. Phil's Hill remained in the Campbell family up until the latter half of the 19th century when it was sold by their trustees to John Herbert. He willed it in 1856 to his widow and it was afterwards occupied by their son, John Herbert Jr. Shortly before his death in 1886, it was sold at Sheriff's auction to Rynier Veghte. It thereafter bounced through several - more often than not corporate - hands before being restored and given its present purpose.