Department of Environmental Protection

New Jersey State Park Service

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ADVISORY: The main wing of Wallace House is temporarily closed to visitors until rehabilitation of roof and chimneys is complete. Old Dutch Parsonage and the kitchen wing of Wallace House remain open for guided tours and special events.

Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage Historic Sites Overview

Call on the commander in chief and follow New Jersey’s colonial colleges and founding faiths into the American Revolution at Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage.

Wallace House, home of a Philadelphia merchant, served as George Washington’s winter headquarters while Old Dutch Parsonage, residence of Dutch Reformed Church ministers, was home to delegates to the Provincial Congress that declared New Jersey’s independence.  

The Dutch Reformed Church in New Jersey’s Raritan River Valley constructed Old Dutch Parsonage in 1751. Here the Great Awakening preacher Rev. Johannes Frelinghuysen boarded and tutored students including his eventual successor the Rev. Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh. From this house, Rev. Hardenbergh led the effort in 1766 to charter Queen’s College, today Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Dutch emigrant Dinah Van Bergh, wife in succession to both ministers, was herself a leader in New Jersey’s Dutch Reformed Church. Discover eighteenth-century New Jersey’s religious and national diversity and early leadership in American higher education at Old Dutch Parsonage.  

Philadelphia merchant John Wallace’s New Jersey country home, the largest private dwelling built in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War, served as Gen. Washington’s winter headquarters for the 1778-79 Middlebrook Cantonment. Aides-de-camp John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton conferred with the commander in chief here while Martha Washington joined her husband to host an American Indian delegation and diplomats from France and Spain. Hear the histories of women and men in slavery and freedom who composed Gen. Washington’s “military family” during the Continental Army’s most successful winter camp.

Wallace House served as George Washington’s headquarters during the Middlebrook Cantonment, the Continental Army’s 1778-79 winter camp along the Watchung Mountains in Somerset County.

Additional generals of the Continental Army stayed at historic houses still standing throughout Somerset County today. Nathanael Greene’s headquarters at Van Veghten House now holds the library and archives of the Somerset County Historical Society. Lord Stirling’s headquarters at Van Horne House is home to the Heritage Trail Association. Friends of Abraham Staats House preserve and interpret Baron Von Steuben’s headquarters in South Bound Brook.

To the north in Bedminster, Jacobus Vanderveer House & Museum preserves Henry Knox’s headquarters and shares the history of the Pluckemin Cantonment, winter camp for the Continental Army’s artillery and home to the nation’s first military academy.

Learn more about upcoming programs and tours at the Wallace House and Old Dutch Parsonage Historic Sites by visiting our EventBrite page.

Old Dutch Parsonage State Historic Site hosts “New Jersey’s Declarations of Independence” in June and “Colonial Colleges Yule Log” in December. Wallace House & Old Dutch Parsonage participate in Somerset County’s Weekend Journey Through the Past in October. 

Wallace House State Historic Site participates in the Heritage Trail Association’s “Five Generals” tour of historic houses from the 1778-79 Middlebrook Cantonment with the Friends of the Abraham Staats House, Somerset County Historical Society and Jacobus Vanderveer House & Museum.

King George's Winter Walk

Facilities for People with Disabilities
We encourage people with disabilities who require special considerations to contact the historic site / park at the phone number listed in the general information on the home page of the historic site / park. The staff will assist with arrangements. Text telephone (TT) users, please call the NJ Relay Services at (800) 852-7899.

For the Comfort and Enjoyment of All
This historic site / park is part of the NJ State Park system and your cooperation with the following will help ensure the survival of the museum collections, historic structures & features and surrounding property for the enjoyment and education of future generations!

  • Keep your historic site / park and surrounding property clean and green! Protect this site by taking your trash with you. Whatever you carry into the site, plan on carrying it out too. Bring a bag or two for trash, recycling and cleaning up after your pet. There are no trash receptacles at this site. Thank you!
  • No Smoking on NJ State Park Service Property. Pursuant to N.J.P.L.2005, c.383 (C.26:3D-56)
  • Alcoholic beverages are not permitted at state historic sites [ N.J.A.C. 7:2-2.6]
  • The collection or removal of any object from State Park property is prohibited without written permission from the Superintendent.
  • Use of metal detecting devices on or unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) on or over the property is not permitted without a special use permit (SUP) from the State historic site / park.
  • Commercial photography is not permitted on the property without a special use permit (SUP) from the historic site / park.
  • Interior photography, videotaping or audio taping are not permitted in the historic structure / visitor center / museum, except by prior written permission and for educational purposes only.
  • Non-commercial photography is permitted on the property (outside), but please help preserve the historic site / park and any surrounding property by not attaching anything to, climbing or sitting on historic structures and features or disturbing any plants, wild or cultivated. Photography may not interfere with other visitors to the historic site / park or impede site operations.
  • Food and beverages; pets/animals, except for service animals, are not permitted in the historic structure / visitor center / museum.
  • Please refrain from touching objects/furnishings in and building components of historic structures and museums, except where invited to do so by staff.

Please contact this historic site / park with specific inquiries about any of these restrictions, as there may be some variations at this specific historic site / park.

Related Links

Round Valley Recreation Area
Wallace House and Old Dutch Parsonage Association

General

Phone Number
908-725-1015 

Address
71 Somerset Street
Somerville, NJ 08876

Email
wallacedutch@dep.nj.gov  

Historic Site Hours

Tours Historic houses open by guided tour only. Call or email for free appointments available Wednesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 
Special Events & Programs Full schedule online: wallacedutch.eventbrite.com

Park Fees

Entrance Fee Admission is free, Reservation fees apply for large groups (10+) and offsite interpretive programs.

Other Related Fees
Map / Directions

GPS Coordinates
40.569788, -74.622562