THE HERMITAGE
The Hermitage, a National Historic Landmark, is located on 4.9 acres of lawn shaded by centuries-old trees. The site is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The fourteen-room Gothic Revival home was built in 1847-48 from designs by William H. Ranlett for Elijah Rosencrantz Jr. The house incorporates portions of a historic 18th-century house.

The Hermitage is owned by the State of New Jersey and operated by the Friends of the Hermitage, Inc. The Friends of the Hermitage, Inc., a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation, was founded in 1972 to restore, maintain, and interpret the site.  

For further information about the history of The Hermitage, click here.

For more recent news and current events, click here.

If you have general questions or comments, please e-mail us at info@thehermitage.org

MISSION STATEMENT:

We preserve The Hermitage, its stories, and its collections as an educational resource to engage and encourage people of all ages and backgrounds in the exploration and understanding of their past.

Landmark Status: The Hermitage is a National Historic Landmark because “it is an outstanding example of the early romantic phase of Gothic Revival in American domestic architecture.”

Interpretive Scope: Circa 1740-1972 (including the period from Mary Elizabeth Rosencrantz’s death until the formation of the Friends of the Hermitage, Inc.), as well as the pre-settlement period.

House Interpretive Period: 1847-1931 (from the house’s structural renovation in 1847 to the Rosencrantz family’s tea room period).

Collections Policy Overview: Furniture, decorative objects, clothing, and other items from 1750 through the 20th century, with a high priority on items owned by the Rosencrantz family. 

THE COLLECTIONS:

The museum has two main collections: The Hermitage, or State of New Jersey Collection, and the Friends of the Hermitage Collection, developed largely by donations. In these collections, the museum acquires, preserves, and conserves objects from 1750 through the 20th century.  The museum collections are noted for their range of historic clothing as well as personal items and papers relating to the Rosencrantz family who inhabited the property for 163 years.

Costumes & Textiles: The museum's collections are particularly strong in this aspect. We have one of the largest collections of textiles in the area, numbering more than 10,000 items, including men's, women's, and children's clothing dating from 1750 to 1943.

Personal Accessories: Hats, shoes, parasols, belts, jewelry, and neckwear.

Linens: Table linens, bedding, and window coverings from 1790 to 1940.

Furniture and Furnishings: The Hermitage is furnished as it appeared in the 1890s and shows the influence of one family’s continuous occupation of the house from 1807 to that time. As such, the collection is largely Victorian, but it does include items dating back to the 18th century. Since the family continued living in the house into the 20th century, items from this period are included in our collections, as well, but are not displayed in the house. These items can be seen in a variety of exhibitions and are available for study by qualified researchers by prior appointment.

Decorative Arts: Hudson River School paintings, paintings by members of the Rosencrantz family, portraits, prints, decorative metal and wooden frames. Victorian- period household items include kitchenware, tableware, lamps, and tools dating to the mid- 19th century.

Toys, Games, and Recreation: Victorian dolls, athletic trophies won by Rosencrantz family members, musical instruments, and a wide variety of toys and games.

Archives: A wide-ranging and diverse archival collection provides a glimpse into the past of the Rosencrantz family, the surrounding region, and New Jersey and American history as a whole. The material provides an important source for both students and scholars to work with primary source materials. The archives are accessible to qualified researchers by appointment. Among the items in the collection are:

• Personal correspondence between family, friends and businesses between 1797 and 1970. These documents offer a unique view of the times in which they were written. An example of these papers is a letter written from Baltimore by one Rosencrantz family member to another here in Ho Ho-Kus immediately after the bombardment of Fort Sumter explaining the mood of the city’s populace and his fear that the Union would not remain intact.

• Financial correspondence and records between family members and businesses. These documents trace the family’s business interests and pursuits, which included an early nineteenth century medical practice and a cotton mill.  They  present a detailed view of nineteenth century business practices and procedures.

• Family’s paper ephemera. These include business and calling cards, mourning stationery, maps, tickets, golf cards and related paraphernalia, nineteenth century theater programs, sheet music, birth certificates and marriage records. 

• Newspapers and magazines.

• Books. A wide range of topics rounds out the archival collections. These include volumes on history, biography, children’s books, textbooks and bibles. These books range in date from 1600 through until 1970.

Board of Trustees:

President - Dr. Delight W. Dodyk

First Vice President - John A. Paulsen

Second Vice President - Carol Greene

Corporate Secretary - Roberta Svarre

Treasurer - Thomas R. S. Burgin

Dr. Henry Bischoff

Thomas R. Brome

Thomas L. Bryan

Lynn Groel-Lynch

Linda Hyde

Dorothy Oswald

John J. Pettenati

Patricia A. Ricci

Sydney R. Robertson

Patricia Simone

Quentin W. Wiest II

 

State Representation:

Rebecca Fitzgerald

Superintendent

Ringwood State Park

1304 Sloatsburg Road

Ringwood, NJ 07456

 

Staff:

Richard A. Sgritta, Executive Director - rsgritta@thehermitage.org

Susan Deeks, Visitor Services Manager - sdeeks@thehermitage.org

Kelly McCartney, Curator - kmccartney@thehermitage.org

James Callahan, Museum Educator - jcallahan@thehermitage.org

Emily Schultz, Museum Educator - eschultz@thehermitage.org

Charles Cucci, Bookkeeper - ccucci@thehermitage.org 

Rafael Montero, Maintenance Manager - info@thehermitage.org

Johanna Cairo, Director of Grants - grants@thehermitage.org

 

Credit:

For the expansion of this website in 2001-2002, the Friends of the Hermitage, Inc., received a Special Projects Grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of Cultural Affairs in the Department of State, and a matching grant from the Challenge Cost Share Program, National Park Service, Department of the Interior. Archival images from the collection of the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry.