Today is President’s Day when we celebrate two of our greatest presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. What better day then for Charlie Fineran to reflect on another great president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and his connection to Warren County. Several photos used in this article are courtesy of the Allamuchy Historical Society.

It is Saturday, first day of the long President’s Day Weekend and I am looking for a story for my Photo of the Week article.  Earlier today, I had received a snow squall alert on my phone and was thinking about getting some photos ‘Before/During and After’ of that event. But by the time the squalls hit I hadn’t taken any before photos, my camera was still in the car and long story short, I missed a great opportunity. Plus, I just did a squall line photo of the Week article!  OK, now what?  I’m thinking it is President’s Day Weekend, Monday is President’s Day, AND, Allamuchy did have a Presidential visit.

Not sure if there were any other Presidential visits in Warren County?  But I think this will be interesting.  I did check my ‘insidewarren.com list of stories.’  I have written about Rutherfurd Hall and the Allamuchy Freight Station (pictured above) but only touched on the Presidential visit at both sites.  Well, at least I know my subject. I then phone my friend Bob Sydrock who is President of the Friends of Rutherfurd Hall and is also a Trustee for the Rutherfurd Hall Foundation with me.  Bob is reminding me about some interesting stories we have told over the years, as docents, about the President’s activities that day of his visit.  I believe you will enjoy this and find this interesting!

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Monday, Feb. 21^st and today is President’s Day. I hope you have been enjoying the long President’s Day Weekend.  Speaking of U.S. Presidents, QUESTION – “Did you know we had a U. S. President come to Allamuchy Township, Warren County, NJ?” ANSWER – “Yes we did, back on Sept. 1^st 1944.

About 9 a.m., President Franklin Delano Roosevelt exited his private train the ‘Ferdinand Magellan’ parked at the Allamuchy Freight Depot and went on a visit with his dear long-time friend, widow Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, at her mansion and estate called Allamuchy Farms.  The visit ended about 3:40 p.m. when the train departed and took the President to Hyde Park to his residence along the Hudson River in NY.

THE PRESIDENTIAL VISIT

This trip had been planned for several months.  Keep in mind, arrangements needed to be made with the various railroads for track clearance etc.  Also keep in mind this visit was not on the President’s official schedule and as far as anyone knew, the President was just going to leave Washington D.C. and go home to Hyde Park for the Labor Day Holiday.  The trip began Thursday evening, August 31^st with the President’s private train (The Ferdinand Magellan) departing from the Building of Engraving and Printing in Washington, DC.  On board the train was the President’s armored plated convertible, members of the Press, Secret Service Detail, White House Phone Operator, President’s cousin and confidant, Daisy Sukely, the President’s famous dog, Fala, and whomever else?.  It is now Friday, EARLY AM, still dark, and the train stops and parks by the Lehigh & Hudson River RR freight depot (today’s Allamuchy Freight House).   (NOTE: Can you imagine, the people on board, wondering what is going on? The train is parked and looking out into the dark to a lot of empty open space and through the din seeing several members of the NJ State Police standing around).

Our story continues at 8:30 a.m. when Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd and her step son are driven over to the train to greet and bring President Roosevelt back to the mansion (now Rutherfurd Hall).  (Note: on one of our bus tours the late Frank Gibbs, related, “His father took him as a 6 year old boy to watch the President drive away from the freight station.”  Just shows that if you know the right people info can be gotten!  Frank’s father, a farmer, knew Mr. Denks, the farmer managing the vast Allamuchy Farms. Another interesting tidbit about the President’s visit.  The President loved lobster, and lobster was originally on the menu for the lunch!  Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, discovered the President had had lobster for dinner the night before AND that Eleanor Roosevelt, his wife, was having a lobster dinner when the President arrived home! She quickly changed the lunch menu! 

During the President’s visit his armored plated car was driven to Rutherfurd Hall, the story goes, that the children were getting rambunctious and the President offered to take them for a drive up and down CR 517 with a police escort! This story was related at one of our events at Rutherfurd Hall by Guy Rutherfurd, who remembered sitting with ‘the old man.’  One other interesting story at Rutherfurd Hall.  Prior to the visit, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd had the presence of mind to have an overseas phone connection put into the room we presently refer to as the ‘Bridal Room’ on the second floor.  Keep in mind, this visit was during the height of World War II. The President used the phone, placing a call to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, to check on his health, he had been sick with the flu.  The last story connected to this Presidential UNPLANNED/PLANNED Allamuchy visit, was when he arrived home near Hyde Park, later than expected and on the wrong side of the Hudson River, Eleanor asked what happened. The President calmly stated, “It is war time and the secret service wanted to change our scheduling and route!”  He enjoyed his lobster dinner.

Below, copied and pasted the following info from – https://rutherfurdhall.org/about/

With Covid freeing up and hopefully Spring around the corner – put this on your bucket list for educational fun visit. Tell them Charlie sent you!

ABOUT RUTHERFURD HALL

Rutherfurd House, designed by famed NY architect Whitney Warren, is a notable example of an estate built at the turn of the 20th century representing the Country Place Era (1890-1930). These country retreats, built in settings of great natural beauty, offered escape for prominent Americans from the noise and pollution or urban centers. Winthrop and Alice Rutherfurd’s advantage was that their setting of great natural beauty had been in the Rutherfurd family for generations. The Tudor-style, 18,000 square foot, 38-room mansion was surrounded by 1300 acres which came to be known as Allamuchy Farms. For the formal landscape design the Rutherfurds chose the premier landscape architects in the country, the Olmsted Brothers. The general design plan, reached by Winthrop and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., was the creation of a “picturesque landscape of well-kept simple neatness.”

Rutherfurd Hall is a cultural center and a museum owned and managed by the Allamuchy Township Board of Education. Rutherfurd Hall provides educational and enrichment opportunities for the residents of Allamuchy and the surrounding communities. Rutherfurd Hall is sustained through a combination of public funding. New Jersey Historical Commission grants, foundation support, corporate and individual donations, volunteers and event based fundraising. Additional operating revenues are obtained through an active rental program, public programs for a nominal fee and other earned income programs. Rutherfurd Hall is working towards its goal of becoming a self-sufficient enterprise that protects and preserves its historical cultural and architectural integrity while providing educational and enrichment opportunities for the residents of Allamuchy and the surrounding communities.

HISTORY OF RUTHERFURD HALL

Rutherfurd Hall, both a National and New Jersey State Historic Landmark, was designed between 1903-1905 by famed New York architect Whitney Warren. (Warren’s firm, Warren and Wetmore, shortly thereafter won a competition to design Grand Central Terminal in New York City.) Warren’s work resulted in a 18,000 square foot Tudor style summer home for his clients, recently married Winthrop (1862-1944) and Alice (Morton) Rutherfurd (1879-1917). The original landscape design was created by the Olmsted Brothers, sons of Frederick Law Olmsted.

The presence of the Rutherfurd family in this area of New Jersey dates back to the mid-eighteenth century with the marriage of Walter Rutherfurd to Catherine Alexander Parker. Since that time the estate has passed generationally from father to  children. The land holdings of the Rutherfurd family were greatly expanded around the turn of the 20th century by both Winthrop and his older brother, Rutherfurd Stuyvesant. By 1906 Winthrop’s Allamuchy Farms and Rutherfurd Stuyvesant’s Tranquillity Farms encompassed more than 6,000 acres in both Sussex and Warren counties. Guests to the estates have included titans of industry, a U.S. President, a former Vice President and European royalty.

Through ongoing preservation and conservation at Rutherfurd Hall we have the means to tell many meaningful historical stories about citizens of New Jersey and their associates in the first half of the 20th century.

Please visit my Flickr site for more photos of Rutherfurd Hall – https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliefineran/albums/72157631858030799

Please visit my Flickr site for Allamuchy Post Card Collection photos – https://www.flickr.com/photos/charliefineran/albums/72157643416014103    

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran, Director Open Space

Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman

Allamuchy Historical Society – President