BY KRISTIN BEUSCHER
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
OLD TAPPAN, N.J. —— Nowadays the oldest existing home in Old Tappan is less visible from the street due to the lush trees adorning its front yard. Still, hidden behind the leaves at 95 DeWolf Road is one of the borough’s historical treasures, the Haring-DeWolf House.
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It’s difficult to imagine that when this house was built, the land that would become Old Tappan was almost entirely unsettled wilderness.
The tract was originally bought from the native Lenni Lenape Indians in 1682 to become part of New York State. Five years later, a patent granted by that state’s governor passed the land to 13 Dutchmen and three free African-American men. In fact, this is believed to be the only land patent of its kind in America to have included whites and blacks on an equal basis.
The Dutchmen, who came from what is now the Bowery section of Manhattan (“bouwerij” was old Dutch for “farm”), were moving inland where there was more land available. The land was owned by all as a group until 1704 when it was divided up among the individual patentees.
Among those patentees was a man named Jan Pietersen Haring. He never settled the land himself, but his descendants did. His son, Cosyn Haring, acquired four tracts totaling 469 acres in Old Tappan. Sometime shortly after 1704, either Cosyn or his son, Jan Cosyn Haring, built the home pictured on this page.
Fast forward over a century. On Sept. 23, 1852, descendent Catherine Haring married Martin DeWolf of Hackensack. With that, the home became the Haring-DeWolf House. Their son, John Haring DeWolf, grew up to become the first mayor of Old Tappan in 1894. In turn, John’s son, Charles DeWolf, served as the board of education president for 40 years and the borough’s middle school was named in his honor.
Over the years, changes that have been made to the house include the addition of a frame wing, as well as a veranda added circa 1930. Another change came around 1968, when the DeWolf family sold the 50-acre tract that was part of the home’s property for use as a golf course by the borough. Today the property fronts DeWolf Road, while its back and side yards abut the Old Tappan Golf Course.
The dwelling was passed down through Haring-DeWolf descendants for nearly 300 years, before being sold out of the family in 2000. Today it’s a two-family house.
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Photos courtesy Bergen County Historical Society, Borough of Old Tappan