Monmouth County - Freehold - Fall with MCHA

Volume 2, Issue 9
Fall with MCHA
Open Hearth - Open House

Grisaille-painted Dutch kast, gift of Alfred G. and John P. Luyster, 1931.

A Treasure on View at 

Marlpit Hall

One of the most important items in the Association's collection is a grisaille-painted Dutch kast made in New York City about 1720 that is on display at Marlpit Hall. This exceptional piece of furniture descended in the Luyster family, whose ancestral home stood in the Holland section of Middletown but has since been moved to the foot of Red Hill Road. It has since been moved to the foot of Red Hill Road. There are four other American kasten, in addition to that at Marlpit Hall, known to be decorated by the same artist. They are located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Gracie Mansion in New York City, the Van Cortland House Museum in the Bronx and Winterthur Museum in Delaware. All feature painted decoration in blue-gray, white and black representing large three-dimensional pendants of fruit in niches. The Luyster kast is unique in having the initials "A A" incorporated into the design at the top of the doors. They stand for Antje Aumack, believed to be a family ancestor. Kasten were a uniquely Dutch furniture form that remained popular in the Hudson Valley / New Jersey area until the end of the eighteenth century.

Detail of the initial  "A" on one of the kast's doors.
There are also many detail images posted there of its extraordinary painted decoration. Marlpit Hall provides a proper environment in which to keep the kast. This past spring a new HVAC system was installed that controls temperature and humidity levels year round. The house now remains at 72 degrees and 50 percent relative humidity, optimum stable museum conditions for something as nationally significant as the Luyster kast.
Welcome to Military Families
FREE ADMISSION
September 1-3


MCHA welcomes all military families over Labor Day weekend! Families will enjoy free admission to both the Museum in Freehold and the Tavern Museum at the Allen House in Shrewsbury at the Historic Four Corners and other historic houses. 



This represents the final weekend of the Blue Star Museum program for the year. 

2018 represents the ninth year of this collaboration  among the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families, the Department of Defense, and more than 2,000 museums across America to offer free admission to the nation's active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Rainy day? 
Come visit Summer at the Jersey Shore!  
Members visit for free.

Sewing Group Meeting

Interested in sewing or 18th-century clothing? Stop by our next meeting of our monthly sewing group on Saturday, September 15 from 12-4 pm at the Museum in Freehold.  

If you are interested in joining this group or have any questions, please call Pati Githens at 732-462-1466 or email pgithens@monmouthhistory.org.

Check out what the Two River Times is saying about our sewing group!

Museum Day Live!

Museum Day is an annual celebration of boundless curiosity hosted by Smithsonian magazine. Participating museums and cultural institutions across the country provide free entry to anyone presenting a Museum Day ticket. The Museum Day ticket provides free admission for two people on Saturday, September 22, 2018. 
Marlpit Hall and the Taylor-Butler House will be open 1 - 4 pm
Museum & Research Library will be open 10 am - 4 pm
Last Month of Historic House Season

All of our historic houses will be open Friday, September 28 through Sunday, September 30 for our final weekend of the season! This is your last opportunity to visit before spring of 2019.  Houses will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 pm with a special activity on Saturday, please visit MonmouthHistory.org or call 732-462-1466 for information on house openings. 

Our Museum and Research Library will continue to be open year round during regularly scheduled hours. 
TAVERNFEST
Join us at TAVERNFEST 
on Friday, October 12, 2018 from 7 - 10 pm 
while we celebrate the 120th Anniversary of MCHA's founding! 

For information on Anniversary Sponsorships please contact MCHA at 732-462-1466 x. 19 or email dwilson@monmouthhistory.org.
Traveling Trunk Show


Fall is in the air!  Time to book one of our Traveling Trunk Programs for your scout meeting or PTA school program. Let us bring the Battle of Monmouth or the life of the Lenni Lenape to the classroom or the location of your choosing. If your book group or women's club wants to add an interesting twist to its fall program--MCHA can bring history to life with an 18th century fashion show or tell the story of turning Fiber to Fabric


If you'd like to visit us at one or more of our locations, your students can see what life was like in an 18th century Dutch home and cooking over the open hearth at Covenhoven House in Freehold, learn why a tavern was so important to a community at Allen House in Shrewsbury, visit the exhibitions at our Freehold museum, or learn how hard it was to pick a side during the Revolutionary War at Marlpit Hall in Middletown. Costs for these programs are $125 per group of 30 students, with the exception of the Covenhoven House program which is $150 per group of 30 students. If you combine a trip to Covenhoven and our Museum which are located very close to each other, the cost is $150 for Covenhoven and only an additional $100 for the Museum. Contact Pati Githens at 732-462-1466, ext 11, or pgithens@monmouthhistory.org for more information.

There Are Lots of Ways to Support MCHA



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Monmouth County Historical Association received an operating support grant from the 

New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State. 
Monmouth County Historical Association, 70 Court Street, Freehold, NJ 07728
Sent by lmaher@monmouthhistory.org in collaboration with

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