The Vander Ende-Onderdonk House

Some highlights from our Halloween Craft last weekend So many fabulous costumes. Thank you to everyone who came. This was our first time having the event and it was a huge success, we hope to offer a Halloween Craft again next year!

E is for Egg! This week’s #MuseumAlphabet looks at the culinary history of eggs and highlights two egg-related gadgets in our Basement Kitchen, an egg tin (left) and an egg poacher (right)! Eggs have been eaten since prehistoric times. For most of Post-Colonial American history, eggs were either gathered from backyard chicken coops or purchased from farmers selling their excess supply. Both the Vander Ende and Onderdonk Families would have sold extra eggs from their farms at... the market. Even after the Onderdonk Family began to sell off their land and were no longer farmers by profession, they likely continued to keep a chicken coop for personal egg consumption. Egg farming wasn’t widely conducted on a mass level until the 1940s. A metal egg tin or crate would have been used to transport eggs from the market. Most egg tins would have been large enough to hold at least a dozen eggs. A smaller tin, such as the one pictured above, would have doubled as a lunch box- perfect for transporting hard boiled eggs and other small snacks. Poached eggs are popular worldwide and considered a traditional part of American breakfast cuisine. Poached eggs are soft boiled outside of the shell. The cooking style can be difficult to perfect. However, helpful kitchen tools, such as the footed egg poacher pictured above, hold the egg slightly submerged in a shallow pool of water and allow for easy extraction. Eggs Benedict (a dish of poached eggs, ham, and Hollandaise Sauce over bread) was popularized in New York City in the mid-late 1800s. The Onderdonk Family may have enjoyed this decadent brunch favorite on special occasions such as Easter or for a luncheon party.

Happy Halloween from all of us at the Onderdonk House! Thank you to everyone who came today for our craft and tours!

This week’s #ThrowBackThursday is in honor of the New York City Subway’s 116th birthday (which was on Tuesday)! The NYC subway opened on October 27, 1904. Pictured here is the Forest Avenue train station in Ridgewood, Queens. The Forest Avenue elevated train station opened in August 9, 1905- less than a year after the Subway opened! Of course at that time, the trains on Forest Avenue’s tracks were part of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company and not the MTA. This photo was ta...ken in 1916, from Putnam Avenue, looking up towards Forest with Fairview Avenue to the left. Did you know that the Myrtle Avenue El, as the M train was once called, used to connect Ridgewood to Downtown Brooklyn? Yup! Until 1969, trains ran direct on elevated tracks from Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village all the way down Myrtle Avenue to Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn and onward over the Brooklyn Bridge. Today, the tracks switch course after Myrtle-Broadway and head towards the Williamsburg Bridge. If only there was still such a convenient way to travel between Ridgewood and West Brooklyn! Photo: Elevated Station on Forest Ave;NYC Board of Transportation; Robert Presbrey Collection; April 28, 1916.

D is for Delft Tile! This week’s #MuseumAlphabet highlights a Dutch Delft Tile displayed in our exhibit room. Delft tiles are typically characterized by a blue or purple design on a white background. The tiles often depict people and animals, landscapes (like ours above), or floral patterns. Multiple tiles are sometimes placed together to tell a story, each one representing a different scene. Historically, the tiles were most commonly used to decorate fireplaces. Delft tiles ...date back to the early 1600s. Dutch craftsmen were inspired by porcelain brought back from China and hoped to recreate the style. The craftsman incorporated methods that were already typical to Dutch pottery. Delft tiles were glazed earthenware rather than true porcelain. Stencils and charcoal were used to create a design on the tile, which would then be fired in a kiln. Cobalt-blue or Manganese-violet would be added to the design and the tiles were placed back in the kiln for a final firing. Delft tiles are still made in the Netherlands today, with many modern craftsmen using the same techniques as their 17th century counterparts. See more

We’re open today for regular tours and have a few pumpkins available for sale! Stop by anytime before 5pm. Tours start on the half hour and advance tickets are available online!

Does this building look familiar? It’s now the Ridgewood YMCA on 64th St & Catalpa Ave. For this week’s #throwbackthursday, we’re traveling back to the 1950s when the building was still a Municipal Courthouse! The brick courthouse was built in 1931, across the street from the then newly constructed NYPD 104th precinct. The building officially served as the Queens County Magistrate's Courthouse. The courthouse closed in 1962. However, the building reopened as a YMCA in 1965 an...d continues to serve the greater Ridgewood community today. The date of the first photo is unknown but we were able to identify the car on the right as a 1952 Pontiac Chieftain. We wonder what identifying details can be found in our 2020 photo. Queens County Magistrate's Courthouse, Date Unknown-Circa 1952, GRHS Collection.