Public History Department: 201-768-1360 ext. 6108
Built in the 1760’s, the Kearney House has been used as a family homestead, a dockside tavern, a park police station, and a “historic shrine.” Today, this house helps bring to life two centuries in the history of the Hudson River and the families who depended on it for their livelihoods.
The Kearney House is at the north end of Alpine Picnic Area. It is open to tour (no fee) on most* weekend & Holiday afternoons from May through October.
*In good weather, as long as staff is available, we open the Kearney House by 1 PM until around 4 PM, but on days of heavy or steady rain we generally do not open!
GPS: 40.947412, -73.919027
Living History Programs
The Kearney House provides a wonderful environment for our living history programs that bring Mrs. Kearney’s Tavern to life!
Historic Registers
The Kearney House is listed on the National and New Jersey State Historic Registers as the “Blackledge-Kearney House,” and was once known as the “Cornwallis Headquarters” (it was thought the British General stayed here for a night in 1776).
Since 1909, the Palisades Interstate Park Commission has preserved this unique house with ongoing assistance from the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs.
The Kearney House
The southern part of the house was built around 1761, the year the farmers of Closter built Closter Dock Road from their farms, through a pass in the cliffs, and down to a dock along the Hudson River. From this dock they could ship goods to New York City’s markets by sailboat.
The house was most likely built to be a dockmaster’s house, to supervise the busy river landing. By the 1800's, it had a different role as Closter Landing became a bustling stop just miles from a growing Metropolis.
Mrs. Rachel Kearney
In 1817, James and Rachel Kearney moved here with three children from her first husband, who died two years earlier. They had five children of their own before James died in 1831, and Rachel adopted a daughter besides – for a total of nine children she brought up here. The family also kept a tavern here, and “Auntie Kearney” was a well-known local figure until her death in 1870, at the age of ninety.
Her legacy lived on in the local community long after her death, and either through direct lineage or marriage much of Alpine was related to Rachel Kearney by 1900. Her grandson Captain Kearney served as a ferryman for the Palisades Interstate Park.
Becoming a Tavern
The northern addition was built in the 1840s, during the Kearney House’s time as a tavern. Besides offering food and spirits, Mrs. Kearney’s tavern served as a meeting place for the captains, crews, and passengers of the vessels that arrived and departed daily from the docks here, and for the local workforce of quarrymen, dock workers, and tradesmen.
News, gossip, strongly argued political opinions, the latest joke – all would have been shared within these walls. The upstairs room in the new addition might have been for lodgers staying at the tavern.
Our Park Police
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission bought the house in 1907, and by 1909 had the big porch built as a grandstand for a dedication ceremony for the new park. Through the 1920s, the Commission used the house as a police station.
These early park employees would invite officers from nearby Camp Merritt to pose for photographs. Over a million soldiers departed America through Camp Merritt, and thousands used Closter Dock Road to get on ferries at today's Alpine Picnic Area... in view of the Kearney House!
NJ State Federation of Women’s Clubs
Leaders of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs visit the “Cornwallis Headquarters” in the early 1930s. Member clubs from across the state donated furnishings, quilts, and other artifacts to the house during this time.
"Cornwallis Headquarters" | 1933
1933 plaque honoring the efforts of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs is still on display in the house’s “Park History Room.” Unfortunately, Gen. Cornwallis didn't use the house as a headquarters.
Storm Damage | 2012
The Kearney House was badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012. Thanks to the efforts of many individuals and groups (and especially our amazing park maintenance crews!), the Kearney House reopened to the public on July 4, 2014.