Comments on: Frenchtown, New Jersey http://francerevisited.com/francophilia/2009/01/08/26/ Francophilia, Francophiles, and the French in the United States Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:47:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Frederick http://francerevisited.com/francophilia/2009/01/08/26/comment-page-1/#comment-742 Frederick Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:52:07 +0000 http://francerevisited.com/francophilia/?p=26#comment-742 The original Prevost house -- my residence -- stands not on Trenton Avenue but on Hawk Street back by the (now) bicycle trail. At the time it was built, the grounds reached down to the river. The house retains most feaures of the original house, including the interior chestnut woodwork and a staircase that crosses a window. (I have seen the same thing in Charleston SC in Huguenot houses and also in the French Quarter in New Orleans. There are two small additions, so it is not completely pristine. There are three additional houses built by the Prevosts subsequently --- one is the large brick house on Trenton Avenue behind the pizza parlor and another is on Front Street behind what's now called the Gem Building. Both of them have been built over so completely -- it would take an architectural historian to unravel the additions. The third house is just beyond the northern border of the borough and houses or did house the Alexandria TWP Historical Society. Many descendants of the Prevosts have shown up over the years and asked to see the interior of the house, most spectacularly the actress Sally Kirkland. However, earlier in the spring a man and his family from the West Coast, also Kirklands, came and photographed the mantles, etc. Their common ancestor, Ben Kirkland, was a Hunterdon County Freeholder. I don't remember the details of the following, but Aaron Burr allegedly stayed in the house here for a period when he was in hiding. As I said, my memory is fuzzy here, but I believe the connection was through Burr's stepdaughter whose surname was Patry. The original Prevost house — my residence — stands not on Trenton Avenue but on Hawk Street back by the (now) bicycle trail. At the time it was built, the grounds reached down to the river. The house retains most feaures of the original house, including the interior chestnut woodwork and a staircase that crosses a window. (I have seen the same thing in Charleston SC in Huguenot houses and also in the French Quarter in New Orleans. There are two small additions, so it is not completely pristine.

There are three additional houses built by the Prevosts subsequently — one is the large brick house on Trenton Avenue behind the pizza parlor and another is on Front Street behind what’s now called the Gem Building. Both of them have been built over so completely — it would take an architectural historian to unravel the additions. The third house is just beyond the northern border of the borough and houses or did house the Alexandria TWP Historical Society.

Many descendants of the Prevosts have shown up over the years and asked to see the interior of the house, most spectacularly the actress Sally Kirkland. However, earlier in the spring a man and his family from the West Coast, also Kirklands, came and photographed the mantles, etc. Their common ancestor, Ben Kirkland, was a Hunterdon County Freeholder.

I don’t remember the details of the following, but Aaron Burr allegedly stayed in the house here for a period when he was in hiding. As I said, my memory is fuzzy here, but I believe the connection was through Burr’s stepdaughter whose surname was Patry.

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