The Keepers of Coursen's Corners
Fredon Township
ABOUT US
The Keepers of Coursen's Corners was established in 2001 by a group of 7 women. The Coursen Homestead was set to be torn down when the land it sits on was bought by the town to build what is now Lodestar Park in Fredon, NJ. The women came together to convince the town to leave the barn and farmhouse to their care, and thus the Keepers were born. The ladies, thankfully, succeeded and now the care taking and restoration of the house is the responsibility of the women and men of the Keeper's of Coursen's Corners.
OUR VISION
The Keepers are continuously working to restore the house to its original state. Our goal is that one day each room of the Coursen family "mansion" will be fully restored to its former glory, so we can continue the tradition of community that this family gave us, and use the house as a museum of Fredon’s fascinating history, a meeting place for groups, and a learning site for the school.
WHAT WE DO
We are always working to restore different rooms of the house at Coursen's Corners. When the first Keepers started the project they quickly restored and refurnished 6 of the rooms on the main floor. One of our largest projects to date was the restoration of the original kitchen, complete with an open hearth built for cooking. Our most recent projects are taking place on the second story of the home, which includes the addition of a library full of historical artifacts.
OUR COMMUNITY
We are always striving to give back to the community around the house. Often we will host school groups, tours, and community wide events allowing us to educate future generations about the history of small towns in 19th Century America.
History of the House
The Great Road, Route 94, was once a dusty, rutted, narrow dirt road which traveled through a busy little village in the 1800’s known as Coursen’s Corners, located at the intersection of Phil Hardin Road and Fredon-Stillwater Road, at Route 94 near the Fredon School.
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In the mid 18th Century, two descendents of New Amsterdam Dutch families, Johannes (John) Coursen, and his wife, Gertrude Van Tuyle, arrived in the Fredon area. In 1763, Johannes purchased over 800 acres, which included land extending from Paulinskill Road past the four-corners area by the Stillwater Road. When he died, his property was inherited by two of his sons -- the Paulinskill Mill Farm by Jacob Coursen, and the four-corners land, by Colonel John. Starting in 1811, Colonel John’s sons built and operated a blacksmith’s shop, a tannery, a store, and later a tailor shop. Also, his son Isaac established a post office and was the first postmaster. After Isaac’s death, the position was taken over by his son, William P. Coursen until 1881.
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A log cabin was most likely the first building on the present site of the Coursen House. The Coursen mansion was built about 1805. It contained four rooms on the first floor with a chimney across the corner of 2 rooms. There were three bedrooms on the second floor. The kitchen, located on the southern end of the house had a large bake oven to the right of the chimney. Isaac Coursen added a first floor parlor and two more bedrooms upstairs as the family grew.
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Research that was done for the town's Bi-centennial found that the name “Fredon” might have been derived from the word “freedom.”