The Wyckoff-Garretson House in Somerset, New Jersey, can be rented for private events of up to 25 guests, and its Wagon Barn for up to 20. The Meadows Foundation, which owns the house, lists meetings, parties, showers, elopements and small weddings among the uses it accepts. This is a small historic setting at 215 South Middlebush Road, in Franklin Township.
Seminars and company events
The foundation states that its sites are available for private events such as holiday parties and corporate meetings. A small team can use the Wyckoff-Garretson House, with room for 25, or the Wagon Barn next to it, with room for 20. The foundation's own monthly meetups take place in the Wagon Barn, which shows that the space works for a conversation around a table. The site also mentions a conference room and a media room used for talks, craft demonstrations and videos. Whether those rooms are included in a rental is not stated, so ask when you inquire.
Weddings and receptions
Weddings and elopements are named on the rental page, with photographs of weddings staged in the Hageman Barn, a sister site of the foundation. For the Wyckoff-Garretson House itself, the stated capacity of 25 points to a small ceremony or an intimate celebration. Larger groups can look at the foundation's other rentable buildings: the Hageman Horse Barn for up to 80, and the Hageman Farm House and the Van Liew-Suydam House for up to 40 each. The Hageman Barn is an accurate restoration of a nineteenth-century barn with no heat, no air conditioning and no running water, and the renter arranges catering and portable restrooms.
Rooms and capacities
Wyckoff-Garretson House: 25 guests. Wyckoff-Garretson Wagon Barn: 20 guests. The house is also a museum house open to the public on second Sundays from April to October, with docent tours and a carriage barn that holds a used book and gift shop. Sister sites rent as follows: Hageman Farm House 40, Hageman Horse Barn 80, Van Liew-Suydam House 40. The Van Duyn-Van Wickle House is not available for rental at present, although its grounds can be rented for a private affair.
Catering
The Wyckoff-Garretson pages do not describe a catering service. For the Hageman Barn the foundation states that renters must arrange their own catering and portable restrooms, and that no open flames of any kind are allowed on the property. Expect to bring a caterer and check what the house itself allows.
History and setting
John Wyckoff moved to the land near Middlebush around 1709 or 1710 and built the first half of the present house in 1730, using Dutch craftsmen from Brooklyn and white oak cut on the site. The frame has six anchorbents, each weighing about 2,500 pounds. Samuel Garretson, a Dutch farmer from Hillsborough, enlarged the house in 1805 and added a Federal-style front of clapboards, while keeping the Dutch front door and stoop. The foundation restored the house, which stood disguised for 283 years, and completed a Historic Structures Report in 2001. It is the foundation's only house museum.
Getting there
The house is at 215 South Middlebush Road in Somerset, New Jersey 08873. The foundation publishes a maps and directions page. Parking at the Hageman Barn is on the lawn, and you should ask about parking at this site.
