The Kearny Cottage is a historic home in
Perth Amboy
Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...
,
Middlesex County,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, United States. It is open to the public as a
historic house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...
and is operated by Kearny Cottage Historical Society.
Built in 1781, it was originally located on High Street but was moved to
Sadowski Parkway when the last Kearny descendant died in the 1920s. The building was later moved again to where it now stands at 63 Catalpa Avenue, just inland from the mouth of the
Raritan River
Raritan River is a major river of New Jersey. Its Drainage basin, watershed drains much of the mountainous area of the central part of the state, emptying into the Raritan Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.
History
Geologists assert that the lower Rar ...
. The four-room cottage is a museum operated by Kearny Cottage Historical Society and serves as a repository for many items donated by citizens of Perth Amboy reflecting the maritime history of its owners and the city. A colonial garden is located on the grounds.
The cottage was home
Elizabeth Lawrence Kearny, the poet Lady Scribblerus, and Michael Kearny. Their son,
Lawrence Kearny
Commodore Lawrence Kearny (30 November 1789 – 29 November 1868) was an officer in the United States Navy during the early nineteenth century. In the early 1840s he began negotiations with China which opened that country to U.S. trade and poin ...
was born and died in the house. Commodore Kearny was famous for his open door trade policy with China
and he was known as “the Sailor Diplomat.”
[
The house is listed on the ]New Jersey Register of Historic Places
The New Jersey Register of Historic Places is the official list of historic resources of local, state, and national interest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The program is administered by the New Jersey's state historic preservation office within ...
and National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
as the Lawrence Kearny House[
]
See also
*List of the oldest buildings in New Jersey
This article attempts to list the oldest extant buildings surviving in the state of New Jersey in the United States of America, including the oldest houses in New Jersey and any other surviving structures. Some dates are approximate and based upo ...
*
References
External links
* {{commons category-inline, Kearny Cottage, Perth Amboy
Kearny Cottage
- official site
Perth Amboy, New Jersey
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
Historic house museums in New Jersey
Museums in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Houses in Middlesex County, New Jersey
Houses completed in 1781
National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, New Jersey
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
1781 establishments in New Jersey