George Washington and officers stayed at the Van Allen House on July 14, 1777,  on their way north to join more of their forces near West Point, when the troops and supply wagons got bogged down on the muddy trail that was the Ramapo Valley Road of those days.  The troops camped down along the Valley Road.  Washington wrote two letters addressed from the Van Allen House, of which we have copies at the House.  History has recorded that General Washington led his troops up and down the 'Valley Road' on other occassions also, and stayed at other old Dutch Houses in Mahwah, Wayne and Ho-Ho-Kus as well as Morristown.  In honor of Genderal Washington's visit in Oakland (The Ponds), we make a point of celebrating his birthday here each year.

Sinter Klaas (or St. Nikolaus) and Black Peter always both visit on Dutch Christmas or St. Nikolaus Day (December 6). The good little children get a present from Sinter Klaas, while those children who have not been quite so good receive something not so good from Black Peter. This is one of the Oakland Historical Society's annual events on the nearest Sunday afternoon to that date.

Did you know there was a summer colony where the same families came every summer to vacation?  Read about The Colony of "West Oakland", as it was called, in the Oakland Journal...

“The bridge was named after the Doty family, early settlers in Oakland Borough, Bergen County, N.J.  The original bridge was 80 feet long and constructed in 1891 and spanned the Ramapo River in an area traditionally referred to as the ponds,” said Rakos. Continue reading the article from the US Army Corps of Engineers...