Brower’s Hill and Sluckup in Olden Times
By Kevin Wright
Overlooking the surrounding lowlands to the east, south and west, Cherry Hill in River Edge rises 113 feet above sea level, providing a commanding view across the Hackensack Valley to the Palisades. Cherry Hill was first called Brower’s Hill, after a family of that surname who lived along Main Street at the foot of the slope. According to the inscription upon his tombstone in the burial ground at the Dutch Reformed Church on the Green in Hackensack, Abraham J. Brower “naturalized June 21. 1767, belonged to the Continental army of 1776, and died March 21, 1837.” He came from Long Island and took up residence along Main Street, River Edge, at the foot of the eminence, renamed Cherry Hill when the railroad came to town in 1870.
Following the brook that winds down the hill back to its several springs, one came to Sluckup, a curious name planted by the Bantas, a family from the North Sea province of Frisia, who yet speak a Scandinavian dialect quite distinct from the Dutch language:
slakki (slack, in English) describes a small valley or boggy hollow. The name has changed over time: Slokeup (1774), Slokup (1792), Sluckup (1793), Slockup (1806). In 1832, the old name was almost literally translated into the more euphonic Spring Valley. Some local even humorously suggested to a gullible historian in 1876 that the place earned its name when a cow “slucked up” a farmer’s linen coat from a fence.
Beyond the shallow swale where Van Saun Park is now found, yet another ridge rises to the west. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, this was “the hill commonly called the Cacel Rugh at the road [now Howland Avenue] which leads from the New Bridge to Sluckup.”
Kachgel Ruygte derives from
Kachgel (meaning stove) and
ruygte (meaning a thicket, bramble-bushes or shavings of wood) and best translates as Stove-Kindling Ridge. Several living springs feed Van Saun and Herring Brooks, which drain Sluckup between Cherry Hill and the Kachgel Ruygte before contributing their commingled waters to Cole’s Brook and the Hackensack River. Long ago, beasts of the forest drew near to drink the cool streams; they in turn attracted predators. A wolf-pit reportedly was located east of Spring Valley Road, near the confluence of the upper branches of the Mill Brook, and within the present confines of Van Saun Park. A sandy loam predominates in this dale, before changing to clay near the Hackensack River.
But there were still older names in the neighborhood: Aschatking, Steenrapie and Kinderkamack. The farming neighborhood lying along the road leading from Old Bridge to New Bridge was curiously called Steenrapie, later corrupted into Stony Arabia. Steen is the Dutch word for “stone,” which prompts some to mistakenly believe—as with the
kinder in Kinderkamack—that the word is of Dutch origin. Most likely, Steenrapie is an approximation of the Algonquian word,
Lenacki, meaning “high ground, upland.” The countryside atop the hill, extending from northern River Edge into Emerson was anciently known as Kinderkamack; the path leading up from Hackensack was called the Kinderkamack path or road.
At the time of the American Revolution, Howland Avenue marked the line between gristmiller Cornelius Van Saun’s farm to the south and son-in-law Christian Dederer’s farm to the north. Hendrick C. Banta lived west of the Muelekel or Mill Creek, which flows through Van Saun Park. Exactly when the Van Sauns built a stone dam in the hollow below the conjunction of several spring brooks and erected a gristmill is unrecorded, but on May 1, 1750, neighbor Jan Banta, devised “all the rest of my land lying on the west side of a run of water called the Muelekel [Mill Creek]” to his son Cornelius Banta. Tax Ratables for New Barbados Precinct identify Cornelius Van Saun as owner of a gristmill from September 1779 through at least 1797. He is not listed as owner in September 1802, having died in that year; a deed then referred to “the mill lot belonging to Luke Van Saun.” It was sold to Nicholas Romine before 1815.
When six thousand British invaders waded ashore at Paulus Hook on September 22, 1778, friends of American Independence feared a decisive march northward along the Hudson River to "cut off the communication between the Southern and Eastern states.” The Continental army, reinforced by a large body of Jersey militia, kept just beyond reach of their deadly opponent and alert for any sign of determined motion. The British swiftly advanced to New Bridge, dug in at Brower's Hill and stretched a defensive line across the peninsula, eastward through Liberty Pole to the Palisades. By this means, "they confined themselves to a small portion of country, between two navigable rivers, exposing only a small front, impenetrable by its situation, and by works thrown up for its further security." The invaders then set about stripping the countryside of its fresh harvest and fattened cattle, engaging a fleet of about one hundred small vessels to haul plunder down the Hackensack River. Some farmers thought that the devouring host seemed "much fonder of forage than of fighting."
According to Abram D. Banta, the Bergen Militia under Captain Outwater, were “watching to counteract the movement of the enemy near New Bridge and Schrawlenburg, seeking opportunities for foraging incursions, and to attack the Fort on Brower’s Hill, now New Bridge.” Abram Banta and “his company marched within three or four hundred yards when the enemy fired cannon upon them while they were going into the Fort, and Gen. Wayne, on account of the inequality of his force, retreated to where his brigade remained three or four weeks.” It was likely during this brief encounter that a cannon ball struck the hill west of the Van Saun millpond; it was dug out of the earth and displayed in the mill until about 1888.
To prevent any British interference with the landing of allied French troops in Rhode Island, General Washington moved the Continental Army into a position to challenge the British military stronghold on Manhattan. On September 4, 1780, the Continental Army encamped at Steenrapie, west of the Hackensack River, between New Bridge and Kinderkamack. During their stay, Hendrick C. Banta sold a barrel of cider from his mill to the troops “every other day.” His son Cornelius Banta, then 10 years old, reportedly “saugh Washington three times on his hors.” The Commander-in-Chief’s presence hereabout gave rise to the name of the Washington Spring.
On September 13th, General Washington and six allied Native American chiefs rode in front of the Continental army on parade review. General Washington, the Marquis de LaFayette and General Knox departed for Hartford, Connecticut, on September 17th to meet the newly arrived commanding officers of the French fleet and army. The Continental Army decamped from Steenrapie on September 20th.
Here is my text for the Historic Blue Marker at the Washington Spring in Van Saun Park:
Washington Spring
Howland Avenue divided the
farms of miller Cornelius Van
Saun to the south and Christian
Dederer to the north. Hendrick
Banta lived west of Mill Creek.
The Continental Army moved
into Bergen County in August 1780
to forage for food and to await
the French army and fleet for a
campaign to drive the British
from New York City. From
September 4th to the 20th, 1780,
about 14,000 American troops
encamped on Kinderkamack ridge.
Hendrick Banta sold them cider
from his mill. His ten-year-old
son Cornelius saw Washington
three times on his horse. His
presence here gave rise to the
name of the Washington Spring.
Dedicated in 2005
by the County of Bergen
Author