The Nathaniel Bonnell Homestead (1682) and the Belcher-Ogden Mansion anchor “the corner that history made.” The Belcher Ogden Mansion originally housed the family of John Ogden in the mid-18th century. About 1751, the royal Governor of New Jersey, Jonathan Belcher, relocated the center of colonial government from Burlington on the Delaware to Elizabeth. He bought the Ogden residence and lived there until his death in 1757. During that time, Belcher strongly supported the creation of a school that would become Princeton University. The school’s first president, Rev. Jonathan Dickinson and his successor, the distinguished Protestant minister, Rev. Jonathan Edwards, both visited Belcher at his residence.

In 1758 William Peartree Smith, a close friend of New Jersey’s first governor, William Livingston — and himself a member of NJ’s Committee of Correspondence — took ownership of the house. In 1778 his daughter Catherine married Elisha Boudinot, sister of Elias Boudinot, President of the Continental Congress. Alexander Hamilton served as Master of Ceremonies on that occasion and
welcomed distinguished guests including George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette.

Featuring:
 Hand-cut post-and-beam construction with unusual Flemish bond brick style, the result of expansions made by its first three owners

Listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, National Historic Landmark

For Hours: Daytime: (908) 581-7555; Evening: (908) 591-1893

Photo By KForce at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17957162