DAR continues work on museum restoration

WANTAGE — The Chinkchewunska chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is continuing its efforts to stabilize the second floor of the Elias Van Bunschooten Museum in an attempt to satisfy the engineering report done by Holt, Morgan and Russell and assure the floor will remain safe for visitors.

The Reverend Elias Van Bunschooten House was built in 1790 and deeded to the Chinkchewunska Chapter in 1970. The house was placed on the state and national Registers of Historic Sites and Places and is now known as the DAR Van Bunschooten Museum. The museum is in need of stabilizing the second floor due to its age. The room is 20 feet-by 20 feet. The support beams under this bedroom have a sag and bounce and need additional support.

“We are thrilled with the progress that has been made thus far on the stabilization project, and are excited to be moving on to the second phase of the project," chapter Regent Bonnie Matthews said. "The ceiling of the first floor Parlor has been removed and all the beams have been examined. Now a slow process of 'jacking' is taking place to see if the beams will give”a little, before new beams are placed next to them. This process takes time and patience. Once the contractor is satisfied with these results, he will install the new beams next to the original beams and add additional beams making all the beams 12 inches on center.”

The Chinkchewunska Chapter was awarded a $9,350 grant by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution on April 17, Funding for this project was made possible through the sponsorship of Chinkchewunska Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, located in Wantage Township, New Jersey.

Upon completion of the stabilization project, the group will not have to break tours into smaller groups before entering the room.

The DAR grants program was started in 2010. Funding is awarded to support projects in local communities that promote the organization’s mission areas of historic preservation, education and patriotism.

For more information, please contact Bonnie Matthews, Regent at 973-875-5746 or visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~njdar/Chinkchewunska/chapter.html.