(http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/times_of_trenton/ng/ngx/@StoryAd?x) _More_ (http://www.nj.com/times/) | _Subscribe_ (http://www.nj.com/timessubscribe/) | _14-Day Archives (Free)_ (http://www.nj.com/search/) | _Long-Term Archives (Paid)_ (http://wawa.starledger.com/texis/search/ttfree.html) Piece of history on auction block Monday, November 07, 2005 By CHRIS STURGIS MONTGOMERY - For Sale: early Dutch home with Georgian influence on 21 acres of preserved farmland. Original family strained by British leanings in Revolutionary War. Needs work. Might be haunted. The property, known as the Van Dyke-Beekman House, will be auctioned off at 1 p.m. Wednesday. The township bought the 4,000-square-foot home a year ago from the estate of Virginia Beekman, shored it up and is offering it for sale to someone willing to restore it to its circa-1750 appearance. The auction is at the house - 2058 Route 206. Robert L. Dann, director of operations for Max Spann Real Estate Auctions, said 20 to 25 parties have asked for bid packages. The house was built in the mid-1700s. A Queen Anne makeover in the late 1800s added dormers and stained glass. It is in poor condition, with broken windows, musty air caused by water damage and bird droppings scattered about. The township will require the new owners to restore it to the more historically significant Dutch Colonial period, including installation of a new slate roof and removal of the Queen Anne details. "They're going to have to put a lot of money into it, but they will have a lovely estate when they are finished," Dann said. "The goal is not to make money, but to have the house restored and the land preserved." Architectural historian Ursula Brecknell, an officer in Montgomery's Van Harlingen Historical Society, said the winning bidder must appreciate the home's architecture and the history of the property. "It's a wonderful example of Georgian architecture in a rural setting. The main room in front with the beautiful woodwork, the built-in corner cupboard - 18th century in style - the marvelous treatment of the corner fireplace with full-length pilasters (vertical wall columns) and paneling above." The Van Dyke-Beekman house has good bone structure - solid floors and the staircase doesn't even squeak. It has large rooms and five fireplaces - one from the original kitchen - and a beehive oven for baking. Copies of the deed, a historical analysis of the home and land, and articles about its former owners - one entitled The Van Dyke Homestead at Harlingen (a section of Montgomery) - are on display. The home was given by Jan Van Dyke to his son, John Van Dyke. He, his wife, Rebecca, and their children lived there. Jan Van Dyke sided with the Patriots during the Revolution, but John remained a Loyalist and was a British army colonel, Brecknell said. An auctioneer's pamphlet claims a "Colonel Ragley" met a tragic end in the home, and, "although he has not been seen by mortal eyes, one may hear, on certain nights, creaky sounds as he walks with a clanking military tread." Brecknell said that tale may come from a history of the Van Dyke and Beekman families published by W.B. Aitken in 1912. Brecknell said she knew Virginia Beekman, the home's last resident, and doesn't think there's a ghost. Somerset County seized and auctioned British Loyalist John Van Dyke's land, she said. "Tory John," as he was known, fled to Nova Scotia, but his wife remained, perhaps buying back the farm. The home was sold to the Manners family in the 19th century, she said. David Stout Manners was the mayor of Jersey City, and a son, Edwin, practiced law in Jersey City but visited the Montgomery farm. The Manners, believing they were descended from the British Duke of Rutland, referred to the property as "Rutland Farm." Their dog and a nearby road were both given that name, Brecknell said. The Manners family was "totally taken up with this suggestion of connection with British highbrows," she said. Edwin Manners mentions the Montgomery farm in his diary, which has been transcribed and published by Jonathan Martin and Michael Lewis, who also mention it on their Web site at Goldenbutterfly.org. Edwin Manners spent the summer of 1900 at the farm and mused in his diary about the house from his hammock on the lawn. He wrote, "The farmhouse, whose central portion has stood probably 150 years, the ends having been added at different times and the whole re-enclosed, imposes itself substantially and pleasantly on the view." Prospective bidders must preregister with Max Spann Real Estate Auctions (1-888-299-1438).