This Day in History: 1965-03-25
In a signed article John. Y Dator discussed the location of Joyce Kilmer’s “House with Nobody In it”. He related that he had talked with an old resident who had received an autographed copy of the poem from Kilmer himself. There was no question, this person maintained, that it was the old Christie Farm House on the east side of Franklin Turnpike “just a short distance north of the Tondo Ice Station and a bit south of the Mahwah Ford salesroom, The old stone foundation is still there, but it may not be long.” “It is shown on a 1767 map of this area as the old John Christie house and was the farm dwelling for a considerable acreage of land. It appears on an 1861 map and still in the Christie family. How long they remained in ownership has not been determined but suffice it to say that it was one of Mahwah’s pre-Revolutionary houses.” The article was accompanied by a photo of the old foundations “in a thicket east of Franklin Turnpike.”
(Bristow)