 Here are 'my ladies' continuing Operation Sweatpants! Jersey Blue is collecting sweatpants for the holiday gift bags at the Menlo Park Veterans Home. These are just the latest batch to come in! Hi! Millie here, and I wanted to introduce you to my ladies of the DAR and give you a little background on who they are and all they do in our local community. The Jersey Blue Chapter, named to honor the New Jersey troops of the colonial period, was organized in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with 13 members on February 14, 1894. The name ‘Jersey Blue’ was used to honor the New Jersey units that had uniforms in a blue color with tan trim. They were called 'Jersey Blues' during the war. The chapter has faithfully worked to meet the objectives (or goals, as I say) as set by the National Society: to serve God, Home, and Country, through historical, educational, and patriotic endeavors. During its early years, the Jersey Blue Daughters participated in the restoration of the Wallace House in Somerville, the Old Barracks in Trenton, the Memorial to Lafayette in France, and the restoration of the Parish Chapel in Mt. Vernon. These ‘early daughters’ (who I call my Ladies) raised money and contributed it to the DAR Hospital Corps for work during the Spanish American War. The Jersey Blue Chapter then went on to organize the Visiting Nurse Association in New Brunswick in 1907. They have been involved in working in many community organizations since 1894 and the work continues. Since 1914, the chapter has been custodians (custodians means that they ‘manage’ the operations of Buccleuch Mansion), built circa 1735-39* (circa means about or around). The house was the home of Washington's Aide-de-Camp (assistant) Anthony Walton White. The Mansion was later occupied by the British during the Revolutionary War and was taken over by the Americans after the Revolution. *Since there were no local government records kept at the time the house was built, and my family has been here so long I don't remember the exact year (it was a very long time ago!) we have been unable to verify through tax records or other government documents when the house was actually built. Hope you find the background of the mansion (and my home) as interesting as I do! "Written" by Millie MouseMillie's family lived in the mansion from the very beginning of the building. Learn about the story of her life in Colonial America through her observations and adventures as she shares the history of the New Brunswick area with young visitors.
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 Hi – Millie again! Thanks for coming back and continuing with me on my adventures in the historic Museum at Buccleuch Mansion. The office on the third floor is where the ladies will do their work of the DAR Chapter and the Museum. I heard the ladies discussing that due to the stairs and fire regulations, visitors will not be allowed to tour the third floor. At least guests coming in will not get too tired out climbing the stairs! AND since I live in the house, I know that the stairs can be very tiring to go up and down. I try to do only one flight of stairs a day, sometimes it takes me three days to get downstairs from the top floor! While scampering around on the third floor one night, I noticed that things are moving along in all the rooms of the mansion. I am sure I will continue see many new and interesting things coming now that the the new Museum at Buccleuch has opened. A large desk was moved up the stairs to the new office, along with file cabinets and worktables for spreading out research papers and exhibit items. They are excited to have work space in the office to sort and organize all of the papers gathered since the Jersey Blue Chapter started (way back in 1894)! Many of the papers are clippings from newspapers, and I learned from the ladies that newsprint degrades over time so they are planning to digitize many of these pieces to preserve them for further research. I saw new machines, supplies and file cabinets arriving and being moved upstairs. The ladies sure are busy getting everything into the right place and organized. They are excited to get the office set up and have a spot to do their “DAR work” – I am not sure what that means, but I will be reporting back to you soon, as I learn more about it. "Written" by Millie MouseMillie's family lived in the mansion from the very beginning of the building. Learn about the story of her life in Colonial America through her observations and adventures as she shares the history of the New Brunswick area with young visitors.
 Hi – Millie again, thanks for coming back to continue with me on my adventures in the historic Museum at Buccleuch Mansion. I have been away visiting cousins ‘in the country’ and have recently returned. I was able to get a photo when one of my DAR ladies was arriving at the mansion for more workdays. This photo is me returning from my trip. I hope my cousin will visit soon and you can then meet her too! Work continues weekly at the Museum house. The ladies have both the first and second floors of the house set-up and ready for visitors. I do enjoy listening to them discuss where to place the furniture and all of the paintings and rugs. The house will soon look like the home I remember, but certainly better! I can’t wait to meet more ‘visitors,’ or as I like to call them, “company." Tours have been going since late March 2019. Many have never visited the house before and are impressed with everything they see. Everyone loves to see the markings left by the British troops from the time of the American Revolution. The DAR ladies lead tours and point out all of the repairs and upgrades that happened during the recent restoration work at the building. They also discuss the families who lived in the house and a bit on information on the furniture and furnishings. I also heard the ladies pointing to boxes of things and taking ‘pictures.’ I hope to have my ‘picture’ taken again soon and share it with you! Have to scamper for now – they are coming in to do a ‘good cleaning’ before more visitors arrive. I guess the house was ‘sagging’ a bit at the seams and looking a bit sad and faded after almost 300 years, and now it stands straight and proud overlooking the Raritan River, just as it did when George Washington visited here in the 1700s. I remember seeing him sitting in an arm chair and enjoying refreshments. I do miss the crumbs that would fall when they served cake and cookies. I heard the DAR ladies talking about a meeting ‘at the Mansion soon’ and I am hoping for some goodies then! I am off to survey more of the changes and update and will report back to you soon. Until next time! "Written" by Millie MouseMillie's family lived in the mansion from the very beginning of the building. Learn about the story of her life in Colonial America through her observations and adventures as she shares the history of the New Brunswick area with young visitors.
 My name is Millicent Mouse, but I really prefer to be called “Millie” – it is a name that my mother lovingly called me when I was born. I have lived at the Buccleuch Mansion for over 250 years! I was here in 2017 when the DAR ladies helped move all the furniture, paintings, rugs and many more items out of the mansion. I heard them talking about “restoration” and “contractors” and I knew that there was going to be BIG changes in my home. The noises have been loud, but it is mostly done now – I couldn’t wait to have all the furnishings back in the house and be there when new visitors come to see the house and interesting exhibits. The ‘plaster-man’ was here to complete the repairs to the walls and ceilings where new support beams were placed. Once he finished all his work, the painters came through and gave the whole inside of the house a fresh new coat of paint! There has been a flurry of activity moving boxes, furniture and knick-knacks back into the mansion. Many days have been busy with the ladies sorting, cleaning, arranging and storing the extra items for future displays. I like to scamper from room to room and listen to the tours, maybe you will catch a glimpse of me during your trip to visit the museum. I listen from the corners and I have just recently learned about ‘computers and technology’ and thought that YOU might be interested in what it is like to live in a historic home! "Written" by Millie MouseMillie's family lived in the mansion from the very beginning of the building. Learn about the story of her life in Colonial America through her observations and adventures as she shares the history of the New Brunswick area with young visitors.
 Buccleuch Mansion has been freshly painted, and the shutters have been repaired, rebuilt and replaced. So we are excited to announce that the restoration of Buccleuch Mansion is almost complete! The Jersey Blue Curator Committee continues to oversee the renovations and restoration of Buccleuch Mansion. Meetings with tradesmen and the City of New Brunswick are taking place weekly to finish the updates to our grand old house. The plaster contractor is finishing up the final work of repairs to the plaster at the mansion; the projection for completion is mid-September. The painters will then be in to give everything a fresh coat of paint and replace wallpaper where repairs were made on the second floor. Our best estimate is moving furniture and office equipment, and all of the museum's collection will start approximately mid-to-late October. Jersey Blue Chapter members, family and friends will be asked for help once we have our possessions moved from storage and back into the mansion. The curator committee has worked on a plan for re-setting the rooms, starting with the first floor. More information will be available on the details once we have a firm date. Tentative plans include: 1. We will give the house a thorough cleaning.Once the renovation and painting work is complete, the house will need a cleaning from top to bottom, to assure that the windows are clean, the floors and closets are vacuumed and wiped, and every surface is wiped clean before moving our collections, furniture and furnishings back into the mansion. Folding tables and chairs were stored in the mansion during renovations, and they will need to be cleaned before we use them. We will need Jersey Blue members and volunteers to help once the major cleaning is done. 2. We will move and unpack boxes from our self-storage unit.The Curator Committee and several volunteers packed, moved and stored many boxes of vintage clothing, chapter files and other fragile items that were then placed into a local, secure storage unit for preservation and access during mansion renovations. We will need Jersey Blue members and volunteers to help retrieve the boxes from the self-storage unit and move them back to the mansion. 3. All the collections, furniture and furnishings in storage will be transported to the mansion and unloaded.Last August, we contracted a moving and storage company, who packed up and transported the furniture, furnishings and any large-scale items left in the mansion, as well as the items loaned to the Cornelius Low House in Piscataway, to a temperature-controlled storage facility. Since it took over three moving vans and a crew of six movers to secure and load every item from all three floors, we know that it will take at least that many truckloads to return our furniture and furnishings back to the mansion. We are hoping that a move later in the fall will prevent the extreme temperatures we experienced during the move OUT of the mansion! The furnishings, paintings, furniture and collection items will be distributed to each ‘assigned’ room during the move back into the mansion. It will then be up to the Curator Committee and Jersey Blue members/volunteers to unpack and re-set up each room. 4. We will unpack and set up the first floor and third floor office.We plan to concentrate our efforts to the rooms on the first floor, planning to reopen the ‘Museum at Buccleuch’ once we have it all re-set, which includes the dining/conference room, the colonial parlor and victorian parlor. The main first floor hallway will be left open, to be set up for chapter meeting space. The law office will become our new museum room – we will have the large base cabinets and accompanying glass-doored top cabinets from the third floor arranged around the wall space to accommodate museum displays and rotating exhibits from our vast collection of items. The second and third floor rooms will be closed until we are able to get them unpacked and arranged, with the exception of the third floor office. This is the only room in the building that has adequate electrical connections for office equipment, and we will be setting it up with file cabinets, desk and office supplies. Once the moving and storage vans have left, we will need volunteers to help as we unpack the boxes, one room and floor at a time, and arrange furniture, and replace items into the closets and drawers of each room. Pictures will need to be hung, some of the items will need to be sent out for cleaning and/or wiped down before re-setting the collection. The Curator Committee will set up a schedule of work days for the second and third floors, once the first floor and office are set up and opened, which we expect to begin in early spring 2019. 5. We will set up the second floor museum rooms.6. The third floor museum rooms will be set up.There will be many, many days of volunteer work needed to accomplish getting just the first floor open. We hope to have our holiday social at Buccleuch, so plan to roll up your sleeves and let someone from the Curator Committee know if you are available to help! Although we had hoped that come mid-year 2018, Jersey Blue would be planning a grand reopening/open house celebration, the extent of the restoration and renovations needed to secure the foundations and repairs to both the interior and exterior of the building made it impossible to meet that timeline. We still plan to schedule an event to announce the completion of this massive undertaking, with open houses and tours, but at this time, we are looking at mid-late spring 2019 to be able to accomplish that schedule. We look forward to reopening the Museum at Buccleuch for another 25-30 years before it will need another ‘facelift’ project of this scope! Written by Susan LuczuSusan Luczu has been a member of the Jersey Blue Chapter since 2009 and serves as the director of Buccleuch Mansion, chapter corresponding secretary, publicity and media specialist, DAR Good Citizens program committee chair, and chapter programming committee member as well as NJDAR central district director. She is a third great-granddaughter of Joseph Mishler, a private in the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania militia during the Revolutionary War.
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MEMBERSHIP NSDAR NJDAR WEBMASTERThe content contained herein does not necessarily represent the position of the NSDAR. Hyperlinks to other sites are not the responsibility of the NSDAR, the state organizations or individual DAR chapters. The DAR Insignia is the property of, and is copyrighted by, the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Website last updated February 2020.
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