Linda Bayer’s home at 1299 Macopin Road was built by C.W. Vreeland in 1824, just nine years after the end of the War of 1812. Bayer got to know West Milford as a child. She traveled from her Cliffside Park home with her aunt, who worked in town as a companion to the Neuman family. Sitting with members of the Vreeland and Neuman families over the summers, she would listen to stories that Relda Vreeland would tell. She became enchanted by the old Vreeland house on Macopin Road. Bayer was already living in West Milford when in 1985 Fred Vreeland, a descendant of the builder, decided to sell the Macopin Road home. He remembered that Bayer had always loved the house and gave her the opportunity to buy it. She jumped at the chance. “The house is very different,” Bayer said. Considering its age, history and local folklore, that may be an understatement. The house, outbuildings and property originally operated as a working cow farm. Its extensive pastureland consisted of the area now known as the Highview development. There is little left that shows the exterior history of the parcel except for a gravestone, part of an original property wall, a root cellar in the backyard which has basically disintegrated, and some of the foundation of the summer kitchen. In 1890 the home became Glen Grove Cottage, serving families who would travel by train to West Milford to enjoy country life for a spell. The rent was a reasonable $12.50 a month, but the house lacked some indoor refinements. The city-folk had to learn about rural living and find their way to the outdoor accommodations, including the summer kitchen and the two-seater outhouse, built in 1824 and still standing today. From around 1920 to 1950 a family rented the old home. Bayer does not know much about this period but recalls hearing that the family was famous for holding Saturday night dances at the house. In 1950 Fred Vreeland transformed the house into Macopin Homestead Antiques. The original store sign is still posted on the roadside of the property. Most of the shop was filled with relics of by-gone eras, but in the back of the house he saved one room for his pet-grooming business. Vreeland was a well-known decorator at Macy’s and as a result had some high-profile acquaintances. Among the notables who visited his antiques shop were Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor, who also had her dog groomed there. By the time Bayer and her family moved into the house in 1985, the old homestead was beginning to show its age. Much work had to be done to make the house a home. “There was not a single closet in the house, just two hooks behind each door one for Sunday clothes and one for work clothes,” she said. Trying to keep the house as close to original as possible, Bayer used only vintage wood to build the necessary closets. The 184-year-old wide plank flooring is still in place. The original four fireplaces are there, but sealed off. There is a “raccoon run” in the house, a straight run from front door to back door that would allow any animal who wandered in a direct route back out again a clever strategy for a time when there were no screen doors. Since the house is designated as an historic site, Bayer found that when she could no longer provide the necessary yearly paint job, she had to look into permissible alternatives. Her solution was to put up specially designed restoration siding. A little something extra also came with the old homestead a resident ghost. Fred Vreeland believed there was a haunted room. Bayer said several psychics who have visited the house concur with Vreeland. She said that as long as she’s been in the home, no animal has set a paw in that room, instead coming to a screeching halt in the doorway. Bayer is not totally convinced or concerned, saying, “If anything, it’s a friendly ghost. It’s never bothered me.” Some other uninvited guests also have taken up residence in the old house. Bayer said she has at least a thousand bats. Different groups that have come to do an exterior count of the bats have told her that there are quite a few varieties as well as an astounding number of the critters living in her attic. “I love bats,” Bayer said. She knows they will vacate in October and return in April. Even a new roof did not deter them. They moved out for the construction period and returned when it was complete. Truly dedicated to every nook and cranny of her 184-year-old home, Bayer said, “It’s a part of me. I love my house.” Ghosts and bats and all. Dateline Trivia In 1824 West Milford was a part of Bergen County. In 1824 the Bureau of Indian Affairs was created. In 1824 rubber galoshes are made available to the public by J. W. Goodrich. In 1824 the first public opinion poll is published by a Pennsylvania newspaper. In 1834 West Milford produced its first official budget, which included an item designated “school fund.” The amount was $500. In 1835 John Quincy Adams was President of the United States. In 1838 the Underground Railroad was organized. The 1850 West Milford census reported a “total free population” of 2,624 people, with Passaic County reporting 23 slaves. (Sources: “The Earth Shook and the Sky Was Red,” by Inas Otten and Eleanor Weskerna and Brainyhistory.com)