Village Life in the 1830's
Sunday May 20 • 1PM – 4PM • Admission Free

Life in early 19th Century America was not an easy one, however with advances in technology people were finding themselves with more free time in which to explore leisure pastimes and establish a social culture unknown until that point. A burgeoning middle class was arising in the United States, and throughout the world, as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Free Schools were being formed and the general populous was changing from an illiterate one to one which had, at least, a primary education in reading, writing and mathematics.

In the large cities entertainments such as the theater and the opera were becoming popular. Famed authors, poets and literary critics including Edgar Allan Poe, Sarah Helen Whitman and Charles Dickens toured the world giving readings, lectures and presentations Even the master hoaxster of all time, Phineas T. Barnum, was beginning his career when in 1835, he purchased a slave named Joice Heth for $1000. Heth claimed to be 161 years old and the nurse of George Washington. Throughout the agrarian countryside, revival and evangelistic meetings, country fairs, traveling circuses complete with the infamous snake oil salesmen and village markets provided entertainment....more

Civil War Encampment
Saturday June 2 & Sunday June 3 • Admission Free

Join us in this returning event! The Historic Village at Allaire time travels for its Annual Civil War Encampment! New Jersey Union regiments camp out in our show fields. Discover the Civil War at Allaire! Meet Union soldiers, shop at period stores, and experience encampment life! This event will be a non-combatant Civil War living history presentation of a Training Camp for new recruits in New Jersey service. Throughout the day witness speeches, artillery demonstrations, battalion drills, musket cleaning, dress parades, and a farewell at the train station as troops leave for the front! The event will be open to the public from This event is presented by the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association (NJCWHA) and The Historic Village at Allaire. There will be a $5 parking fee for this event.

The Wedding of Maria Allaire
Sunday June 10 • Admission Free

1836 was a bitter-sweet year for James Peter Allaire and his family. In March of that year, Allaire suffered the loss of his wife Frances Duncan Allaire, to whom he was deeply devoted. The flagship of his coastal fleet, the William Gibbons would founder in a storm off the Carolina Coast in the Autumn of that year. The Nation was on the verge of a financial crisis. However, in 1836 both the Allaire Works in New York and the Howell Works were both in peak production and the Allaires prospered financially. 1836 was also the year Allaire's youngest surviving daughter, Maria Haggerty Allaire, was married.

Allaire Village, Inc. recreates this happy moment in the life of James Allaire and his family when the Historic Village at Allaire hosts the Wedding of Maria Allaire in the Historic Christ Church Howell Works Chapel. The ceremony is followed by cake and entertainment at the near by gazebo.

Summer Flea Market
Saturday June 23

Allaire Village Inc. is hosting its Annual Flea Market fund-raisers in the Show Field at Historic Village at Allaire in Allaire State Park. Over 125 vendors will display old, new and hand-made items of all types. 

This event is a fund-raiser benefiting the historic and educational programs presented at Historic Village at Allaire by the non-profit organization, Allaire Village Inc. Patrons to the Flea Market will also want to visit, as well, the restored 1830s iron-manufacturing community now known as Historic Village at Allaire. Authentically clad volunteer museum interpreters and craft demonstrators, including blacksmiths and carpenters, present the story of the Village buildings and of the people who lived and worked here 170 years ago. The General Store and Bakery will also be open for shopping and refreshments...more

School Days
Sunday June 24 • Admission Free

Allaire Village Inc. will present "School Days at the 1830s Howell Works" where children, ages 6 to 12 years old and curious adults will get a taste of what it was like to attend school, even if only for one half hour at a time, in the year 1836 at the Historic Village Carriage House. Three separate forty-five minute sessions will be conducted.

Students will be instructed by a volunteer in period dress, using the Lancastrian method. This course of instruction included a system of reciting the lessons of the day. Led by an older student, a group of younger children would repeat the lessons for a chosen subject, and by using their slates, pencils and lesson books, would make notations to help them remember that which they needed to learn...more

Upcoming Concerts
THE MUSIC OF BUDDY HOLLY Saturday July 28 Tickets $15 per Person
Purchse Tickets to The Music of Buddy Holly Saturday July 28 $15.00 USD Limited Seating Advance Ticket Purchase Recomended