Indian King Tavern and Greenfield Hall: How to Read Two of Haddonfield's Oldest Buildings

You walk past them on Kings Highway all the time. The Indian King Tavern is where New Jersey's legislature met in 1777 and finished turning a colony into a state. Greenfield Hall, farther east on Kings Highway, is an 1841 brick mansion built to look older than it was. Both are open to the public, and both get more interesting once you know what you're looking at.

Indian King Tavern: a house that grew in pieces

Look at the tavern and you're seeing at least four building campaigns stitched together. The state's historic trust lays it out:

• About 1732: brewer Timothy Matlack builds a frame house on the site.
• 1741: he adds a three story brick building with a kitchen wing and a paved cellar.
• About 1764: merchant Matthias Aspden adds a brick extension. That piece later became a store called the "Ark" and was removed in 1909.
• 1811: the frame brewery building is rebuilt in brick, then raised to three stories in the 1880s.

The Friends of the Indian King Tavern give the oldest portion as 1730 and the newest as about 1830. Small difference, same story: this wasn't built as a tavern. It became one.

Why 1777 matters

From January to September 1777, New Jersey's new government met in the 1741 section. The American Battlefield Trust says the Declaration of Independence was recorded in the legislative minutes there and the state's Great Seal was adopted. While lawmakers were meeting, Hugh Creighton bought the buildings and turned them into a tavern, which served drinks until 1873, when Haddonfield went dry.

Why it looks the way it does

Here's the twist. What you see today mostly dates to a 1909 restoration in the Colonial Revival style, according to the state. New Jersey bought the building in 1903, making it the state's first preserved historic site. So when you admire that "colonial" look, you're partly admiring what people in 1909 thought colonial should look like.

Greenfield Hall: 1841, dressed as 1820s

The Historical Society of Haddonfield tells this one well. The land was given by Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh to her cousin John Gill I. In 1841, John Gill IV tore down most of the family house and built a red brick, center hall, two and a half story mansion for his bride, Elizabeth French of Moorestown.

He didn't build in the style of 1841. He copied her family's 1820s home in Moorestown. The society says the front door details are Greek Revival with some Italianate touches, while the rest follows an earlier Classical Revival look. Construction ran from April 15 to Oct. 15, 1841.

What to look for: the two small rooms on the east side. They're what's left of the circa 1747 house built by John Gill II. The state notes a one story kitchen addition came in the 1940s.

The Revolution touched this one too

In 1777, before the mansion existed, Hessian Col. Carl von Donop occupied the earlier Gill house, and Hessian troops camped on the property ahead of the Battle of Red Bank, per the state's historic trust.

Go see them

• Indian King Tavern, 223 Kings Highway East. The Friends say tours are free; check their site for current hours.
• Greenfield Hall, 343 Kings Highway East. Tours Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 1 to 4 p.m., and by appointment. Right now there's also an 18th century textiles exhibit; see our guide to the exhibit.

Own an old house nearby? Read what needs HPC approval in the Historic District before you change anything outside.

Sources

• NJ Historic Trust: Indian King Tavern
• Friends of the Indian King Tavern: History
• American Battlefield Trust: Indian King Tavern
• Historical Society of Haddonfield: Greenfield Hall History
• NJ Historic Trust: Greenfield Hall

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