Samuel Cornelius Demarest House

This property, was a prime location on Essex/Market Street (most probably an Indian trail in origin) which became the commercial route of the Hackensack and Paterson Turnpike in 1815. The house overlooks the busy intersection of what is now Rochelle Avenue and Market Street, close to where a bridge carried the road across the Saddle River.

Samuel Demarest built the house for his son Cornelius in 1825, devising the property to him in 1850. The side-hall plan of the main block is typical of that period. Cornelius had been born in 1797 while his family resided in New York City. After his death on December 4, 1865, the homestead passed to his son James C. Demarest, a carriage-maker (1850) and master wheelwright (1860), who undoubtedly profited from this prime location along the well-trafficked road.