North Jersey two-home equestrian estate with ties to early settlers listed for $2.2M

A two-home equestrian estate with ties to some of Bergen County's earliest settlers is in need of new owners.

Recently listed by agent Carole "Lynn" Brescia of Coldwell Banker for nearly $2.2 million, the Oakland property known as Breakneck Hill Farm includes the Demarest-Hopper House, an architecturally significant home on national and state historic registers that might date as far back as the late 18th century. It also comes with well-maintained equestrian facilities, including a stable, barns and a riding arena.

"The condition is unbelievable," Brescia said. "It's like this little jewel of property in Bergen County."

The property, at 21 Breakneck Road, features two residences, with a clapboard-sided home from the 19th century and the possibly 18th-century Demarest-Hopper House, with its original 21-inch-thick stone walls, exposed wood beams and wide plank floors in addition to central air conditioning, a central vacuum and a backup generator.

Owned by the same family for roughly half a century, the estate is a rare working farm in northeast New Jersey, Brescia said.

The estate includes a heated and cooled studio building with an attached two-car garage. Horse lovers will appreciate the main barn, which offers five horse stalls, a hayloft, a tack room and the potential for up to five additional stalls. The outdoor space is equally impressive, with two turnout paddocks, a pasture, and a riding ring ideal for training and recreational use.

The property's older stone home was once touted as one built in 1740 that housed Martin Ryerson, head of the ironworks in Ringwood, by a 1976 archaeological and historical survey of the town prepared by the Archaeological Research Center at Seton Hall University Museum.

Rather than predating the American Revolution, however, survey evidence and its construction style point to a build date between 1790 and 1810, according to an early-1980s survey sponsored by the county government. The home was included in a thematic nomination for the National Register of Historic Places that added dozens of stone houses in Bergen County to the register in 1983.

The main stone house has an accessory building that sits on 1.1 acres. The smaller house, at 21A Breakneck Road, includes the farm structures on 9.65 acres. Combined, they have four bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Historic maps of the area show that the stone home held members of both the Hopper and Demarest families in the 19th century. The latter came first. The Demarest family first arrived to the area long known as "The Ponds" when Samuel Demarest moved there in 1778, according to the "Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties" by Cornelius Burnham Harvey.

The pond near 21 Breakneck and now divided by Franklin Lake Road was then called Crooked Pond. It is now more commonly called Hopper's Lake.

After being in the Demarest family in the 1860s, the property was owned in 1876 by Henry A. Hopper. Not the famed Henry A. Hopper, a former Bergen County sheriff, commissioner and state assemblyman, the Henry Hopper from the area formerly known as Franklin Township came from a different branch of the family, according to the 1882 compilation "History of Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey." The family had by then become well known and widespread, as it included some of the earliest Europeans to settle in the Saddle River area.

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Though most of it is highly dubious, the stone home comes with a lot of lore. Stories claim it was known as the "hanging house" during the American Revolution and stored British prisoners in its basement. Others say it housed Bergen County's court records for a spell in 1780 after the Hackensack courthouse was burned by British soldiers and the court was briefly relocated to Oakland to avoid another raid from patrols in the east.

However, the stone home was more likely built several years later, according to the 1980s survey, as it is remarkably similar to the Ackerman-Boyd House not far down Franklin Lake Road. That home was built closer to the turn of the century, in about 1793, according to Franklin Lakes borough records.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: North Jersey two-home equestrian estate with ties to early settlers listed for $2.2M