NJ Transformational Yoga Conference

The Rutherfurd Family's connection to Allamuchy begins in the early 18^th century. According to family history, John Spratt acquired the land which would become known as Tranquility from the Allamuchy Indians. The property passed to John Spratt's daughter Mary Spratt and then to the Alexander Family upon her marriage to James Alexander. Later the property passed to James and Mary Alexander's daughter, Catherine, who married Walter Rutherfurd on December 21, 1758. From this date forward, the property would remain in the Rutherfurd Family. Land inventories of Walter Rutherfurd, held at the New York Historical Society, list the property as a rental property of 460 acres under the name Allamuchy Farms. The estate later became associated with the Stuyvesant Family name as result of the legal name change of John Stuyvesant Rutherfurd to Rutherfurd Stuyvesant to satisfy a request in the will of his great uncle, Peter Gerard Stuyvesant. The first Rutherfurd Family home was built circa 1763.

Walter Rutherfurd and his wife gave the property to their son, John as a wedding gift when he married Helena Morris in October 1787. John and Helena Rutherfurd moved that same year to Allamuchy Farms. Family legend explains how the property became known as Tranquility. The legend goes that Helena Morris Rutherfurd upon arriving in Allumuchy exhausted after a long journey from New York City having traveled rough and arduous dirt roads, exclaimed at first sight of their new home "Ah, this is truly Tranquility". John and Helena lived here while he served as United States Senator representing New Jersey from 1791 to 1798. Although Rutherfurd moved from Tranquility Farms to Trenton in 1798 when he resigned his U.S. Senate seat, the property remained in the family and was given as a wedding gift to his son, Robert Walter Rutherfurd, when he married Sabina Morris in 1809. Robert Walter Rutherfurd was born at Tranquility Farms in 1788. Robert Walter Rutherfurd lived at Tranquility Farms and died there on April 14, 1852. Portions of the property were bequeathed to his children. It was his second oldest son, Lewis Morris Rutherfurd that bought out his siblings and acquired the entire property of his father. Lewis Morris and his wife, Margaret Stuyvesant Chanler, used the home as a country home and in their later years lived there all year round for the sake of his wife's health. Lewis Morris and his wife made additions to the original 1763 house. Lewis Morris died on May 30, 1892 in New York City and is buried in Tranquility Cemetery beside his wife Margaret who had died two years earlier. Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, who was an astronomer and pioneer in celestial photography, took the first pictures of the moon from Tranquility.

Tranquility Farms was left to the children of Lewis Morris. His eldest son, who became Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, bought out his siblings and began an extensive expansion of the house, tripling the size in what became known as the Stuyvesant Mansion. Rutherfurd Stuyvesant began an aggressive acquisition of adjoining properties and amassed an estate of over 5,000 acres know as Tranquility Farms consisting of 20 farms and his famous Deer Park which he used as private hunting preserved. Tranquility Farms became famous for its Dorset sheep and its herd of Jersey, Guernsey and Holstein cows. Tranquility Farms was also famous for its kennels which raised pure bred Fox Terriers. The Deer Park game reserve was stocked with many deer and elk. These animals where raised at Rutherfurd Stuyvesant's property in Lacey Township in South New Jersey near Forked River. Tranquilty Farms was also famous for the Ring Necked Pheasant which Rutherfurd Stuyvesant brought from Great Britain to breed at his estate. The estate became a famous fall retreat for New York Gilded Age Society for hunting outings.

The Stuyvesant Estate became the repository of Rutherfurd Stuyvesant extensive collection of fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen century armor. The entire collection was documented in a book in 1912 by Dean Bashford, curator of armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In 1902, Rutherfurd Stuyvesant's brother, the youngest son of Lewis Morris Rutherfurd, Winthrop Chanler Rutherfurd, after marrying Alice Morton, also decided to build a country house in Allamuchy. He purchased adjacent lands just South of the village of Allamuchy from his brother and third parties and built a brick home in the Tudor/Jacobite style designed by Whitney Warren, whose is most famously know for his masterpiece, Grand Central Station. The designs were drawn to the requests of Mrs. Alice Morton Rutherfurd, incorporating both the Rutherfurd and Morton Family Shields over the fire place of the main hall. The estate to become known as Allamuchy Farms which consisted of several farms totally 1,000 acres.

Rutherfurd Stuyvesant died in Paris on July 4, 1909 and his estate was occupied by his widow, later to be known as Princess Alexandra Carman de Chimay and her two sons, Lewis Rutherfurd and Alan Rutherfurd Stuyvesant. Lewis died in 1944, Princess Chimay in 1948 and Alan in 1954. The contents of the interior of the Stuyvesant Estate were auctioned off at two auctions in beginning in 1950 and another later in the 1950s. The mansion was unoccupied for 11 years until tragically the mansion mysteriously burned to the ground on September 2, 1959. The estate of Tranquility Farms remained in the family and was owned by the only surviving heir, Peter Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, only son of Lewis Rutherfurd Stuyvesant. Peter Stuyvesant lived in the stone house in the Deer Park until his death in 1970 at the age of 35. The estate was put up for sale and was purchased by the State of New Jersey in 1974 and became the core of what is known today as Allamuchy State Park.

The brick house of Winthrop Chanler Rutherfurd remained in the Rutherfurd Family until the death of Winthrop Ruthefurd's second wife, Lucy Rutherfurd in July 1948. The property changed ownership in 1949/1950 when the Sisters of Divine Charity of Staten Island, NY converted the mansion into a retirement home for older members of their order. The property has been known for the past half century as Villa Madonna. The Sister of Divine Charity left Villa Madonna in 2005 and put the property up for sale. The property was purchased in 2008 by the Allamuchy Board of Education.