Our home at 171 Main Street was constructed in 1860. She is Italianate in style due to her high cubic mass and plain lines contrasted by a low segmented arch pediment. The two-story five-bay front and rectangular floor plan were standard throughout the nineteenth century, complete with a nearly flat roof and boldly projecting eaves. The windows at this time were normally rounded on top, however in Flemington, they were rectangularly headed and topped with Stockton brownstone lintels. The brick structure simply serves as a backdrop though for the fancy porch, characterized by elaborate turned posts, angular brackets and an ornamental repeated circular pattern on floating squares. The frieze just below the eave on the center pediment is complete with two panels of carved foliage.

 

Our property was occupied as a residence by multiple families until it became the Raggedy Ann Antique and Toy Museum in the 1970s. This business was founded by Robert Bach and his wife Jean, a doll collector and author. Her curated assortment of 19th and 20th century dolls filled the house with toy trains, tin toys and various automations completing the museum. Robert worked in the basement repairing dolls and stuffed animals. Hazel Smith, a Flemington Fur seamstress, repaired the doll outfits in this space as well. Jean also had a shop right up Church Street at the bustling Turntable Junction and would often travel to Europe on buying trips bringing back incredible finds. When the museum closed in 1983, the content was auctioned at Christie’s in NYC. We find enormous comfort knowing that such a vibrant entrepreneurial energy once occupied this corner lot of ours and it is clear that visitors and locals alike enjoyed the unique ambience created here by the Bach family. The property then became a bank for nearly 5 years and following that came a law firm, eventually known as Watts, Tice and Skowronek. These partners moved in and stayed for over 20 years - eventually adding our current Fleur de Lys Room as an addition. In 2023, the attorneys retired and Teaberry’s purchased the house after a thorough search throughout Hunterdon County that lasted the better part of a year.

 

We invite you into our nineteenth century world to enjoy a bygone era with friends & family.