I keep meeting people who live in Ridgeweood (hey Ridgewood!), so I thought it'd be fun to revisit one of my favorite historic houses, which just happens to be in Ridgewood: the wonderfully named Vander Ende-Onderdonk House. 

The house is at 1820 Flushing Avenue, just over the Queens-Brooklyn border; it's an easy walk from the Jefferson L stop, but it couldn't be further away in spirit from the busy, industrial Flushing Avenue on which it sits:

Flushing Ave, today

Vs. the Onderdonk house: 

The Onderdonk house itself! 

The stone structure (which you can see above) was built way back in 1709, and proudly displays some of your typical Dutch farmhouse features, like the gambrel roof (below).

The steep slope of the roof originally was designed to give you more headroom on your upper floor. No one quite agrees where the flared overhang came from, but in practice, it does a pretty good job keeping rain off the front of the house.  

Today, the grounds are full of parties during the summer, and it's really just a friendly, lovely place to visit. You can get married there or go to a wine tastings, but it's also a fun for a Saturday afternoon history lesson. Get all the details over at their official site: http://www.onderdonkhouse.org/