THE BERGEN HOUSE 

WHERE THE GHOST OF LORD HOWE IS SAID TO R0AM 
ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND

	This old BERGEN house, located once at 33d Street and Third 
Avenue, south of the King's Highway, stood directly in the 
British line of battle here in Brooklyn. Michael Hansen Van BERGEN
received the original grant of land, confirmed by the Dutch, from 
the Indians. about the year 1660. The most interesting history 
of the old homestead was during the seven years prior to the 
evacuation of New York by the British, when it was occupied by 
British officers as their head\-quarters. It is said that in one 
of the quaint upper chambers General BURGOYNE wrote his comedy,
 "The Battle of Brooklyn," afterward performed at the King's Head 
Tavern, on what is now Fulton Street, Brooklyn. And it is further 
asserted that sharp on the stroke of midnight each year, on the 
anniversary of the battle of Long Island, booted feet were heard 
pacing the floor of an upper chamber, and a great clang of steel 
was heard as the stately tread of spurred feet descended the winding 
stairs. The ghostly visitor, supposed to be Lord HOWE, paused in the 
lower hall, long enough possibly to adjust .his cloak or his sword, 
and then, regardless of the storm that might be raging without or the 
soft moonlight that sifted through the locust-trees, he passed out 
of the old door, to again revisit the scenes of the battle of Long 
Island.

	Romance did not pass the old homestead by, but paused longest, 
it may be, in the shadow of the locust-trees that shaded it and in 
the arbors that sheltered the old garden. A BERGEN girl fell in 
love with a British officer, and fearing the wrath of the stern
old squire, her father, who was a high magistrate of the village, 
she left her home, and with her husband sought Nova Scotia, where 
land was granted them by the King of England.

	The women of the house of BERGEN were famous for their beauty, 
and the men were noted for their hardihood and courage in war.
	Forth from their home the BERGEN boys stealthily went one 
dark night, and, rowing a waiting boat toward a British war-ship 
anchored far from land, they surprised the sleeping crew, and 
made the Hessian officers prisoners, triumphantly carrying them 
to the headquarters of the Patriot army in Jersey. 

	The early surroundings of the old BERGEN homestead must have 
been picturesque before the forests were cut or the bay filled in, 
or there was any road save an Indian trail upbn which to travel 
through the country. Gone now is each nearby landmark, and every 
vestige of the life of the early days; and nothing but pictures 
and memories of this old BERGEN homestead remain.




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