From Historic Houses of New Jersey by W. Jay Mills, 1902
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
GUARDED by Beacon Hill, a
mile and a half out on the Middletown Point turnpike, is what
remains of the home of Philip
Freneau, the most noted American poet and writer of his day,
whose stirring verses served hot
from "The Sign of the Rose," at the outbreak of the Revolution, and later at his own
little press at Mount Pleasant, did much to inspire the
hearts of his countrymen with the love of freedom.
The first homestead was erected in the year 1752 by
Pierre Freneau, the father of the poet, and was named
Mount Pleasant, after the residence of his grandfather
in La Rochelle. Its situation was truly pleasant, and
almost divine. It stood in the midst of a grove of great
locust-trees, every one of them over a century old, and
said to have given the poet as much pleasure as anything
in his life. About it stretched, as far as the eye could
reach, hundreds and hundreds of acres of fertile Jersey
farm-land, all a part of the Freneau plantation.
During Pierre Freneau's life his family spent only a portion of each year at Mount Pleasant, as he possessed
a large mansion on Frankfort Street, New York City ;
but after his decease, in 1767, his widow removed there
permanently with her five children, – Philip Morin,
Mary, Peter, Andrew, and Margaret Allaire, and his old
"Aunt Allaire," always an important member of the
household. Mount Pleasant Hall was a wide and spacious dwelling. There was one large main house and
two wooden wings added at later periods. A wide hall
ran through the middle building, and there were balconies at the north and south ends, giving it a very
stately appearance.
From old letters and papers we learn that the family
lived the usual peaceful life of cultured leisure indulged
in by the Jersey gentry farmers of the period. There are
several pieces of gold and silver plate still in existence,
handed down as heirlooms through the Freneau family,
which are mute testators that they were familiar with the
luxuries of the times.
The young Philip at an early age began the indulgence of his poetic fancy. As a boy he loved to climb
the heights of the blue Homdel hills, and gaze off over
the mysterious Atlantic, dreaming of the days when he
should flit over its foam-flecked waters in a gallant ship,
the hero of a hundred brave adventures. Most likely
his youthful imagination was well steeped with the tales
of pirates and buccaneers which lived in the minds of
the people in the vicinity. The wild coast of New Jersey sheltered many a Blackbeard and Captain Kidd in
the early eighteenth century, and often suspicious crafts
found their way there at a much later period. The dwellers near the coast were never free from the terror
of gangs of robbers, called in Monmouth picarooners ;
and Mrs. Freneau often bade her slaves hide the plate
in the meal barrels when the house was approached by
strangers.
The Rev. William Tennent, of Freehold, and later
the Penolopen Latin School, conducted by the Rev. Alexander Mitchell, prepared Philip for the College of New
Jersey. After his arrival there, at the age of sixteen, his
squibs and poems, especially " The History of the Prophet Jonah," charmed his fellow-students as much as the
proficiency displayed in his studies delighted good Presi-
dent Witherspoon, for that worthy soon wrote a congratulatory letter to Mrs. Freneau, praising her son's good parts,
and the students hailed Freneau as a dawning genius.
While at Nassau Hall, in fair Prince-Town, he entered into close intimacy with many of his classmates
who afterwards became notable in their various walks
of life. Among them were Brockholst Livingston,
future justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States, and also one of his relatives by marriage ; William Bradford, Attorney-General during Washington's
second term of office ; Hugh Henry Brackenridge, judge
and author ; Samuel Spring, chaplain to the Revolutionary army ; Aaron Burr, afterwards Vice-President of the
United States ; Henry Lee, the famous " Light-Horse
Harry;- Gunning Bedford, one of the framers of the
Constitution; Aaron Ogden, afterwards governor of
New Jersey ; and James Madison, the fourth President,
who was Philip's room-mate and one of his warmest
personal friends through life.
It was during one of the college vacations that the
quiet and studious little Madison accompanied Freneau
to his Jersey home for a visit. One who loiters along the
old Middletown turnpike near Mount Pleasant to-day will
see few changes in the scenic setting through which their
coach passed. A century has rolled very lightly adown
that seldom frequented highway. Many of the houses
Freneau knew are still lingering, mossy and weatherbeaten, by the roadside, and some of the stone fences
built by Freneau slaves yet stand guard over fertile fields.
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Very joyful was that home-coming and the welcome
given to young Madison in a household where all that
was best in Huguenot customs and traditions still lingered. How gladly the poet's beautiful mother – for she
is radiantly beautiful in her old portrait with the sabre
thrust through the heart – embraced them both. The portrait of Agnes Watson (Mrs. Freneau), painted when
she was about sixteen, formerly hung in old Mount Pleasant Hall. Under
one of the vine-covered porticos old Aunt Allaire was
waiting to add her caresses, and in the background stood
the poet's lovely sister Mary. "She was as pure as an
angel," Freneau wrote of her in after years; and as
young Madison gazed on her his heart was lost.
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During the Revolution the house was visited by marauders, and many
of the family portraits were mutilated. The one of Agnes Watson
received a sabre thrust near the location of the heart. |
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James Madison could have written of his first love,
Mary Freneau, those beautiful lines which the poet embodied in the most exquisite of all his poems, "The
Wild Honeysuckle," for most of her life had been
passed in the glades and glens of rural Monmouth.
Fair flower that doth so comely grow,
Hid in this silent, dull retreat,
Untouched thy honed blossoms blow,
Unseen thy little branches greet.
In those sylvian solitudes, of which Freneau has left
us many charming pictures, – "by murmuring streams"
and "flower-decked dells," – Madison breathed to his
Jersey Mary his unrequited love. In vain he begged
and implored her to marry him, but, although she admired and respected him, she had formed a resolution to
lead a single life, and could never be induced to alter
her decision. The future President told the poet that
he admired his sister more than any woman he had ever
seen, and her refusal of him was the cause of that sad-
ness of temperament noted in the early years of his manhood. Poor Madison was pursued by ill luck in his
love-affairs until he met his sprightly Dolly Payne. His
second proposal, at the age of thirty-two, was anything
but a happy choice. The lady, Miss Catherine Floyd,
a daughter of General William Floyd, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, after accepting and then
rejecting him for a more ardent suitor, added insult to
injury, so tradition says, by sending him a lump of dough,
shaped like a heart, to show her disgust at his wooing.
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Eleanor Forman's brothers and sisters all married into distinguishe
families. Among the prominent names of New York and New Jersey
closely connected with theirs are those of Ledyard, Bleecker, Tappan,
Seymour, Van Rensellaer, Jay, Cass, Colden, and Livingston.
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Philip Freneau was much more successful in his love-affairs than his friend Madison. During these vacation
days he began his courtship of Eleanor Forman, of near-by Forman Place, now owned by the Vredenburgh
family. She was a maiden both beautiful and educated
far in advance of most of the women of her day. A
pretty story is told of their corresponding in verse for a
number of years before their marriage. Their engage-
ment was a very long one for those days of hasty mar-
riages, for they were not united until after the close of
the Revolution. |
When the happy day at last arrived, the poet took his
bride home to live at old Mount Pleasant Hall. They
were both bookish people, and although never rich in
this world's goods, managed to form one of the largest
libraries in New Jersey at a time when a dozen or two
books were considered a goodly number for the usual
educated household. Towards the close of the eigh-
teenth century, while living at the Hall, they had a small
building erected as a library, some distance from the main
house, and there they used to retire from household cares
and read and write in solitude. After their brilliant life in
Philadelphia, where Freneau edited The National Gazette
and was French translator for Jefferson, then Secretary
of State, and Mrs. Freneau's little salon became known
as a magnet for the wits of the Quaker City, this library
house afforded great enjoyment to Mrs. Freneau. Writing
to her young brother, Major Samuel Forman, then in the
wilderness of Northern New York, near Cayuga Lake,
she says:
My two little girls and books are my chief comforters. I wish it
were in my power to send you as good a collection of the latter as we
have. You would not feel the loss of friendship and the want of company so much as you do. We must endeavor to make ourselves independent of the world as far as possible, and let our own friends furnish
us with that pleasure which too many of us go in search of abroad.
In these quiet days many relations and distinguished
friends journeyed to visit the poet and his wife. We
know Madison and his new-made wife were invited,
for Freneau sent him a belated letter of congratulation on his marriage which contained such an invtation:
MONMOUTH May 20th, 1795
MY RESPECTED FRIEND, –:
The Public papers some time ago announced your marriage. I wish
you all possible happiness with the lady whom you have chosen for your
Companion through life. M°. Freneau joins me in the same, and desires
me to present her best respects to your lady and yourself. Should you
ever take an excursion to these parts of Jersey, we will endeavor to give
Mn Madison and yourself – 'if not a costly welcome, yet a kind,' –
I am, Sir
with great Esteem
Your friend and humble Serv't
PHILIP FRENEAU.
Among all the guests who enjoyed their hospitality
none could have been more welcome than Philip's hand-
some brother, Peter Freneau, " the Apollo of Charles
Town," who was secretary of state in South Carolina
for the years 1788 to 1794 inclusive. He was a leader
of society in the city which has been called one of the
most aristocratic of the South, many of its inhabitants
being members by birth of the French and English
nobility. Among his intimates were Charles Cotesworth
Pinckney, at whose hospitable mansion on the Bay he
was a constant visitor; the witty Colonel Lehre; Mrs. Ralph Izard, who was Miss De Lancey, a famous New
York beauty ; Lady Mary Middleton, a relative of the
Pinckneys ; Pierce Butler, a cousin of the Duke of Ormond, and many others whose names have added lustre
to the old city's social history. He was a striking figure
at the gatherings of the St. Cecilia Society, noted for its
handsome and elegantly garbed frequenters. An early
visitor to CharlesTown said that at the St. Cecilia meetings
one could view the " choicest flowers" of the South, and
Quincy wrote, "In loftiness of head-dress the ladies stoop
to the daughters of the North ; in richness of dress surpass them." It is related of Peter Freneau that when
visiting Mr. and Mrs. Philip Freneau in Philadelphia, he
was one of the most talked of men in the Assemblies,
and his likeness to Charles Fox was so pronounced that
a portrait of the British statesman was exhibited as his
own.
When the old city by the sea was still in her maidenhood, one of the diversions of her aristocracy was the
spring-time fetes, or revels, held in the gardens of lordly
plantations. Under tall oaks, magnolias, and blossoming
mulberries, on lawns and broad balconies, the planters
and their families would gather to make merry in the
first month of flowers. Mrs. Philip Freneau, when an
aged lady residing in New York, used to tell of a visit
to his great plantation on the Cooper River, and the
grandeur of a spring-time ball given by her brother-in-law, Peter, for some distinguished friends. The great
ball-room with its waxed floor, the myriad lights in
the sixteenth century sconces, the grand company, the
catalpa and mulberry-trees in the garden glowing under the stars, and the music were always fresh in her mind ;
but the most distinct figure was her ideal of manhood,
Peter, of whom it is recorded that no woman ever
looked once without looking again.
Peter Freneau was noted for his liberality and handsome presents. On one occasion he and his wife drove
by easy stages from Charleston to Mount Pleasant Hall,
and on their arrival he presented his brother with the span
of horses, carriage, and slave coachman. After a subsequent visit he took the eldest daughter of the poet back
with him to Charleston, where she remained some time
attending the school conducted by the daughter of Admiral De Grasse, who afterwards became Mrs. De Pau,
of New York. This distinguished son of New Jersey,
and the friend of many great men of his time, has been
cared the American Addison, and his French translations
were admired by Napoleon. To-day he rests in his
adopted Charleston, in the old French Huguenot church,
in the heart of the city. Over him is the beautiful
epitaph: "Whatever Omnipotence decides is right."
Typical of the man.
Mount Pleasant Hall was partly destroyed by fire in
1818, on Sunday, when the family were away visiting a
neighboring mansion ; but fortunately many pieces of
fine furniture and several portraits brought from France
were saved by a faithful negro slave who happened to be
at home.
After the catastrophe the poet, his wife, and children,
who now numbered four girls, on the verge of womanhood, removed to a house owned by Daniel Forman,
Mrs. Freneau's brother, a few miles distant. There they lived in retirement, enjoying the delights of the Freehold
neighborhood until the poet's death in 1832.
In this house his second and favorite daughter, Agnes,
wedded Edward Leadbeater, a surgeon in the British
army, who gave up his estates and a title to settle in
America. Every country family for miles around
attended, and we know of two who journeyed by post-chaise from New York to Mount Pleasant. They were
Alicia, the bridegroom's fair sister, and her dashing husband, Patrick O'Rielly, Marquis of Breffney, who to be
united to his first love had defied church and family and
fled to the welcoming arms of the New World.
Edward Leadbeater and his wife rebuilt Mount Pleasant Hall, and spent their summers there until the brave
gentleman's death, shortly before that of his distinguished
father-in-law.
A portion of the house is standing to-day, but it is
sadly changed and modernized. The great grove of
locust-trees which the poet loved so well, and where the
young Madison and his first love spent many a happy
hour, is a memory of the past. The old Middletown
Point turnpike still circles about the Freneau estate, and
folds in its arms broad sweeps of green fields lengthening
into woodlands and high hills swept by the cool breezes
from the distant ocean. On one of these hills, where
periwinkle and wild roses live together as kindred, in a
spot as peaceful as the imagination can picture, are the
graves of this famous New Jersey family. The resting-place of the poet is close by that of his beloved mother,
under the shade of a tree where he wrote many of his
most celebrated poems and composed those beautiful lines in " The Dying Indian," while his eyes rested on
the panorama of Monmouth scenery he loved until
death:
"I too must be a fleeting ghost – no more –
None, none but shadows to those mansions go;
I leave my woods, I leave the Huron shore,
For emptier groves below!
Ye charming solitudes,
Ye tall ascending woods,
Ye glassy lakes and prattling streams,
Whose aspect still was sweet,
Whether the sun did greet,
Or the pale moon embraced you with his beams –
Adieu to all!
To all that charmed me where I stray'd,
The winding stream, the dark sequester'd shade;
Adieu all triumphs here!
Adieu the mountains lofty swell,
Adieu, thou little verdant hill,
And seas, and stars, and skies-farewell
For some remoter sphere!
