The Jacobus Vanderveer House and Museum is the site of America’s First Military Training Academy, The Pluckemin Cantonment. The Jacobus Vanderveer House served as headquarters for General Henry Knox (Washington’s Chief of Artillery during the Revolutionary War and the country’s first Secretary of War) during the winter of 1778-79, when the Continental Army artillery was located in the village of Pluckemin during the Revolutionary War’s Second Middlebrook Encampment. The house is the only known building still standing that was associated with the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment, considered to be the first installation in America to train officers in engineering and artillery.
The Vanderveer house interprets Dutch colonial life in America as well as the stay by General Knox and his family during the 1778 winter encampment. The site is listed on both the New Jersey and the National Registers of Historic Places.
