The last time I looked at the Van Riper house in Nutley it was still in the same condition. (…) When I get a chance I want to visit the Van Riper-Bond house in Montclair. Its about 5 miles from Nutley. The Montclair university took it over.I’ll let you know how I make out. There use to be a Van Riper house where I live in Fair Lawn just two blocks away. It made room for new homes over 50 years ago. I past by it many times before this happened. There’s a church in town called the Van Riper-Ellis Church(Baptist).A large part of Fair Lawn along the Passaic River down to Market St. in East Paterson(Elmwood Park) was owned by the Van Riper family(not my direct branch). There is an old burial ground in the next town ,Saddle Brook, where the High School now stands the area was called Dudee Lake. The lake was part of the Passaic River where ,early 1900’s they made a small dam and many people would come and paddle boats and canoes . Before the High School was built they moved all the bodies in the burial ground in one large mound next to the school. There’s a plaque on top. I read one article in the “History of Slauterdam(Fair Lawn)”, which mentioned a young Van Riper and said he was the 117th Van Riper to be buried their.
