The three-story structure, now furnished with New Jersey antiques, was built in 1846 by Mahlon Fisher, a country carpenter of ability and taste, as his own residence. The house was purchased by the Historical Society in 1969 and its exterior and interior restoration completed in 1975. The first and second floors will be opened for the April tours.

Architectural highlights of the house include a square-columned portico, a graceful elliptical stairway in the entry hall, tall painted pilasters capped with gilded plaster leaf-and-dart molding and a recessed cornice in the parlor where a large cast plaster multi-leaf medallion is centered in the ceiling. The parlor fireplace has a mantel in black marble with gold veins. Doors on the first floor are massive solid cherry about two-and-a-half inches thick. On the second floor walls are painted plaster and floors are pine planks.

The decorative furnishings, with a few exceptions, are donations from Hunterdon families. The parlor carpeting was custom-made by Scalamandre in the style of the mid-1800s through the generosity of the Moreau Family. The master bedroom on the second floor was furnished by a generous donation from the Large Family. The upstairs parlor is a tribute to Elizabeth “Miss Bessie” Vosseller, who in 1895 founded the Flemington Children’s Choir School and subsequently taught hundreds of young people to sing. Another second-floor room features children’s toys.

A sampling of the type of antiques in the house include a c.1720 oak chair said to have belonged to Gov. John Reading and a tall-case clock made by Cornelius Miller (who died in 1779) of the renowned New Jersey clock-making family. Portraits in the parlor include newly-donated pastels by an unknown artist of Mahlon Fisher and his wife, the former Mary Ann Stires, and an oil painting by American Artist William Bonnell (1804-1865) of Mrs. Daniel Bray, wife of Captain Bray, who secured boats for Gen. Washington’s famous Revolutionary War Christmas Day crossing of the Delaware River. The master bedroom furnishings include the cradle of Peter Dumont Vroom (1791-1873), ninth and two-term Governor of New Jersey, 1829–1836; member of the US House of Representatives, 1839–1841; and U.S. Minister to Prussia, 1853 -1857.

Attached to the Doric House is the Society’s Hiram E. Deats Reference Library that contains census, church and business records; wills; deeds; photographs; maps; family bibles; prime source genealogical documents on over 1,200 County families; 1,100 microfilm rolls of Hunterdon newspapers since 1825; and well over 5,000 books. Hours are from 12 Noon to 4pm every Thursday afternoon, except Thanksgiving, and from 10am to 4pm on the second and fourth Saturdays each month.

Tours through the Doric House may be arranged by appointment other times than these special Saturday openings.

Membership in the Society is open to all interested in helping collect, preserve and share the cultural and social history of Hunterdon. Individual annual dues are $15, which assures delivery of three newsletters a year and discounts on books and maps offered for sale by the organization.

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