The Old Fort (Philip Weise, Jr. House)
The Old Fort (Philip Weise, Jr. House), 2026.
The Old Fort
The Old Fort
Philip Weise, Jr. House
23 East Mill Road, Long Valley, New Jersey 07853
This building is one of the most fascinating structures in the valley. Locally it’s known as “The Old Fort.” It was built in 1774 by Philip Weise Jr. on the 262-acre Philip Weise Sr. plantation. Tradition says that it was built as a fort, with very thick stone walls to protect against a recent Native American uprising. Whether this building was ever actually used as a defensive fort is still debated, but its fortress-like construction earned it the nickname that stuck for generations.
During the Revolutionary War Philip Weise Jr. and his wife lived here. It is said that George Washington spent one night in the house in the left rear bedroom on the second floor.
Another legend states that at one point during the war, as the British soldiers knocked on the front door, Philip Weise was escaping out of a back window leaving Mrs. Weise to deal with the situation! The British tried in vain to get information from her but they were unsuccessful and finally left.
By the 1860’s the building was used as an apartment house with several families each renting the large rooms.
In 1874 the house passed from the Weise family to Richard Schoenheit. Schoenheit purchased it with the intent to tear it down. However, upon assessing its twenty-inch-thick walls, he changed his mind. He renovated the house and moved in with his family. Mr. Schoenheit was in both the lumber and the quarry businesses. All the woodwork in the building came from lumber on Schooley’s Mountain. A mule driven lathe in the cellar made the ornate wood work used throughout the house. The house remained in the Schoenheit family into the 1950’s.
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