Wine Dating Back To 1700s Found In Union

Bottles of centuries-old wine were recently found at a Colonial-era home in Union that also houses the Liberty Hall Museum, museum officials said.

Rare wines dating from before the founding of the United States were recently discovered at a museum in Union.
Photo Credit: *Liberty Hall Museum*

Paul Milo

07/03/2019 11:42 a.m.

The home -- built in 1772 by the state’s first governor, William Livingston -- is affiliated with Kean University. During a recent renovation, 25 bottles of Madeira wine dating from 1796 were discovered in the wine cellar. Also found were dozens of demijohns -- a type of large, bulbous container -- dating from the 1820s.

It is considered one of the largest collections of 18th-century Madeira wine in the United States, the museum said. The discovery has “garnered worldwide attention.”

Madeira wine was an especially popular potable among the wealthy of 18th-century America.

“We were totally surprised. We had no knowledge that we had that kind of wine here,” museum president John Kean Sr. told WCBS 2.

“I literally was going to throw it away and, fortunately, did not do that, because it turned out to be something quite rare, and people are still talking about it,” said Kean, whose family, one of New Jersey’s oldest, used to own the home.

The museum is located at 1003 Morris Ave. and is open to the public from April to December.

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