Burdett's Landing
Burdett's Landing, also called Burdett's Ferry, is a site on the west bank of the Hudson River located in Edgewater, New Jersey. Ferries initially used Burdett's Landing as a departure point for transporting agricultural produce from New Jersey across to New York. In the Revolutionary War it played a role in the movement of American supplies and soldiers, and in the 19th century it served as a landing for steamboats. There is no longer a wharf or ferry service at the landing.
Burdett's Landing lay adjacent to a 250-foot (76 m) bluff formerly known as Mt. Constitution, now known as Fort Lee Historic Park. The bluff slopes downward on the south side and levels out sufficiently to make access practical. Burdett's Landing was created here in a small cove. A 1900 history described it as lying at "the bottom of a clove [i.e., ravine] giving easy access to the top of the Palisades and at the outlet of a small watercourse known as Dead Brook." The landing no longer exists, and the property lies in the current Edgewater Colony, an organization which owns all land cooperatively. A plaque beside the Edgewater Colony's meeting hall, located about 100 feet (30 m) from the original site, commemorates Burdett's Landing.
The Lenni Lenape of the Algonquian nation were present in the vicinity prior to the founding of Burdett's Landing and appear to have lived in the area for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. Their presence diminished as contact with colonists led to illnesses and loss of their traditional lands through encroachment. In the mid-18th century the land which would become Burdett's Landing was owned by a freed slave, who had received it in exchange for his work shoring up a road to the top of the bluff with several hundred yards of retaining wall.
Stephen (né Étienne) Bourdette, a New York merchant of Huguenot heritage, purchased 400 acres (1.6 km2) in the Fort Lee/Edgewater vicinity from the freedman in 1756. He built a gambrel-roofed stone house in a forest clearing at the bottom of the gorge, and moved his father, also named Étienne Bourdette, into the residence. (Stephen anglicized his Christian name from Étienne. His surname is seen in different spellings of Burdett and Bourdette.) Stephen Bourdette's parcel of land gained access to outlying areas via the Hackensack Turnpike, a route followed today north and south by Hudson Terrace and a section River Road (County Route 505), connecting with Main Street in Fort Lee for destinations to the west. A stage line also ran from the landing to Hackensack via Leonia. For commerce with travelers, Bourdette founded a trading post and ferry service. In 1758 he began ferrying goods and people from a protected area of shoreline on the Hudson River in periaugas. These were row-and-sail vessels with two masts and a shallow draft, capable of carrying heavy loads. Initially Burdett's Landing was used by farmers sending their products across to the Bloomingdale section of Manhattan, which at that time was the west side of New York between 23rd and 125th Streets. He is also noted as operating sloops to various points and a row-and-sail ferry to about 152nd Street in Manhattan.
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