“Bluegrass and Cider" at the Wortendyke Barn

All Bergen County residents are invited to an autumn afternoon of “Bluegrass & Cider,” on Sunday, October 16 from 1:30 to 3:30pm at the Wortendyke Barn Museum, a County Historic Site, in Park Ridge. Music will be performed by the very talented Joe Selly and Barry Mitterhoff. This outdoor concert and refreshments are free. The museum will open to visitors before the concert at noon.

Guitarist Joe Selly has appeared with Phoebe Snow, Vassar Clements, Barbara Eden, Melissa Manchester and Tex Logan and toured nationally with the Lombardo Orchestra. He is featured on countless recordings and is in demand as both performer and instructor in bluegrass, jazz and swing. Joe also teaches at Bergen Community College.

Noted mandolin player Barry Mitterhoff tours with the blues-rock band Hot Tuna and has played with Tony Trischka and Skyline, John Gorka, Jorma Kaukonen and Hazel Dickens. He has been a featured performer at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, the White House, the Library of Congress, and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival as well as bluegrass festivals across the country and Canada.

Among other musical venues in which these artists participate is the bluegrass band Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, which combines pre-war Russian and Eastern European music with the Appalachian and southern fiddle tunes made famous by Bill Monroe. Last year Joe performed at the Wortendyke Barn’s 250^th Birthday Celebration and has also performed with Barry at the Bergen County Arts Grants Awards.

The Wortendyke Barn has been a Pascack Valley landmark since its construction on 500 acres of land bought by the Wortendyke family in 1735. It was used continually as a barn well into the 20^th century and is one of only six pure Dutch barn types in Bergen County. This New World Dutch Barn showcases Bergen County’s history through unique, educational exhibits designed to let you explore farm life.

In 1997 the barn opened as a museum with exhibits on agriculture that include 18^th and 19^th century farm implements and tools, and the history of the Wortendyke family farm. The main feature of the museum is the barn itself, an outstanding example of the vernacular architecture referred to as a “New World Dutch Barn.” Due to the ravages of time and the advancements in agriculture that have taken place over the last 100 years, there are very few barns of this type in existence today.

This accessible pre-Revolutionary museum, located at 13 Pascack Road in Park Ridge, is open on Sunday afternoons from Noon to 4:00 p.m. until the end of October. Admission is free. Schools, scout troops and other organizations are welcome during the week by appointment.