52 HISTORY OF BROOKLYN

by the said bay to the place where [it] began; containing 930 acres. The bounds and limits of the land above exprest, the said Adriaen Bennett, when a day is appointed by his Excellency and council for the bearing of his evidence, doth promise to make them appear to be the bounds and limits of the land purchased by his father, Willem Ariaense Bennett, of the Indians, in the year 1636.

“Aug. Graham, Sur. Genl.

“May 21st, 1696.”

This survey was accompanied by a map, of which we give a reduced copy from the original now on file in the Surveyor-General’s office at Albany.

The most easterly house on this map is undoubtedly the present mansion-house on the Schermerhorn farm, on Third avenue, near Twenty-eighth street. In course of time it has been remodelled and modernized, but the stone walls of the original house still form a part of the present building. Its site, as we have previously remarked, is identical, or nearly so, with that of the house built by Bennett and destroyed in 1643.

The house near the first meadow is the present old stone house, known as the De Hart or Bergen house, located on the shore of Gowanus Cove, west of the Third avenue, near Thirtyseventh and Thirty-eighth streets. The main portion is of stone, but the wing is of wood, and is probably a more recent erection, and has undoubtedly been several times materially altered and repaired. About fifty years ago Simon Bergen, its then owner, proposed to demolish the old building on account of its great decay, but, by the persuasion. of his next neighbor, Garret Bergen (father of the Hon. Tennis G. Bergen), was induced to repair it and place a new roof upon it, and it has so remained to the present day. Both of these houses, therefore, are older than the Cortelyou or Vechte house, on Fifth avenue, which was erected in 1699, and hitherto has always been considered the most ancient building in Brooklyn.

The “Pond” is that since known as the “Binnen-water” (lake or marsh), located near the intersection of Fifth avenue and Thirtyninth street.

The “Swamp” or Cripplebush, on the land of Bennett, is identical with that which formerly existed between the Third and Fifth