Joseph Kingsland purchased the present-day Kingsland Manor from James Walls in 1790 and moved five of his eight children into an updated home in 1796. The older children were “of majority” (married or adults) by then. In 1800, a son, Benjamin, was added to the family. He was rocked to sleep in the Kingsland cradle, which can be seen in our Child’s Bedroom.

The Children’s Bedroom contains the kinds of toys you would expect to find in a child’s playroom during the 1800s and early 1900s. We have quite a collection of antique dolls and carriages. And what boy would not have enjoyed playing with wooden and tin soldiers? Ron DaSilva, a Nutley resident and Trust member, who has for years purchased, painted, and restored old tin toys, donated many of his most cherished possessions to the Kingsland Manor.

Displayed in the Children’s Bedroom are some of those charming examples. On one wall shelf is a wooden drummer, two boxes of soldiers representing the Essex Regiment and the Irish Guard, as well as other examples of soldiery toys. Next to the shelf is a framed copy of the sheet music for “The Little Major March” composed by Joseph Denton.

On a shelf in the corner closet are more examples of soldiers and a cast iron horse-drawn fire truck. The American soldiers were cast in Union City by the Barclay Company, and their uniforms are painted in the colors of the US Calvary. Other toys were made in the United States from the original German molds and painted to represent different British drum and bugle corps.