[3] The original house on the site was built in 1661 by Hendrick Barents Smidt, from land that was granted to him by Peter Stuyvesant.

[2] Another part of the structure, expanding from the original house, was built in 1709 by Paulus Vander Ende.

[5] The house was mentioned in a 1769 survey that established the boundary between Kings and Queens counties and may have been largely constructed around this time; it is very close to the border.

[2] The building was repaired in the early 1980s with the aid of half a million dollars of federal funds; due to its historic status, it was rebuilt using the original tools and styles of the colonial era.

The Rock was moved in August 2001 to the backyard of the Vander Ende-Onderdonk House.