SOME OF OUR FAVORITE PLACES TO VISIT DURING SUMMER IN MORRISTOWN

Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) is a former Walter Reade movie theater originally constructed in 1937 that has been converted into a 1,302-seat performing arts center.

 

Morris Museum – formally incorporated in 1943. The museum's permanent displays include rocks, minerals, fossils, animal mounts, a model railroad, and Native American crafts, pottery, carving, basketry and textiles.

 

Morristown National Historical Park — Four historic sites around Morristown associated with the American Revolutionary War, including Jockey Hollow, a park that includes a visitor center, the Revolution-era Wick farm, encampment site of George Washington's Continental Army, and around 25 miles of hiking trails, and the Washington's Headquarters & Ford Mansion, a Revolution-era Georgian-style mansion used by George Washington as his headquarters during the Jockey Hollow encampment.

 

Jockey Hollow, a few miles south of Morristown along Route 202 in Harding Twp., was the site of a Continental Army encampment. It was from here that the entire Pennsylvania contingent mutinied and later, 200 New Jersey soldiers attempted to emulate them.

 

Lewis Morris Park & Sunrise Lake, a few miles west of Morristown along Route 24 in Morris Twp. A great place to camp, fish and hike.

 

Fort Nonsense occupied a high hilltop overlooking Morristown, and is believed to have been the site of a signal fire, along with earthworks.

 

The Ford Mansion, in Morristown proper, was the site of the "hard winter" (December 1779 – May 1780) quarters of George Washington and the Continental Army. That winter remains the coldest on record for New Jersey. Theodosia Ford, widow of Jacob Ford Jr., and her four children shared their household with Washington, his staff, including Alexander Hamilton, along with their servants and sometimes, their family members. Martha Washington traveled to Morristown to spend the winter with her husband.

 

Washington's Headquarters Museum, the adjacent museum is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday from September–June and seven days a week from July- August from 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM. The museum has three exhibit rooms and a sales area. A video production "Morristown: Where America Survived" (New Jersey Network/2009) is shown. The Ford Mansion is shown only by guided tour which begin in the Museum.The Museum hosted one of the events of the CelebrateHAMILTON 2015 program: hosted by the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society, a talk by Author and Historian Michael E. Newton - "Hamilton's Revolutionary War Services", who also presented his book "Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years." at the same event.

 

The New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site is located south of Jockey Hollow, mostly in Bernardsville, Somerset County. It was used by about 1,300 soldiers during the winter of 1779–80.[6]

 

Morristown Green – Park at the center of town which was the old town "common" or "green". It is the site of several Revolutionary War and Civil war monuments, and is surrounded by historic churches, the colonial county-courthouse, and a shopping and restaurant district.

 

St. Peter's Episcopal Church — Large McKim Mead and White church with bell tower, fine stained glass and medieval furnishings.

 

Acorn Hall – 1853 Victorian Italianate mansion and home to the Morris County Historical Society. Donated to the historical society in 1971 by Mary Crane Hone, the mansion retained much of its original furnishings and accouterments as it remained in the same family for over a century. It is currently operated as a museum and is the headquarters of the Morris County Historical Society.

 

Speedwell Ironworks is a National Historic Landmark and museum at the site where the electric telegraph was first presented to the public, on January 11, 1838.