Dozen Distinctive Destinations
Morristown, NJ
Year Listed: 2002
In 1779 and 1780, General George Washington and his men endured two unforgiving winters - suffering through merciless blizzards, food shortages and a rebellion -- at an encampment in Morristown, N. J. Happily, today's Morristown (pop. 18,544) is much more hospitable to the many visitors who immerse themselves in this treasure trove of American history less than an hour from Manhattan. Despite the fact that the town sits on the edge of the sprawling New York megalopolis, Morristown's growing, active population has been a careful custodian of the historic legacy of this thriving and picturesque community.
Foster Fields in Morristown, New Jersey.
Credit: Morris County Convention and Visitors Center
Visitors can step back in time while strolling through the town's carefully preserved "green" or admiring the cache of Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian homes that comprise the historic district. Interesting shops and restaurants abound. Morristown is home to the nation's first National Historical Park, created by an Act of Congress in 1933 to mark the site where George Washington chose to spend the harsh winters of 1779 and 1780. Guides in colonial-era costume today take visitors through Washington's headquarters at the handsome Ford Mansion and the reconstructed soldiers' huts at Jockey Hollow. Also in Morristown are the 1760 Schuyler-Hamilton House, where Alexander Hamilton courted Elizabeth Schuyler in 1779-80, and the Thomas Nast House, home of the political cartoonist responsible for our modern day images of Santa Claus and Uncle Sam. Just down the road, visitors can discover what life was like during the Industrial Revolution with a tour of Historic Speedwell, the home and workshop of Stephen Vail. The machinery for the first transatlantic steamship was developed here in 1818; twenty years later, Stephen's son Alfred and his partner Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrated the first electro-magnetic telegraph at the factory. West of Morristown, children will enjoy Fosterfields Living Historical Farm, an example of a late 19th-century working farm with trails, workshops, farming demonstrations and a restored Gothic Revival mansion. At Loanaka Brook Park, visitors can relax after sightseeing with a quiet picnic lunch or a bike ride on one of the park's superb trails.
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