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National Historical Parks - New Jersey
Morristown National Historical Park
?/1969 Went to Jockey Hollow in Morristown National Historical Park. Hiked 20 miles, saw Continental Army wintering sites.
9/6/2009 From there into Morristown NHP [in the Crossroads of the American Revolution NHA], first stopping at Jockey
Hollow. Went to the visitors center and saw a short film about the hardships of life during the winter encampments here, then walked up to
the Wick house and farm. Enjoyed walking around the flower/vegetable garden and checked out the house. We then drove the auto tour route around
the Jockey Hollow area, seeing the reconstructed soldier’s huts and other roadside signs. From there we headed into Morristown
to the George Washington Headquarters, a large and stately Georgian house where GW and the officers stayed (MUCH better than
the huts). Saw a film (with the same actors) contrasting the life there versus the soldier’s life.
The park sign
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Wick farm
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Busy ...
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Soldier's huts
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Washington Headquarters sign ...
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... and the house where it was
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10/17/2014 Our first target – Morristown NHP at the Jockey Hollow encampment. At the VC we watched a good 15 minute
video on how “America Survived”. We then set out on the park loop road, and spent most of the time at the reconstructed soldiers’ huts.
A little further north in Morristown we checked out the Fort Nonsense unit of the NHP, where a signal fire capability was maintained
on the high plateau. We could see far on the clear day, all the way out to what appeared to be NYC
The Jockey Hollow unit sign
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A view of the encampment area
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Some reconstructed huts
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Hut 234
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The Fort Nonsense unit sign
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The view back towards NYC
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Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park
8/4/2014 Onwards – just a short way in Paterson to Great Falls of the Passaic NHL/Great Falls NHP. 77 feet high and one
of the country’s largest waterfalls, it played a significant role in the early industrial development of New Jersey starting in the earliest
days of the nation. We checked out the falls from the upper level, then walked down to the lower level near the old power plant for better
pictures. Although Bill was here before, this visit was important because since that time the site was made a unit of the NPS, so now it’s
official. The falls were impressive, although not running as full as after spring thaws or heavy rains.
The park sign
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The power plant and falls
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The falls from the upper level ...
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... and the lower
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Ken and me
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Thomas Edison National Historical Park
4/14/1996 Drove to West Orange to Edison National Historic Site. Interesting tour of laboratory
- all original labs, tools, magnificent library, etc. Continued a short ways to Glenmont for a quick walk around the
outside of his beautiful home ...
The family by the park sign
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The laboratory building
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Me in a museum area
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The machine shop
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A chemical laboratory
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Glenmont
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The Edison graves
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10/17/2014 Traveling more east to West Orange brought us to Thomas Edison NHP. At the VC we picked up audio
devices and headed into the Laboratory Building. The tour through here is very interesting, set up just as when Edison and his teams
were pursuing multiple discoveries and inventions. The multiple-story library is packed with books and tons of other memorabilia.
The machine shop was particularly impressive, containing scores of machines to build prototypes of just about anything.
In the music room we got a demonstration of a couple of Edison Cylinder Phonographs, with a surpisingly loud sound. Finally outside,
we checked out the Black Maria, and early motion picture stage which rotated on tracks to allow repositioning to aim at the sun.
The park sign
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The courtyard from one end ...
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... and the other
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Edison's desk in the library
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The machine shop
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Working phonographs
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A laboratory
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Black Maria film stage
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