Morristown National Historical Park

Washington Place
Morristown, New Jersey 07960-4299

Phone
Headquarters Visitor Services
(973) 539-2016 ext. 210
Jockey Hollow Visitor Center
(973) 543-4030

WELCOME to Morristown National Historical Park

"The monster hunger still attended us. Here was the army starved and naked and there their country sitting still and expecting the army to do notable things." 

Such was the winter encampment at Morristown, New Jersey as seen by Private Joseph Plumb Martin. The village served as quarters for the Continental Army on two occasions; the winter of 1777 and again during the Hard Winter of 1779-1780.

Morristown National Historical Park consists of three sites, the Ford Mansion, Fort Nonsense, and Jockey Hollow that were important during the American Revolutionary War, which began in 1775 and was ended in 1783 by the Treaty of Paris. 

Morristown is called the military capital of the revolution because of its strategic location, being the source for many essential supplies, and being used twice as the winter headquarters for George Washington.

Jockey Hollow, a few miles south of Morristown, New Jersey, was the site of a Continental Army encampment.

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, atop a beautiful hilltop in Morristown 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, and her three 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.

Did You Know?
John Adams defended the British soldiers accused of murder after the Boston Massacre so well, that a Massachusetts jury found six of the eight not guilty by reason of self defense. Two were found guilty of manslaughter.

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