Morristown National Historical Park

Morristown National Historical Park in Morris County, New Jersey preserves the sites of two critical Continental Army winter encampments during the American Revolutionary War. George Washington headquartered at the Ford Mansion — a Georgian-style manor at 30 Washington Place — during the brutal winter of 1779–1780, considered more severe even than the famous Valley Forge encampment. The Ford Mansion, open for ranger-led tours, contains period furnishings and interpretive exhibits tracing the Continental Army's near-collapse and resilience during that winter. The adjacent Washington's Headquarters Museum chronicles the encampments with artifacts including campaign equipment, original documents, and troop records. Four miles from the mansion, Jockey Hollow Encampment Area preserves the forest where 10,000 soldiers camped in handbuilt huts; five reconstructed soldier huts demonstrate the extreme conditions of the 1779–1780 season. Trail networks connect the hut reconstruction area with the Wick House — a farmhouse used by General Arthur St. Clair — and several overlooks across the rolling terrain. The park also includes the Fort Nonsense earthworks on a high ridge above Morristown, where laborers dug fortifications that were ultimately never needed. Rangers at the Ford Mansion lead 45-minute guided house tours on a timed schedule; these are the best introduction to the site. Jockey Hollow trails are open dawn to dusk and require no separate fee. The winter setting of Jockey Hollow in snow provides an evocative sense of what soldiers endured in 1779–1780.