Morristown National Historical Park: Jockey Hollow

In the winter of 1779 and 1780 General George Washington chose the hills around Morristown as the winter quarters for the main body of the Continental Army, a defensible position within striking distance of the British in New York yet sheltered by the surrounding terrain. Thousands of soldiers marched into Jockey Hollow and set about building a city of log huts to survive the cold months.

That winter proved one of the worst on record, with storm after storm burying the camp in deep snow and temperatures plunging far below what the ill-clothed, poorly supplied soldiers could easily bear. Food ran desperately short, men went hungry and cold, and morale sank, testing the endurance of the army as severely as any battle. That the army held together through such misery is one of the quiet triumphs of the Revolution, and it happened here.

At Jockey Hollow the soldiers felled the surrounding forest to build row upon row of small log huts, each meant to shelter a dozen men, laid out in an orderly camp along the hillsides. Today several of these huts have been reconstructed on the original ground, letting visitors step inside the cramped, smoky quarters where soldiers slept, ate, and waited out the winter, and imagine the hardship of that season.

The park's trails wind through the hills and fields where the camp once stood, past the hut sites and the restored Wick farmhouse, whose family lived here through the encampment. Walking these quiet woods, it can be hard to picture the crowded, suffering army that once filled them, which is part of what makes the place so moving.

While the soldiers wintered at Jockey Hollow, Washington himself lodged in Morristown at the Ford Mansion, a fine home whose owner had died and whose widow shared it with the general and his staff. From these rooms Washington directed the army, corresponded with Congress and his officers, and weathered the crises of that grim winter, and the mansion is preserved much as it was, a window into his daily life at war.

Above the town rises Fort Nonsense, a hilltop earthwork built by the army, its odd name attached by a later generation who doubted its purpose. Together with the mansion and Jockey Hollow, it completes the picture of Morristown as a military capital in miniature, chosen for its safety and its command of the roads between the Hudson and the Delaware.

Winter carries the deepest meaning here, for it was in the cold and snow that the army suffered most, and a visit in the snow brings the history vividly to life, even as it demands warm clothing and careful footing on the trails.

Spring brings wildflowers and fresh green to the hills, an easy and pleasant time to walk the trails and tour the huts. Summer is full and leafy, with the forest at its densest, though the woods can be warm and buggy. Fall may be the loveliest season, when the hills of Morris County blaze with color and crisp air makes the trails a joy to walk.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.