Washington Headquarters: Who Knew?

Who knew that George Washington had his headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey?

Certainly not me.

There is more to New Jersey than meets the eye.  New Jersey isn't just smoke stacks and factories.  There's some history here that I never knew existed.  I will admit that I never knew it existed because I haven't really felt the need to dig into any history for this area.  But it turns out that a famous guy had his Continental Army live in Morristown for two winters during the Revolutionary War.

Historical sites can be interesting and they can be boring.  I took the kids to the Washington Headquarters and Jockey Hollow and I was going to be brave and positive.  This was going to be both interesting and fun.

Morristown is very close to Chatham.  About a twenty minute drive on country roads.  We found the headquarters without any problem.  It seemed like we were the only visitors that day because the parking lot was empty.  This was good for me because I wasn't sure how this history lesson was going to turn out.

The Ford Mansion and Headquarters sit right by each other in a very beautiful wooded area. 

After watching a short filming and looking at very cool old items like George Washington's Will and land deeds, silverware, quilts, a harpsacord, and other really old things that we were asked not to take pictures of, we walked around the grounds and then headed over to Jockey Hollow.

Jockey Hollow is about a ten minute drive from the headquarters.  It's a very peaceful area with street names like: Goose Down, Feather Bed, and Country Glen.  I want to live on Feather Bed Road.

Morristown was the perfect place for more than 13,000 troops to camp out in during the winter of 1777 and 1779-1780.  History books talk about the winter at Valley Forge being a very cold winter.  However, in George Washington's biography, written by Douglas Southall Freeman, Washington wrote that the winter of 1779-1798 "was a period of far worse suffering than the corresponding months of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge."  Apparently George Washington knew how cold New Jersey gets in the winter.

We had a good time at Jockey Hollow as long as we were inside.  This was not winter.  We wanted it to feel like a winter day.  It was hot and the humidity was stiffling.  This little adventure would have been perfect for a spring day.  But I was determined to go through the history lesson about the Contential Army living at Jockey Hollow before defeating the British at York Town.

After hanging out in the visitor's center for a few minutes the guide suggested we look around the Henry Wick home that sat on 1,400 acres of land that the 13,000 troops lived on.

It was very historic. However, we needed to keep moving because of the overwhelming heat.

We saw a sign that read: Bunk House - 1 mile.

We needed to see the four or five bunk houses that were still standing.  How cool is that?

One mile is not very far.

It's not very far if the sign is telling the truth.  We have our doubts as to the truthfulness of that "1 mile" sign

It's okay because we had a beautiful walk in a foresty area, looked at and sat on the memorial plaque for the soldiers who lost their lives during the winters in Jockey Hollow, made our way up to the bunk houses, and had sweat dripping down our backs while we enjoyed the paved road back to the visitor's center.

On our way out of this hot, historic and beautiful place Alec spotted a tree frog. 

 I think finding the frog made them forget for a brief moment how sweaty they were. 

When we reappeared in the visitor's center, very tattered and dripping with sweat, the guide noticed our condition.  I explained that we had walked to the bunk house.  He laughed and said that next time we should just drive up there.  He then pulled out a map trying to find a lake we could go swim in.

We opted to skip the lake and go directly to the pool.

On the drive home I wished we could make the car cooler than 60 degrees. 

We all thought wintry thoughts.