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The Henry Wick House is part of the Jockey Hollow unit of Morristown National Historical Park. Jockey Hollow was the winter encampment site for George Washington’s army during the brutal winter of 1779-1780.
The Wick House is just behind the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center. I asked at the desk if there were tours and the ranger had a volunteer, dressed in Colonial costume, take me up to the house to show me around.
The volunteer was-well versed in the history of the park. She told me Henry Wick was a wealthy farmer who moved his family to Morristown from Hampton, Long Island. He built the farm house on 1400 acres which made him the town’s largest landowner, so Washington sought him out when planning his encampment.
The farm was prosperous with wheat and cornfields and orchards for producing apple cider. The cider was Wick’s main source of income.
In 1779, The Wicks only had one daughter, Temperance, still living at home. (Fun fact: the park road, Tempe Wick Road, is named for Temperance) The family of three moved into two rooms of their house in order to allow Major General St. Clair and his two aides to set up his headquarters there for the harsh winter.
Henry Wick allowed the army to clear over 600 acres of trees to build huts for the soldiers. This turned out to be a winning proposition for Wick…he got land for fields cleared for free. Three years later, when the last of the troops left the cabins, he got all the lumber back, too.
Morristown Posts:
- Ford Mansion
- Wick Farm
- Jockey Hollow
Location: 586 Tempe Wick Rd, Morristown, NJ 07960
Designation: National Historical Park
Date designated or established: 3/2/1933
Date of my visit: 2/23/2019
Back in the day I used to fly into Morristown from Cincinnati nearly monthly to visit the home office in NYC. I was always in a hurry and knew nothing about the town. Fun history lesson.
Thanks for reading and commenting! You flew into Morristown, not Newark?
Yep. Morristown. Delta jacked up fares to NYC our of Cincinnati so high that it was much cheaper to fly a public charter service called Ultimate Air Shuttle. $750 round trip. Delta often was as much as $1,200.
Wow, that’s crazy
Similar to the comment above, I worked in Morristown for four years but spent my time either working or commuting to a small community to the west. We never visited the Wick home or any of the other places in the area you have written about — we will just have to go back!
Thanks for reading and commenting! There is a lot of history in the area, as well as a National Wildlife Refuge. I still have sites to visit there and blog about
What a great story! Love finding things out about history–makes the people and the times come alive. Thank you.
Thanks! There is a novel based on Tempe Wick (she is said to have aided the cause of the revolution) …it’s on my tbr list😀
Reblogged this on ravenhawks' magazine.
Thanks 🙏🏻
I just love all these sites you find!
Thanks 😊
We made it to Morristown NHP in September 2019, but did not get a costumed tour of the Wick House. That would have been fun!
Yes, it was fun…it’s dependent on whether they have a volunteer working.
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Is there a list of perennials in the Wick Farm fenced garden adjacent to the Wick House?
I visited in winter when nothing was blooming. Didn’t look at the garden
I don’t know, I visited in winter…no garden to see