Morris County - Countywide - The Pathways of History Tour 2018

The Pathways of History Tour 2018


Links to each other and to the past
The 2018 Pathways of History Tour of Historic Places
A celebration of local history, community pride, and volunteerism
Saturday, September 22 from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm; 
Sunday, September 23 from Noon – 4:00 pm

Museums and historical sites are too often stigmatized as being boring or even unnecessary. The Pathways of History Tour, conceived nine years ago to prove this is not the case, spotlights a collection of Morris County’s small, volunteer-run and always admission-free museum treasures. This year’s family-friendly event will feature 15 historic groups offering 16 sites with unique personalities, presentations, and local histories! The communities represented are Boonton Township, Butler, Denville, Dover, Florham Park, Harding Township, Kinnelon, Lincoln Park, Parsippany, Pequannock Township, Randolph, Roxbury Township and Washington Township. All locations will be open simultaneously to offer guests the unprecedented opportunity to visit multiple venues over a two-day event.     

“What’s old is new again” perfectly describes the theme of this year’s tour. Those who have traveled the Pathways route before should plan to revisit museums they have previously explored. All of the history groups have promised a fresh, revitalized experience for event-goers. In addition, there are three new venues to discover. At a number of sites, there will be memorial tributes to the Centennial of WWI – the war that changed the world.

Knowledgeable docents, some in period costume, will provide a warm welcome at each tour stop. Make this a family day – bring the kiddies and grandparents, too! Promising something to interest everyone is special activities for children, archival material, genealogical information, digitized historical photographs, old newspapers and even high school yearbooks to peruse at select locations. There are wonderful vignettes depicting 19th and early 20th century schoolrooms, a prominent woman doctor’s early 20th century “examining room,” an iron mine facsimile and examples of 18th-century fireplaces with hearthside cooking utensils. The Bowlsby-DeGelleke House in Parsippany will introduce an exhibit dedicated to the Lenape, New Jersey’s original people. Music and light refreshments will be offered at many sites. Sure to please are wonderful shops offering gifts, books, and fun souvenirs.  

Spanning almost 300 years of Morris County history, the museum buildings are an eclectic representation of architectural periods and styles – each building with its own unique and fascinating story.  Venerable 18th-century structures, many predating the Revolutionary War, offer German folk-tradition and Dutch stone examples, as well as those of Georgian, ‘Saltbox’ and 1-½ story wooden farmhouse construction. Long Valley’s c. 1750 Obadiah LaTourette Mill inspired the establishment of the Washington Township Land Trust. The Martin Berry House in Pequannock Township is an example of the evolution of a northern New Jersey Dutch farmstead from a simple c. 1720’s structure to a high style five-bay, center hall stone house.

Designs of the 19th century are represented in buildings of varied uses and sizes including an 1890’s brick Colonial Revival, two schoolhouses, two railway stations, a general store and several wonderful examples of vernacular farmhouses. At the Oscar A. Kincaid Home of History, an enigmatic folk-art face in the 1837 side-hall entry has been a silent witness for 181 years. Old graveyards are part of several sites and are open to respectful visitation by the public. An authentic 19th-century parlor garden at the Tunis-Ellicks House in New Vernon contains more than 120 varieties of herbs and perennials.   

Not to be missed, is the sole representative of 20th-century construction on the tour, the diminutive 1923 Lincoln Park History Museum, located in what was the borough’s first dedicated library building.

If your own community museum or heritage site is included in the Pathways group, by all means, begin your tour there!  At each venue, there will be a detailed brochure and map available to guide you to your next history stop of choice.  Helpful “Tours Within the Tour” have been designed to assist in planning your itinerary. More details about this exceptional heritage tour can be found here on our website:  www.PathwaysofHistoryNJ.net







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