Historic Happenings Blog

Saturday, November 2  - Paterson, Passaic County Native American Heritage Month at Paterson Great Falls NHP Join the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park on Sunday for a Native American Heritage Month Celebration.  At 10:00 am, meet historian Tony DeCondo at the Paterson Museum located at 2 Market Street, Paterson, NJ 07501 for a tour of the Lenape exhibit. All other events will be held in the amphitheater in Overlook Park, located at 72 McBride Ave, Paterson NJ, 07501 Opening Ceremony by Turtle Clan Chief Mann of the Ramapough Lunaape will start at 11:30 am.  Performances by The Silver Cloud Singers and Dancers will start at 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm.  Storytelling by Patrick Littlewolf and Emelie Jeffries will start at 1:00 pm.  Closing Ceremony by Turtle Clan Chief Mann of the Ramapough Lunaape at 2:30 pm. For more information and updates, visit  www.nps.gov/pagr .

Saturday, October 19  -  Hardwick, Warren County Octivities at Millbrook Village On Saturday, Millbrook Village will be open from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm for  a day of activities for kids of all ages!  The fall foliage will be in its glory and the hills will be a blaze of vibrant colors. Volunteers and Park Rangers in period clothing will demonstrate some old fashion handcrafts and the children can make corn husk dolls, apple heads, leaf rubbings, potato stampings, a miniature cheesecloth ghost, a mask, or maybe even more. There will be lots of interesting things to see and do throughout the day. There will be a costume contest at approximately 1:00 pm at the VanCampen Farmhouse. Octivities is presented by Millbrook Village Society and the National Park Service. All activities are family-oriented and free of charge.  Octivities will be held in the VanCampen Farmhouse at Millbrook Village. Other buildings will be open for visitation and demonstrations depending on wea...

Saturday,  September 28   - Paterson, Passaic County 8th Annual Art in the Park Attention all ‘chalk’ artists!  Help us celebrate National Public Lands Day with Art in the Park at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park!  Paterson artist Mohamed Khalil and the Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park are hosting the eighth annual chalk art competition on Saturday from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. The event will be held within view of the falls in Overlook Park. The program at the Great Falls will help draw attention to the national park by using art to interpret its natural, historic, and cultural stories. Each artist will be given their own ‘canvas’ and use their creativity to tell a visual story about the park and the city of Paterson. The rain date for this event is Saturday, October 5.  If you have any questions you may contact Mohamed Khalil at  mkart419@gmail.com .  Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park is located at  72 McBride Av...

Saturday - Sunday   - Sandy Hook, Monmouth County Battery Potter and Mortar Battery Tours Meet with park staff to tour two historic batteries at Sandy Hook this weekend. Battery Potter: Explore and tour Sandy Hook's oldest disappearing gun battery.  This is also the first concrete gun battery that was built in America, completed in 1895.  Mortar Battery:  Join a park ranger-guided tour of the Mortar Battery and learn about the first Endicott era (1894 - 1910) concrete gun battery that defended New York and its harbor against attack by enemy warships. These free tours begin at 1:00 pm for Battery Potter and at 1:30 pm for Mortar Battery. All tours run continuously until 4:30 pm. They are located with the Fort Hancock Historic Post at Sandy Hook. Sandy Hook is  part of Gateway National Recreation Area. For more information, call  732-872-5970  or visit  www.nps.gov/gate .

Saturdays, June 15 through August 31   -  Hardwick, Warren County 1800s Village Life at Millbrook Stroll at your leisure through Millbrook Village.  Several buildings are open and staffed with rangers and volunteers demonstrating traditional skills and reminiscing about 1800s life in the village. The village will be open from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. Millbrook Village is part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Millbrook Village is located in Hardwick Township, NJ at the intersection of Old Mine Road and Millbrook Road, County Route 602N.  For more information and directions, call 908-841-9531, 908-537-2544, or 973-875-3461 or visit their  Facebook  page.

Sunday, August 25   - Paterson, Passaic County Founder's Day Celebration at  Paterson Great Falls NHP! In celebration of the National Park Service's Founders Day, please join us for a fun filled day at Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park! To start the festivities, we will hold a clean-up from 10:00 - 11:00 am. If you would like to partake in the clean-up, please meet at the sign-in table at Mark Ellen Kramer Park. Service learning letters are available for clean-up participants.  Event activities include: an ecology demonstration, arrowhead matching game, tie dye bandannas (while supplies last), up-cycle bottle bowling, and an arts and crafters station.  The event will be held from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm at Mary Ellen Kramer Park, located off of Maple Street in Paterson, NJ. For more information, call 973-523-2210 or visit  www.nps.gov/pagr .

Sunday, August 25   - Sandy Hook, Monmouth County Founders Day - 103rd Birthday of the National Park Service Participate in various National Park Service themed games/activities trivia at the Visitor Center at Sandy Hook on Saturday from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm. Cake and refreshments will be served in the Visitor Center/Sandy Hook Lighthouse Keepers Quarters. This event is FREE. When visiting Sandy Hook, tell the fee collector that you are visiting Fort Hancock and want to participate in the Founders Day Celebration at the lighthouse (there will be no admission charge to enter Fort Hancock). For more information, visit  www.nps.gov/gate .

Sunday, August 18 -- Morris County Peter Toth Piano Recital on 1873 Steinway 1 pm, Sunday, August 18, 2019 Free Admission. Please join Morristown National Historical Park (NHP) as it welcomes back acclaimed Hungarian pianist Peter Toth for a piano recital at 1 pm on Sunday, August 18, 2019. The free event will be held in Morristown NHP's Museum, 30 Washington Place, Morristown, New Jersey. Dr. Toth will play the park’s 1873 Steinway Grand piano for a program that will feature: W. A. Mozart:  Sonata in D, K. 311 Lajos Megyeri:  Suite Franz Liszt:  Variations on a Theme by Bach, S. 180 Frédéric Chopin:  Andante spianato and Grand Polonaise, Op. 22 For more information on the recital, contact Chief of Cultural Resources, Dr. Jude Pfister at 973-539-2016 x 204; or email:  jude_pfister@nps.gov . Mark your calendars! The next Peter Toth recital is Saturday, December 7, 2019 , which will coincide with the  Morris County Tourism Bureau's  annual  Holly Wa...

Saturday, August 17   - Sandy Hook, Monmouth County Nike Missile Radar Site Tours Guided tours of the Integrated Fire Control (IFC) site will allow you to see the inner workings of the facility where supersonic nuclear armed Nike Hercules missiles were controlled and guided using Cold War era computers and radars. You will have the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the veterans who actually worked on the Nike Air Defense System. Free t ours from 12:00 noon - 4:00 pm.  Meet at Horseshoe Cove, Parking Lot L on Sandy Hook,  part of Gateway National Recreation Area. For more information, call  732-872-5970  or visit  www.nps.gov/gate .

Sunday, July 7   - West Orange, Essex County Geothermal Tour at the Glenmont Estate Go "behind the scenes" at the Edison home. Join a guide for a walk through the basement of the famous house and learn about its new geothermal heating and cooling system. This program will last about 30 minutes at take place at 1:00 pm. It focuses on the technical aspects of the environmentally friendly geothermal system. The basement is not wheelchair accessible. The tour is included with regular admission. Tickets must be purchased at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park Laboratory Complex Visitor Center at 211 Main Street, West Orange, NJ. Admission is $15.00 for adults, and includes the Glenmont Estate and the Laboratory Complex. Children under age 16 are free. For more information, call 973-736-0550 x33 or visit  www.nps.gov/edis .

Saturday,  June 29  -  Hardwick, Warren County Old Fashion Independence Day Celebration at  Millbrook Village Celebrate the 243rd anniversary of our independence at the 15th Annual Independence Day Celebration at Millbrook Village in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area from 10:000 am - 3:00 pm.  Join the townsfolk in the parade down Main Street at 1:00 pm and gather at the green in front of the general store for a patriotic speech given by one of our local celebrities. M ake a hat and a flag, bring your tin whistle or drum, wear your patriotic clothes and enjoy yourself. Got an instrument? Bring it along and help liven things up. Enter the watermelon eating contest after the parade for some refreshing fun. Everyone is invited to the frolic; kids of all ages are welcome! There will be lots of things going on throughout the village all day. Old time games for the kids and tours of the village and demonstrations all around town. You'll find it fun and i...

Saturday, April 27 – Sussex County      The Montague Association for the Restoration of Community History (M.A.R.C.H.) is pleased to welcome the public to celebrate with M.A.R.C.H. and the Montague Grange at our annual Spring Fling event. In collaboration with the Montague Grange, the historic Foster Armstrong house will be open for house tours and old-fashioned craft demonstrations during the Spring Fling event on Saturday, April 27 th  from 1-4 pm.   The Foster-Armstrong House, circa 1790, is a two-story Dutch colonial house that operates as a museum and is located on SC521/320 River Road, about 1 mile north of the Milford/Montague Bridge. It is listed on the State Historic Register of NJ and is a National Historic Register Site. Ten rooms are set up with local history displays spanning important eras of the house and of Montague. Study displays and pictures of many treasured Montague sites from the past, examine the life a small Civi...

Saturday - Sunday,  November and December  - West Orange, Essex County Holidays at Glenmont The sights and sounds of the season will greet visitors when they come to Thomas Edison's home in Llewellyn Park during "Holidays at Glenmont." Glenmont will be decorated much as it was while the Edison family lived there. Greenery and red poinsettias will deck the mantles above the fireplaces. Staircases will be ringed with boughs and red ribbon bows and wreaths will hang in every window. In the den, the majestic ten foot tree will be set and the presents underneath will be waiting as if the Edison children Madeleine, Theodore, and Charles, will soon come running down the stairs from their rooms - after they've checked their stockings in the upstairs living room! The Edison home, Glenmont, is located on a fifteen-acre estate in Llewellyn Park, the country's first private residential community. Built in 1880, the twenty-nine room mansion contains the original furnishings an...

Through December 28, 2018  -  Morristown, Morris County George Washington’s Headquarters: Photographs by Xiomáro Morristown National Historical Park (NHP) invites the public to  view the exhibition  George Washington’s Headquarters: Photographs by Xiomáro . The 22 large images of the Ford Mansion – Washington’s base of operations during the Revolutionary War winter of 1779-1780 – are on view in the museum until December 28, 2018.  The exhibition of Xio’s photographs of Washington’s Revolutionary War headquarters highlights the house’s dual role as a residence.  Xiomáro (pronounced “SEE-oh-MAH-ro”) is an internationally-recognized artist and speaker whose photography has been covered by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and CBS Eyewitness News. His work has been widely exhibited at venues such as Harvard University and New York City’s Fraunces Tavern Museum. Next year, Arcadia Publishing is releasing Xio’s photo book,  Weir Farm National Historic S...

Sunday, December 16  - Morristown, Morris County Peter Toth Piano Performance Celebrated Hungarian pianist Peter Toth returns to the Washington’s Headquarters Museum auditorium for another series of performances. He’ll  be playing the park’s 1873 Steinway Grand piano. Hungarian pianist Peter Toth is one of the most recognized artists of his generation. He has concertized in most countries in Europe, South America, and Asia. His first released CD recording won the Grand Prize of the Hungarian Liszt Society (2006). Mr. Toth is a regular guest artist at various piano festivals and has been member of the American Liszt Society since 2011. The performance will be held at the Museum Building, 30 Washington Place, Morristown, NJ. It begins at 1:00 pm. Admission to the program is free. No reservations necessary. For more information, call 973-539-2016 x 204 or visit  www.nps.gov/morr .