History Marks the Spot: Mount Olive, Part 2

by Anne Motto, F.M. Kirby Curator of Collections
August 25, 2026

Morris County’s 39 municipalities are home to a fascinating tapestry of historic sites recognized on the state and national level for their significance. Some famous, some little known, together they preserve the story of the people, industries, and culture that shaped our community. In this blog series, MCHS highlights the sites to be found in each town and how they contributed to the diverse and multifaceted county we live in today.

Seward House: Constructed for Henry Clay Seward around 1870, the Seward House was built on a 267-acre Budd Lake farm owned by his family for generations. Purchased by ancestor Samuel Wills, the property was inherited by Seward’s mother and her brother, Nathan Cooper, in the 1820s. Seward’s father, a cousin of Secretary of State William H. Seward, farmed it for decades after while the family lived in Chester. The stone farmhouse was built in two phases: the smaller rear wing was in fact built first between 1855 and 1860, and the larger, main building was built around 1865. An insurance broker in NYC, Henry C. Seward moved his young family to the farm full time a few years later and took over management from his father. He operated the farm, which he called “Willswood,” until his death in 1896. Also a broker, his son, Wills A. Seward, inherited the property and was among a group of men that created Willswood Farm Dairy Co. in 1904. One of the first in the township to own a car, he also had a private air strip on the property in the 1920s. In 1939, the farm was sold, leaving the house largely vacant ever since, apart from a caretaker’s family who for a time occupied the rear wing. The township acquired the house and extensive property in 1996, transforming it into Turkey Brook Park. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, the house, which fell into disrepair during its vacancy, is now in the process of extensive restoration, funded by over $3 million in grants.

Stephens Homestead: Constructed for Amzi Stephens around 1870, the Second-Empire-style farmhouse sits near the banks of the Musconetcong River, Morris County’s border with Warren County. Long prominent members of their community, his family settled in the area in the mid-18^th century. Stephens, who kept a diary of his early life as a farmer on his father’s farm in Budd Lake, moved to the property along the Musconetcong, which he called “Sylvan Dale,” around the time of his marriage in 1854. There he reputedly had a farmhouse, general store, blacksmith shop, and gristmill. Along with an outhouse and well house, a lime kiln, where he likely produced slaked lime, a soil neutralizer, still stands. After the first farmhouse burned in the 1860s, Stephens constructed the current house where he lived until his death in 1910. Afterwards, the home ceased to be used as a farmhouse, and in 1937, two of his sons donated the farm’s approximately 230 acres to become Stephens State Park. They retained life rights to the house which passed to one of their daughter until her death in 2007. It was then turned over to the state and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.