by Anne Motto, Curator of Collections & Erin Feith, Research Assistant September 26, 2023
Beginning in the late 19th Century, Morris County became a hub for Gilded Age millionaires, who constructed palatial estates that dotted the landscape. Nowhere was the volume of such wealth better captured than on the Atlas of Part of Morris Co., N.J. Embracing the Town of Morristown, The Boroughs of Madison, Florham Park, Chatham and Mendham, Morris Township and Parts of Chatham, Hanover, Mendham, and Passaic Townships, published by A.H. Mueller in 1910. In Part 1 of 2, catch a glimpse of the unmatched opulence once found in the area.
Plate 9: Florham Park: “Florham,” the 800-acre estate of Hamilton Mckown Twombly and Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly, was completed by 1899. Nearby “Cecilhurst” was the mansion rented by the Twomblys, when they first visited Morris County in 1887 .
Plate 22: Morris Township: With its sunken gardens, orchards and deer park, Robert D. Foote’s Spring Brook Farm inspired the background for many paintings by famed artist and personal friend, A.B. Frost.
Plate 10: Morris Township: Along the fashionable Madison Avenue were the homes of General Edward P. Meany and his wife Rosalie, who hosted countless parties at Alnwick Hall (today The Abbey), and Henry Shoemaker, who purchased the historical Boisaubin Manor property on Treadwell Avenue from artist A.B. Frost in 1910.
Plate 13: Morristown: Downtown Morristown had its fair share of Gilded Age estates, including Richard A. McCurdy’s 62-room home on South Street (along with a greenhouse and garage on Ford Avenue) and Georgiana C. Stone’s 22.5 acre property known as “Fair Oaks” which extended from Washington Avenue to Olmstead Road.
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