The Mountain Shadows Property is Part of Pruddentown

ountain Shadows, Thanksgiving and Christmas Jersey was occupied by a branch of situated along Mount holidays. Also occasionally a car the Delaware Indians called the MKemble Avenue in with a “Zamrok” license plate is Lenni Lenape—“original people.” historic Morris Township, is a spotted in the area—perhaps Sam The Indians came from the west colonial styled townhouse complex. Masucci is related to a Zamrok. with the Mengwe or Iroquois Fifteen single family townhouses The land occupied by Mountain tribes and occupied the region on Zamrok Way are at the base of Shadows has historical significance bordered by the great salt water the eastern face of Mount Kemble. being next to Pruddentown, a lake and bounded by four great The complex, two miles south of 1770s colonial manufacturing rivers; the Hudson, Delaware, the Morristown Green, was built in community. At the entrance to Susquehanna and Potomac. 1984, and has blended in with the Zamrok Way is a two hundred year In the 1600s, was wooded countryside. Sam Masucci, old hickory tree that can attest to inhabited by Swedish and Dutch of Forest Dale Associates, built the changes to the landscape as settlers who traded for furs with Mountain Shadows, the Shadow Pruddentown expanded along the Native Americans. The settlers Brook Townhouses and the Mount Kemble Avenue from multiplied and in the early 1700s, Applewood homes. For several Skyline Drive to Sand Spring the land was politically subdivided years after the completion of the Road. into counties. Morris County, townhouses, the residents were originally part of Hunterdon amazed when an unknown The First Settlers County, was created in 1738, and benefactor decorated the “Zamrok The story of Mount Kemble named after the Governor of the Way” street sign with straw and Avenue and Pruddentown begins at Province, Lewis Morris. The red and gold ribbons, for the the time of discovery, when New British seized control of the area

by Arthur Mierisch

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 MORRISTOWN

MT. KEMBLE Madison Ave.

MOUNTAIN SHADOWS South St. PRUDDENTOWNPRUDDENTOWN Baily Hollow Rd.

James St. ay

Zamrock W

Old Harter Rd.

Sand Spring Rd. MORRIS TWP.

Spring ValleyRd.

Mt. Kemble Ave.

Glen Alpin Rd. HARDING

from the Dutch in 1664. The first Southhold, Long Island, and New Township in 1806, Passaic Europeans settled in Morristown Haven, Connecticut, was named Township (now Long Hill in 1715, and four years later, the the Village of New Hanover. The Township) in 1866, and lastly colonists established an iron mine colonists, farmers seeking new Morristown in 1865. in Morris County. fertile land for growing crops, A traveler going north from Iron was an important mineral settled along the Whippany River Mountain Shadows towards in the state—a necessity eagerly in Morristown. Morris Township Morristown along Mount Kemble sought for making tools, was established in 1740 and Avenue (US Rte. 202) will quickly machinery, household items and portions of the township were notice the Pruddentown Historic weapons. Independently operated immediately taken to form the District sign. The sign is at the smelting furnaces soon appeared Roxbury and Mendham southern part of an eighteenth in Morris, Sussex, Warren, Passaic Townships. Morris Township, part century town that was Morris and Hunterdon Counties, and in of Morris County, was County’s first industrial complex. total produced several hundred incorporated as a township by an Even though the Pruddentown thousand tons of iron annually. In Act of the New Jersey Legislature ovens were razed in 1910, the the 1730s, Morristown, settled by in 1798. Portions of the township towns colonial styled homes built English Presbyterians from were then taken to create Chatham in the eighteenth and nineteenth

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 centuries were spared and are Kemble Avenue, a path slightly routes needed to transport occupied today. In the woods larger than the width of a wagon, agricultural and mineral products along Mount Kemble Avenue, ran south from Morristown to to the coastal communities. Clay, stone foundations are still found Bernardsville. The road became a used for building and fireplace and give clues about the structure highway in 1776 and given the construction, was also found in of the original town. The sounds name of “The Great Road from substantial amounts. The of the settlers and animals that Morristown to Baskenridge.” In Whippany River provided once walked along dusty Mount the early 1800s, the land south of transportation to northern New Kemble Avenue have long faded Frederick Place to Sand Spring Jersey, and two land routes to the and have been replaced with the Road was considered part of east and south connected to the sound of automobiles rushing to Pruddentown; many of the east coast and the central part of near and far destinations. No Prudden family acquired tracks of the state. To the east, longer are heard the “klippy-klop” land outside of the original Elizabethtown was reached by of horse’s hooves and wagons eighteenth century traveling through Madison, creaking along the Avenue; it was a Pruddentown and grew corn, Chatham, the gap at Short Hills, simpler time that eventually faded wheat, oats, rye and vegetables for and Springfield. Going south there and became known as the “Old their own consumption. Some of was a series of trails that Days.” the farms raised cattle and hogs meandered through Harding, for meat, hides and dairy products. Basking Ridge and Bedminster. The Settlement of Pruddentown The Mountain Settlement of Pruddentown Pruddentown existed from Shadows began in the 1730s when Joseph 1770 through 1910. property was Prudden, the son of a Newark The town once one of Puritan Minister, purchased 637 occupied these farms. acres of property along Mount 637 acres This places Kemble Avenue. He became the that began the complex largest land owner south of at Skyline in the Morristown. Prudden, using the Drive on nineteenth (1800 area’s abundant natural resources the north and to 1899) century of clay and timber, and streams continued south historic district. for water, established the Prudden along Mount Kemble Why not move the Brick Works—the first Avenue to the AT&T Historic District sign manufacturing community in property. The town to the Morris Morris Township. extended from James Township-Harding Johanna, his wife, bore four Street on the east to border? sons; Peter, Joseph, Moses and Mount Washington on the In the early Isaac. When they passed, all of west; in the 1880s the 1700s, Morristown their children received equal shares mountain’s name was attracted settlers in the estate. The Pruddens changed to Mount Kemble. moving inland from prospered and by 1860, the family Pruddentown contained 24 the Atlantic coast. had grown to fourteen lines. They buildings; half of the The land was built homes along Mount Kemble buildings were dwellings and fertile for Ave. Many of the homes exist the remaining structures were farming and today as part of the Pruddentown used for the town’s enterprises, there was a river Historic District. Joseph, active in barns and stables. Mount and land the Morristown Presbyterian

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 Church, became a Deacon in quickly the congregation out-grew traveled from Somerset County 1744. The town continued to the meeting house and it was through Basking Ridge to Harding expand and numbered over sixty abandoned in 1766 in favor of a and then along Spring Valley Road people by 1910. new house built near the to South Street and arrived at the Morristown Green. The Baptist Morristown Green. The officers grave yard, thought to be at the occupied whatever base of Bailey Hollow Road, has accommodations were offered by never been found. the town’s residents. The troops 445 Mount Kemble Avenue: Today, an 1810 school house were camped at Jockey Hollow The School House, remains as a vestige of their and other locations around on the west side of the road, taught community—the school house Morristown. Mount Kemble students from 1810 most likely was built with Prudden Avenue was leveled, widened and to 1914. bricks. The school taught reading, straightened. It was used as a grammar, penmanship, arithmetic, military road to reach the Jockey algebra, geometry, history, and Hollow camp by way of Bailey temperance. A few years later, the Hollow Road. Mount Kemble Baptists from West Hanover settlement was considered part of Avenue became known by several arrived in the area during the Pruddentown. names—as the “Mountain Road,” 1750s, and settled near Mount “The Great Road,” or the “Road Kemble Avenue and Sand Spring American Revolution to Basking Ridge.” Several of Road. Two years later the and the Washington’s officers occupied congregation erected a meeting , following their Peter Kemble’s home at Mount house near Springbrook and Bailey victories at Trenton and Princeton Kemble Avenue and Tempe Wyck Hollow Roads. In 1754, John in late 1776, took winter refuge Gano, a Princeton student, became behind the the areas first pastor; he later in Morristown and the served as a Chaplain throughout surrounding Township. They the Revolutionary War. Very

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 Road. In the 1880s, the road Delaware River into Pennsylvania. Mount Kemble Avenue near Old became locally known as Mount Clinton, the British General, was Harter Road. Kemble Avenue and in the 1920s embarrassed to learn that a large African-Americans lived in the the road was given the national US force never occupied Chatham. area until 1910 when small farms Route 202 designation. could not compete with larger In 1781, Washington tricked the An African-AAmerican farms. They sold their homes and British into thinking that an attack Community moved to Newark to find on City was imminent. Peter Kemble, in the early employment in manufacturing. He sent a small number of 1800s, emancipated the slaves soldiers to Chatham where they around Morristown. Many Manufactures built brick ovens typical of an remained in the area settling in a In the 1850s, Pruddentown was army massing for an attack; could group around the northern a large, active community that these have been Pruddentown portion of Pruddentown forming employed brick makers, potters bricks? The aroma of baking bread one of the area’s first black and laborers. The services of soon filled the air fooling the enclaves. One of the Peter blacksmiths, butchers, masons, British spies in the area into Kemble’s daughters gave several wagon and carriage makers, wagon thinking that the Army was parcels of land to many of the drivers, harness makers and reading for an attack. The New former slaves. John Doughty shoemakers were all available in York Mercury reported the willed 17 acres near the All Souls Pruddentown. A general store at assembling of 6,000 soldiers in Hospital on Mount Kemble 188 Mount Kemble Avenue Chatham who would soon move Avenue to Jacob Sylvester. York supplied the town with food, to Staten Island to get aboard Mumford, another former slave, clothing and general house-wares. barges for an assault on New York acquired 30-40 acres on which he Pruddentown also had a pottery City. As the British busily prepared planted potatoes, clover, corn and factory, however, records of what for an attack, they failed to notice lima beans. The Mumford’s lived the factory made have not been that all of Washington’s forces had at 205 Mount Kemble Avenue to found. In 1870, William Harter left the area and slipped across the 1853, when the home became the M. Sylvester residence. Other Sylvester relatives lived at 215

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 delivered milk from his farm on ovens. The woodsmen left behind Armstrong took over and enlarged Old Harter Road. Amos Prudden a barren slope marked with the brick yard. Armstrong in 1875, near the Mountain unsightly stumps and branches. In employed a labor force of about Shadows property, operated a operation, the aroma of burning forty-six Canadians who came in cheese factory that made wood filled the air as smoke the spring and returned to Canada camembert, fromage de brie, and clouds laden with ashes billowed in the winter. After the Civil War, Neufchatel (farmer) cheeses made up from the ovens. Piles of dirt, the yard hired Afro-Americans from milk delivered by William ash heaps, and broken bricks from the south. Harter. Another Prudden was a littered the area. Springbrook butcher who sold meat from cattle Road was known as “Brickyard 20th Century Changes he raised locally; the selling of Lane,” the “Road to the Kiln,” or Robert D. Foote in 1906, meat was a symbol of affluence in the “Old Brick Road.” By 1898, seeking to expand his already large colonial times. The one building the brick yard produced 3 million estate, purchased the Prudden that Pruddentown did not have bricks a year at a retail price of 32 Brick Yard and razed all of the was a church. People traveled to shillings per 1,000 bricks; no buildings. On the property, Foote Morristown to worship. records were kept of where the built a large mansion that he The Prudden Brick Works bricks went. Prudden bricks were named the “Spring Brook House.” obtained clay from pits found at used for the foundations and walls In 1918, a group of Morristown today’s Spring Brook Country of many Pruddentown and businessmen converted 160 acres Club. The clay was hand-washed Morristown buildings. The excess of the estate into the Springbrook to remove dirt, kneaded to remove lime from the manufacturing Country Club that opened in air pockets, shaped into bricks and process was delivered to local 1921. The brick yard’s clay pits then baked in ovens. Wood for the farmers at 2 shillings a bushel. became ponds and water hazards. ovens came from the vicinity of In 1853, Halsey Chamberlain By 1899, independently 229 Mount Kemble Avenue where and Cyrus Prudden became co- operated electrified trolley lines trees were laboriously cut and owners of Pruddentown. Four competed with horse-drawn cars dragged down the slope to the years later in 1857, Silas for interurban transportation. The

Robert D. Foote's "Spring Brook House" on James Street is today the Loyola House of Retreat. Foote, a member of an elite moneyed class during Morristown's 1890's gilded age, wanted to bring electrified transportation to the working classes of Morris County. In 1899, Foote along with John H. Chapstick and George W. Stickle obtained a charter for the Morris County Traction Co; MCT was an electric railway. In operation, the railway ran between Elizabeth and Lake Hopatcong via Springfield, Morristown, and Dover with a spur to Boonton.

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 trolleys provided in-town Vestiges residential neighborhood to satisfy transportation and they connected Many of the surviving the demand for new housing. to steam railroads that ran between Pruddentown homes were built in During the 1950s, new ranch, cities. Trolleys also connected to the mid 1800s. However, the split-level and cape-cod homes electrified traction systems that house at 215 Mount Kemble soon became intermixed with the carried people between towns. A Avenue was built in 1770 and older colonial houses. In the small trolley line ran from Mount expanded in 1800. Also, the home 1980s, the Center for Spiritual Kemble Avenue to Van Doren’s at 232 Mount Kemble Avenue was Living, AT&T and the Mountain Mill near the Whippany River. built in 1782 and today is not Shadows complexes were built on Another line, the Morris County occupied; the home is hidden the remaining farm land. The Traction Co., was part of a large behind overgrown trees and older homes along the Avenue are system that transported shrubbery and has fallen into lived-in, however, the coach vacationers to Lake Hopatcong, disrepair. factory, blacksmith shop, stores and workers from industrialized Trees dating to the early1800s and laborer’s dwellings have Dover and Boonton to the are found at several locations along disappeared. The exception is the commercialized towns of Mount Kemble Avenue. A hickory original 1870 general store at 184 Morristown and Elizabeth. tree, at the entrance to Zamrok Mount Kemble Avenue; the home During the twentieth century, Way, has stood as a silent monitor today as a private residence. Mount Kemble Avenue underwent for over two hundred years. The Traveling south along Mount dramatic changes. In 1914, at 257 tree has a chain deeply embedded Kemble Avenue from Mountain Mount Kemble Avenue, the in the trunk—it probably held the Shadows, Peter Kemble’s colonial Mount Kemble Firehouse was sign for Amos Prudden’s cheese home is easily seen at 665 Mount built. It was replaced in 1971 with factory. Other large trees can be Kemble the firehouse on Spring Brook spotted on the front lawn of 399 Avenue. Road. Concrete retaining walls Mount Kemble Avenue. The area The seen at several locations along remained as rural farmland until Mount Kemble Avenue from the early 1900s when farming Skyline Drive to Sand Spring ceased and the land once again Road, were erected in 1917 and became a replaced in 2008 at a cost of over forest. After $2 million. The Federal Highway World War Act of 1921 created US Route II, the 202 to run from Delaware to properties Maine. By 1926, the Act were re- consolidated local highway names zoned to into a single route number. be a The area remained partly settled until the 1950s when a variety of homes were built along the Avenue. The AT&T buildings were built in the 1980s; the area once again had a large business enterprise. The farms, horses and dusty roads were gone forever.

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 house was moved around 1840 two hundred years, the colonial Since colonial times, Mount from its original location at the spirit of the area remains. A trip Kemble Avenue has been the home corner of 685 Mount Kemble down Mount Kemble Avenue past and workplace of people from Avenue and Tempe Wyck Road. It the colonial homes is a reminder America and foreign countries was replaced by the Glen Alpin of a time when everyday life who have diverse religious and house, built in the Gothic Revival moved at a slower pace. One can ethnic backgrounds. Some were style. only imagine how woodland, once freemen and others were slaves used for hunting by Native who lived and toiled along the Mountain Shadows Americans, quickly became a dusty and winding Mount Kemble Mountain Shadows is fortunate nearly self-sufficient manufacturing Avenue. The Avenue today still is to be located along Mount community. When the brick- the home for a diverse population Kemble Avenue near the original making era had passed the land who enjoy its colonial atmosphere. eighteenth century Pruddentown. seceded to woodland and finally Who knows what changes are in Although the countryside has changed into a modern residential store for Mount Kemble Avenue? dramatically changed in the last neighborhood.

Bibliography

Beers, F. W., Atlas of Morris County 1868, A. D. Ellis & Morris County Planning and Historical Restoration Dept., G.G. Soule, Morristown Library, 1868 2008 Geodesic Survey Map, Morristown, New Jersey

Benvie, Sam, The Encyclopedia of North American Trees, Morris Township Tax Collectors Office, Property Tax Firefly Books, Buffalo, New York, 2000 Records, Morris Township Municipal Building, 2009

Condit, Silas B., Farm Map of Morris Township 1861, Town Munsell, W. W., History of Morris County, New Jersey, Press of Morris Township, Morristown Library, 1861 of George McNamara, New York, NY, 1882

Cunningham, John T. The Uncertain Revolution, Cormorant National Register of Historic Places, Pruddentown Historic Publishing, West Creek, New Jersey, 2007 District, US Dept of the Interior, Morristown Library, 2002

Glen Alpin Conservancy, The Glen Alpin Conservancy, NPS Historical Society, NPS Historical Handbook: www.glenalpin.com, 2009 Morristown, www.gov/history, 2009

Haskins, Barbara, Morris Township, New Jersey, New Jersey Perkins, Edwin J., The Economy of Colonial America, Historical Commission, Morristown Library, 1987 Columbia University Press, New York City, New York, 1988

The Historical Society of Newark, The History of the Peskin, Lawrence A, Manufacturing Revolution, Johns Counties of New Jersey, Vol 5, Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2003 The Historical Society of Newark, Newark, New Jersey, April 1934 Wikipedia.org, Morris Township, //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris Township, 2009 Lowenthal, Larry and Greenberg, Jr., William T., Morris County Traction Company, Morristown and Morris Township Library, Morristown, New Jersey, 2005

Lurie, Maxine N. and Mappen, Marc Editors, Encyclopedia of New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2004

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 The following pages contain a tour of the historic houses along Mount Kemble Avenue. The house number and year of construction are given. If you visit them in person, please be mindful that most are presently occupied homes. Please respect the privacy of the residents.

Mt. Kemble Ave. Mountain Shadows at Zamrok Way and Mount Kemble Avenue

The corner of Mt. Kemble Avenue and Zamrok Way has been watched over for two centuries by a hickory tree with the chains embedded in its bark likley from a cheese factory’s sign. Today, two-story colonial- style town houses, built in 1985, make up the Mountain Shadows community.

Peter Kemble’s Manor Home The home, built in the 1750s, was at the north-west corner of Mount Kemble Avenue (Rte 202) and Tempe Wyck Road. General Anthony Wayne and other Generals occupied the home during the Revolutionary War. The property is the burial site for Peter Kemble, his wife, three children and a cousin. The home, sold in 1840, was moved a quarter mile north to 665 Mount Kemble Avenue and is seen today from the Avenue. The homes appearance has changed as additions were added on the north and south sides.

Peter Kemble, born in Turkey, purchased in 1751, 1,250 acres near Morristown that included Mount Kemble and the Glen Alpin property located at the intersection of Mount Kemble Avenue and Tempe Wyck Road. Kemble was; a wealthy business man, a leading Loyalist in the 1770s, and he served on the Royal Council of New Jersey under Governor (Benjamin Franklin’s son). Margaret, Kemble’s daughter, married General , Britain's first Commander-in- Chief of the British Army in America. Kemble remained in his home during the Revolution and was not permitted to take part in Loyalist activities.

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 Heading North Along Mt. Kemble Avenue from Mountain Shadows

#329: 1864 2 ½ story folk/Victorian/Queen Anne style dwelling. Once occupied by five Prudden families. #326 across Mount Kemble Avenue is the carriage house. #306: 1856 2 ½ story Victorian style dwelling on a stone foundation. Once occupied by a Hannah Prudden. The four lots below were purchased by J. Armstrong in 1861, contained a carriage and coach factory, a blacksmith shop and four out-bbuildings. A sign identified the business as “Coach Fac. & BS.”

#301: 1853 #293: 1830 1½ story dwelling on a stone and brick foundation. 2½ story brick dwelling on a masonry foundation.

#291: 1830 #287: 1830 2½ story dwelling on a stone and brick foundation. 3 story dwelling on a stone foundation.

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 #280: 1853 #278: 1853 2 story stuccoed masonry dwelling on a 2 story dwelling on a stone foundation. The home stone foundation. Once occupied by was occupied by Edwin Corbett, a descendent of Edwin Corbett Jr. the family that owned the grocery store at #184 Mount Kemble Avenue.

#269: 1815 #249: 1820 2 story frame clapboard-clad dwelling on a brick 1 ½ story frame dwelling on a brick foundation. foundation. Once occupied by L. Prudden.

#240: 1868 #239: 1835 2 story brick dwelling on a rubble foundation. 2½ story frame dwelling on a brick foundation.

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 #237: 1835 #235: 1782 2½ story clapboard-clad frame dwelling on a 2 story frame clapboard-clad dwelling on a rubble- stone foundation. stone foundation built by Peter Prudden. The home is in disrepair.

#223: 1846 #221: 1846 2½ story brick dwelling 2 story frame dwelling on a stone and brick foundation.

#215: 1770 #188: 1813 2½ story dwelling built in two sections. The north 2½ story brick dwelling on a rubble foundation known side was built in 1770 and the south side in 1800. It as “Four Winds” or “Mile Post.” was occupied by the Sylvester family in the 1860s.

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 #184: 1870 2 story frame dwelling with asbestos shingles on a brick and stone foundation. Originally used as a grocery store by Edward W. Cobbett.

Heading South Along Mt. Kemble Avenue from Mountain Shadows

Mt. Kemble Ave.

#375: 1900 #385: Early 1900 2½ story dwelling. 1½ story modernized dwelling.

#399: 1887 #407: 1887 2 story dwelling. 2 story dwelling.

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009 #413: 1894 Barn on #407 property. 2 story dwelling modernized with the addition of a large expansion on the north side.

The Pruddentown Historic District overlayed on the 1887 “Robinson Atlas of Morris County.”

Morris County’s 1770 Industrial Complex O Arthur Mierisch O GardenStateLegacy.com Issue 5 O September 2009