Towns

NJ, USA

Cross Estate Gardens

Historic House

The Cross Estate, located within Morristown National Historical Park near Jockey Hollow, features a restored formal garden and the remains of a twentieth-century estate built on land that was part of the Continental Army encampment area. The gardens, maintained by the New Jersey Historical Garden Foundation, provide a quiet setting adjacent to the encampment grounds. The site offers an accessible entry point to the Jockey Hollow trail system and connects the eighteenth-century military history of the area with its later development as country estates for New York-area families.

What Happened Here

The land on which the Cross Estate stands was part of the broader Jockey Hollow area where Continental Army troops encamped during the winter of 1779-1780. While the estate buildings date to the early twentieth century, the property sits amid the landscape that thousands of soldiers occupied, and trails from the gardens lead directly into the encampment area.

Visiting Today

Address

61 Jockey Hollow Rd, Bernardsville, NJ 07924

Hours

Dawn to dusk daily; gardens open seasonally

Admission

Free

Connected Events

Jan 1777
Continental Army Arrives in Morristown

George Washington, Nathanael Greene, Colonel Jacob Ford Jr., Martha Washington

Jan 1777
First Winter Encampment at Morristown

Nathanael Greene, Colonel Jacob Ford Jr., Theodosia Ford, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Martha Washington

Jan 1777
Washington Establishes Headquarters at Ford Mansion

George Washington, Theodosia Ford, Alexander Hamilton, Martha Washington

Jan 1777
Morristown Intelligence Network Operations

George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Martha Washington

Feb 1777
Continental Army Smallpox Inoculation Program

Dr. John Cochran, George Washington, Martha Washington

May 1777
Construction of Fort Nonsense

George Washington, Martha Washington

May 1777
Continental Army Departs Morristown (First Encampment)

George Washington, Nathanael Greene, Martha Washington

Dec 1779
Continental Army Returns to Morristown for Second Encampment

George Washington, Nathanael Greene, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Joseph Plumb Martin, Martha Washington

Dec 1779
The Hard Winter: Second Encampment at Morristown

Nathanael Greene, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Temperance "Tempe" Wick, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Martha Washington, Joseph Plumb Martin

Dec 1779
Soldier Hut Construction at Jockey Hollow

George Washington, Joseph Plumb Martin, Martha Washington

Cross Estate Gardens | History is for Everyone