Morris County, New Jersey's seventh largest county, nestles amid rolling hills, broad valleys and glittering lakes in the center of Northern New Jersey. Rich in historic lore and tradition, the county is know as the "Military Capital of the American Revolution". Hills and valleys that run east-west, with rocky outcroppings as high as 1,000 feet above sea level, have long hindered transportation from north to south.

Fort Nonsense - In May 1777 this hill swarmed with activity as soldiers dug trenches and raised embankments. George Washington ordered the crest fortified as it strategically overlooked Morristown. The earthworks became known as Fort Nonsense because of a later legend that it had been built only to keep the troops occupied.

A lot of the iron used in the Revolution was processed at the furnaces in Morristown. Much of the gun powder used by the Continental army was made at Jacob Ford's powder mill. General George Washington selected Morristown for his army's winter quarters in 1777 and again in 1779-1780. There is a National Historical Park now at the location.

Jacob Green, pastor of the Hanover Presbyterian Church excluded slaveholders from his congregation in the fall of 1781, making his the only Presbyterian church in America during the Revolutionary era to do so. After he published his anti-slavery sermon, irate slaveholders went to his house and verbally abused him. Not even an invitation to come in for a mug of hard cider appeased the crowd.

In 1831 the Morris Canal was conceived and developed by a Morristown resident, George F. MacCulloch. The canal crosses the state from Phillipsburg to Newark, a distance of 90 miles. The Morris Canal, was considered to be one of the most accomplished engineering feats of the time. It played a major role in movement of iron ore, coal and freight until, after many years of service, it fell into disuse and was dismantled in the 1920's.

In the years following the Revolution, Morris County was a leader in the iron ore industry, a fact made possible by the abundance of iron ore, timber to fuel the forges, and swiftly flowing streams to provide power. By 1880 Morris was the third county in the nation in the amount of iron ore mined. The Morris iron dynasty faced ruin, when in 1882 the iron industry discovered that iron ore could almost literally be picked off the surface in the Mesabi region near Lake Superior. The Dickerson mine became one of the most prominent of the 1880's after giving up more than one million tons of iron ore. Some of the last mines closed in 1913.

The American Industrial Revolution featured prominently here with the perfection of the telegraph by Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse. By the 1880's, New York City millionaires discovered Morristown and the Gilded Age began.

Since the turn of the century, the character of industry in Morris County has changed from iron mining to research, pharmaceuticals and light manufacturing. In the same period, the character of the land itself has changed from agricultural to residential. Beautiful homes and gardens predominate, both in housing developments, many of them located on the estates of former millionaires, to small country estates.