Wick House at Morristown National Historical Park

MORRISTOWN NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK TOUR

STOP 4: WICK HOUSE

Allow 45 to 60 minutes for a visit

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Wick Farm and farmhouse are located in the Jockey Hollow unit of Morristown National Historical Park. If arriving by vehicle, it is best to park at the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center and take a short walk (500 feet) to the farm. Guided tours of the farmhouse meet here, and there is a small exhibit area and film about the Continental Army’s 1779-80 winter camp at Jockey Hollow. There is also a parking lot on Cemetery Road specifically for the farm, and although this is not shown on the park map, road signs do identify where to turn.

OPERATING HOURS

The grounds of the Wick Farm are open year-round from 8 AM to 8 PM. The last entry into the Jockey Hollow Encampment Area is at 7:30 PM when the entrance gate closes, but visitors can still get out.

The interior of the Wick House is only accessible on a guided tour. These are typically held on Thursdays through Sundays, and while the house is supposedly open during regular park facility hours, 10 AM to 4 PM, there is no tour schedule, and tours often depend on staffing. If there are not enough Rangers or volunteers on duty, there may not be tours given on the day of your visit.

Keep in mind that times can always change, so be sure to get the latest schedule on the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for the park.

Wick Farm in the Jockey Hollow unit of Morristown National Historical Park

WICK HOUSE AND FARM

Until modern times, armies deployed in the northern climes could not fight during the winter due to snow and ice. Instead, the men gathered at strategic points and built camps where they could wait until spring, or even early summer since the roads would be nothing but mud when the snow melted. During the American Revolution, the Continental Army under the command of General George Washington made its winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey, four different times starting with the war’s first winter in 1776-77. The army was quite small at that time, and most everyone was able to stay in the homes of local residents.

A much larger Continental Army came to Morristown for the first of three consecutive winters in 1779-80. This winter is the focus of Morristown National Historical Park because it was the largest camp—10,000 soldiers—and 100 men lost their lives due to starvation and the bitter cold. It was the worst recorded winter of the 1700s.

While lower ranking officers and enlisted men stayed in hastily built log huts during their winter camps, higher ranking officers typically rented houses from the local residents. Washington himself stayed in downtown Morristown at the Ford Mansion, but other officers stayed much closer to their men. One such officer was Major General Arthur St. Clair, commander of the Pennsylvania Line (which was camped nearby). During the 1779-80 encampment at Morristown, he and his aide-de-camps (assistant officers) stayed at the house of Henry Wick. The Wick House is the only building still standing in Jockey Hollow from the 1770s.

The Wick House was built around 1750. It is a rather small and simple farmhouse with five rooms on the bottom floor and an attic. The house is now furnished as it might have been when St. Clair was there. None of the furniture is original, but everything is a period antique or reproduction and is based on an inventory of Henry Wick’s belongings when he died in 1781. Estate inventories include items of significant value such as furniture pieces, so while the current furnishings are not identical to what Wick owned, they are the types of furniture that was most likely in the house in 1779.

The front half of the house is comprised of two large rooms, a parlor on the east side and a family room (or sitting room) on the west side. The two are separated by an entrance foyer and staircase to the attic. A parlor is typically where a family dined on special occasions and entertained guests, so this is where the best furniture is typically located. A family room is for everyday activities, and the furnishings reflect this purpose.

The back half of the house is where the kitchen is located. There is also a pantry and small bedroom on the east side of the house and a larger bedroom on the west side. A centrally located chimney supports a large fireplace for the kitchen and fireplaces for the parlor and family rooms. The bedrooms did not have a fireplace.

Wick House Floor Plan

Tours of the Wick House begin by entering through the back door into the kitchen. This is where the largest fireplace is located due to it being used for cooking. The room also served as the everyday dining room.

Kitchen in the Wick House, Morristown National Historical Park

Keep in mind that it is not known for certain what the rooms were used for during General St. Clair’s stay, but historians believed he took the eastside bedroom as his personal sleeping space and used the parlor as his office, dining area, and sleeping quarters for his military staff. How many staff members stayed in the house is also unknown, but it could have been anywhere from one to four.

Today the parlor is outfitted with a desk and a camp bed to represent sleeping quarters for St. Clair’s aid-de-camps, while the bedroom has only a camp bed for St. Clair himself. Camp beds are folding beds that can be easily transported around the battlefield.

Parlor in the Wick House furnished as General Arthur St. Clair’s office and staff sleeping quarters, Morristown National Historical Park

East Bedroom in the Wick House furnished with a camp bed, Morristown National Historical Park

Only Henry Wick’s wife, Mary, and one daughter, Tempe, are know for certain to have been in the house during the encampment. Some sources state that Wick was also there, others claim that he was serving as a volunteer in the Morris County cavalry at the time (despite being 72 years old). His other children, two sons and two daughters, were older and had moved out by 1779.

Regardless of what family members were at the house in the winter of 1779-80, they most likely resided in the rooms on the west side of the house. Today the Family Room is furnished with an extra bed (perhaps one was moved here from the East Bedroom), a round dining table and chairs, a dresser, and other types of furniture that would typically be in a family room. The bedroom is furnished with a dresser and a standard bed, which contrasts to the camp beds where the officers stayed.

Family room in the Wick House where Mary and Tempe Wick resided during General Arthur St. Clair’s stay at their house in the winter of 1779-80, Morristown National Historical Park

Family room in the Wick House where Mary and Tempe Wick resided during General Arthur St. Clair’s stay at their house in the winter of 1779-80, Morristown National Historical Park

West Bedroom of the Wick House as it might have looked in the winter of 1779-80, Morristown National Historical Park

There is an attic that is not visited on a tour. This is where the servants of St. Clair and his staff would have slept.

Outside on the grounds of the Wick Farm are a smokehouse, cow shed, wellhead, and a vegetable garden now maintained by the National Park Service. Much of the vegetables grown on the farm are donated to the local food pantry or sold to park guests during living history events.

Vegetable garden at the Wick Farm, Morristown National Historical Park

A cow shed was most likely on the property when the Continental Army made its winter camp in 1779-80, though there are no records of any buildings on the Wick Farm at the time other than the Wick House itself. A cow shed that was on the property when the National Park Service acquired it in the early 1930s was rebuilt in 1936 by the Public Works Administration, an organization created during the Great Depression to get men back to work. However, many outbuildings, including the cow shed, were destroyed in a fire in 1957. The current cow shed was built by the National Park Service after the fire.

Cow shed at the Wick Farm, Morristown National Historical Park

While there was most likely a smokehouse on the Wick Farm, no such building was documented until 1855. The current smokehouse was built by Boy Scout Troup 112 of Morristown in 2021. It is a typical smokehouse design from the mid-1700s.

Smokehouse at the Wick Farm, Morristown National Historical Park

One other structure on the farm is a wellhead located behind the house. While also a reconstruction, it does sit on an original well.

Wellhead at the Wick Farm, Morristown National Historical Park

Tours of the Wick House take about a half hour. Visitors are welcome to walk the grounds on their own. In all, allow 45 minutes to an hour for a visit to the Wick Farm.

Next Stop: Pennsylvania Line Encampment Site | Previous Stop: Jockey Hollow Visitor Center

Park Tour Home Page

Back to the Top