Cross Estate Gardens
Cross Estate Gardens is located within the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Area of Morristown National Historical Park at 61 Jockey Hollow Road, Bernardsville, NJ 07924. The estate, which includes a 23-room stone mansion built in 1905 by John Bensel, is not related to the history of the American Revolution. The property was purchased in 1975 by the National Park Service simply to stop further real estate development of the encampment area.
John Bensel built the mansion, a five-story tall stone water tower, a carriage house, and a gate house as part of a summer residence. After his death in 1922, his wife rarely visited the property. In 1929 she sold it to W. Redmond Cross and his wife Julia. It is from this family that the estate takes its current name.
Bensel Mansion, called Hardscrabble House by the Crosses
Stone water tower
Julia was a member of the Royal Horticultural Society, and with the help of landscape architect Clarence Fowler, she revitalized and expanded the original gardens that were on the estate. Unfortunately, the gardens went into decline after her death in 1972. Upon the National Park Service’s acquisition of the property from her children, a local resident named Jean Pope began a volunteer project to restore the gardens. Today they are maintained by the New Jersey Historical Garden Foundation and include a formal perennial garden, a wisteria-covered pergola, a mountain laurel allée, a fern garden, a lawn garden, and a native plant garden.
Flowers on the pergola
The gardens are open to visitors every day from dawn to dusk. Tours are offered on Wednesday from mid-April through October at 10 AM and 11:30 AM. If interested, call (201) 240-5898 to make a reservation. There is no fee, though a $5 donation per group is suggested. Parking is free.
Shaded area under the pergola
The Cross mansion and the water tower are not open to the public. The National Park Service uses the buildings for offices and storage space. No wedding receptions or other party-type events are allowed on the property, but small wedding ceremonies for groups of 25 or less people, as well as professional photography, can be held at the gardens. A permit from the National Park Service is required. Visit the Permits and Reservations web page for Morristown National Historical Park for more information.
Cross Estate Gardens also hosts special events from time to time, such as plant sales. For more information, see the Cross Estate Gardens web page.
Cross Estate Gardens
For those wanting to hike to the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site, Cross Estate Gardens offers one parking option (you can also park at the nearby New Jersey Audubon Society property). It is a 1.5-mile round trip hike to the camp site. For complete details, see the New Jersey Brigade Trail review here on National Park Planner.
With a few exceptions, use of any photograph on the National Park Planner website requires a paid Royalty Free Editorial Use License or Commercial Use License. See the Photo Usage page for details.
Last updated on May 17, 2020
