New Jersey Brigade Area Trail Map (click to enlarge)

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Be sure to pick up a trail map at either the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center or the Washington’s Headquarters Museum. There is a small fee for the map. You can also download a PDF version on the Park Map web page here on National Park Planner.

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Length: 1.5 miles, round trip
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

The southernmost section of Morristown National Historical Park is the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Area. While New Jersey soldiers camped throughout this section of the park, nothing remains of their stay except for some fireplace hearths and trash pits. Reaching the site requires hiking 1.5 miles round trip on the Patriots’ Path, a collection of trails managed by the Morris County Park System. This particular segment runs from Speedwell Lake just north of Morristown to the New Jersey Audubon Society property, which is a little beyond the New Jersey Brigade campsite. The National Park Service calls the section within the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Area the New Jersey Brigade Trail.

I did not hike the entire trail because I only wanted to see the campsite ruins. Therefore, I parked at Cross Estate Gardens, which is the closest parking lot within Morristown National Historical Park to the camp. When you turn off of Jockey Hollow Road to enter the estate, there is a parking area adjacent to an open field before you get to the house and gardens. Park there and then look for a bulletin board and a sign that points to different destinations—head towards the Patriots’ Path.

Direction sign at the Cross Estates Garden parking lot, Morristown National Historical Park

What the direction sign is pointing to is not the actual Patriots’ Path but a .1-mile connector that leads to it. The start is marked by a tree with three Patriots’ Path logos attached to it.

Start of the connector trail from the Cross Estate Gardens parking lot that leads to the Patriots’ Path, Morristown National Historical Park

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On July 20, 2020, volunteers from Morristown National Historical Park informed me of some improvements to the New Jersey Brigade Trail. The entire trail is now marked with New Jersey Brigade tags attached to the trees. Follow these like Hansel and Gretel bread crumbs to stay on the correct route. New signs are also in the works, and the vegetation along the trail has been trimmed back. I cannot update my trail review to reflect these improvements since I have not personally hiked the trail since the improvements have been made, but do be aware of them.

After hiking down a fairly steep hill on the connector, you will dead end into the Patriots’ Path. Take a right towards the New Jersey Brigade Site, which according to the sign is .6 mile away. From here to the campsite, always stay on the New Jersey Brigade Trail as directed by the signs and keep an eye out for the New Jersey Brigade tags. Unlike the trails at Jockey Hollow, the trails in this area are poorly marked, and the trail map isn’t detailed enough to provide a clear picture of the turns and intersections, some of which aren’t even on the map.

Connector trail from the Cross Estate Gardens parking lot dead ends into the Patriot’s Path, Morristown National Historical Park

This section of the Patriots’ Path is very narrow with plenty of vegetation for you to brush up against. Ticks love this sort of terrain, so be sure to check yourself every few minutes (I picked up one tick near the campsite). Ticks live close to the ground so that they can attach to anything that walks by, even small animals like squirrels and rabbits, so keep an eye out for them on the fronts of your lower legs. Once attached, they instinctively start crawling upwards. If they can get to your crotch, that’s their game plan, otherwise they’ll continue up to your armpits or hair. I suggest wearing long pants when hiking, regardless of the weather. Long pants will also protect you from poison ivy and briers.

Typical terrain on the Patriots’ Path near the Cross Estate at Morristown National Historical Park

The first intersection on the trail provides the opportunity to abandon the hike and cut back to the Cross Estate by staying straight. Take a left to continue on towards the New Jersey Brigade campsite.

The next intersection is with a trail that heads to the left and out of Morristown National Historical Park to the property owned by the New Jersey Audubon Society. From this point it is downhill all the way to the campsite (and of course uphill on the way back).

Intersection of the Patriots’ Path and a trail to the Audubon Society property, Morristown National Historical Park

The forest opens up just a couple of minutes past the Audubon Society turnoff, and the trail comes to an intersection that is not only unidentified, but also not on any of the maps. All I can say is that I took a left because it looked like the more established trail, and I eventually ended up at the New Jersey Brigade encampment site. I have no idea where the trail to the right leads.

Unmarked intersection with the Patriots’ Path near the New Jersey Encampment Site, Morristown National Historical Park

Not long after the fork, the bottom drops out of the trail and you have a hike down what appears to be a small mountain. By this point I had hiked every trail in Morristown National Historical Park except for the Orange Trail, and this is without a doubt one of the steepest hills in the park.

Steep hill on the Patriots’ Path near the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site, Morristown National Historical Park

At the bottom of the hill is some sort of cairn garden created by previous hikers. Cairns usually mark a trail’s route, but these arrangements look more like something out of Blair Witch and obviously do not mark any particular trail.

Cairn garden on the Patriots’ Path near the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site, Morristown National Historical Park

The trail to the New Jersey Brigade camp is P-shaped, and up until now I had been hiking on the straight section. What I only discovered later was that the first turn-off for the camp was at the bottom of this hill and to the left. There is no directional signage, and I had to walk a short distance to even come to some sort of distinct trail, which is why I didn’t notice the turn in the first place. Not realizing this—and not that it makes any difference—I continued straight until reaching the second left-hand turn, this one clearly marked with a sign. I could also see the cars on Hardscrabble Road straight ahead, so if you get to the road, you went too far.

Turnoff from the Patriots’ Path to the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site in Morristown National Historical Park

It doesn’t look like many people hike to the campsite, for the trail is largely overgrown. Again, be on the lookout for ticks.

Overgrown New Jersey Brigade Trail in the area of the encampment site, Morristown National Historical Park

Not far after turning off from the Patriots’ Path are two wayside exhibits that mark the entrance to the New Jersey Brigade campsite.

Wayside exhibits mark the general area of the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site at Morristown National Historical Park

There is another intersection before the main section of the camp. Straight heads out of the park and into the Audubon Society property. Take a left to stay on the New Jersey Brigade Trail.

Intersection of the New Jersey Brigade Trail and a trail that leads to the Audubon Society property once at the New Jersey Brigade campsite, Morristown National Historical Park

Once you make the turn, you will find more wayside exhibits and all sorts of boulders and other rocks that look as if they were purposely arranged, plus the hearths and trash pits mentioned earlier. Logs and small rocks have been placed on either side of the trail to mark off the route.

Wayside exhibits at the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site, Morristown National Historical Park

Remains of a hearth possibly built by the soldiers of the New Jersey Brigade, Morristown National Historical Park

Stones possibly arranged by soldiers of the New Jersey Brigade, Morristown National Historical Park

Remains of a hearth built by the soldiers of the New Jersey Brigade, Morristown National Historical Park

The New Jersey Brigade Trail loops through the campsite and eventually comes out at the bottom of the hill at the cairn garden. It is tippy-toe steep back to the top—so steep that you must push off on your tiptoes to make forward progress—but the climb takes less than a minute.

From here all you have to do is retrace your steps back to the parking area, but surprisingly, that is easier said than done. There is one intersection that was quite obvious on the way to the camp but much more inconspicuous on the way back, so it is easy to miss. If you do miss it, all that will happen is that you’ll end up at Cross Estate Gardens. If you were planning to stop at the gardens, everything works out fine. If not, just follow the road from the house back to the parking lot. In truth, this is actually a little shorter than the original route anyway.

If you don’t mind hiking, I highly recommend a visit to the New Jersey camp. What I thought was going to be an empty field turned out to be the neatest place in Morristown National Historical Park. The only other camp that has any exhibits is the Pennsylvania Line Encampment Site where some replica cabins have been built. However, that site gets a lot of visitors since it has its own parking lot and minimal hiking is required. Very few people hike to the New Jersey Brigade campsite, so it feels as if you stumbled upon the ruins for the first time.

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