Jewish settlers began arriving in Morris County as far back as the Civil War. These early Jews settled in Morristown, a market town; Dover, a mining town located on the Morris Canal; and the farming towns of Pine Brook and Mount Freedom. When each of these communities had 10 adult males, the minimum number for religious services, they established Hebrew schools, synagogues, and congregational cemeteries and made Morris County their home. Morristown and Dover Jews were prosperous merchants with heavily populated Jewish business districts located on Speedwell Avenue and Blackwell Street. Stories of live chickens hanging in the kosher butcher's window and fish swimming in glass pools reflect this bygone era. Nearby Pine Brook and Mount Freedom Jews, not able to make a living as farmers, opened summer boarding houses and grew thriving full-service kosher hotels that rivaled New York's Catskill resorts.

This pictorial record of Morris County, New Jersey, traces the dramatic rise of America's least-known colony of millionaires during the Gilded Age. The area became a country retreat for the upper class. Families such as the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Kountzes, Wolffs, Dodges, and Claflins built impressive estates in the area referred to as the "inland Newport." By the 1920s, the prominence of Morris County was eclipsed by the lure of Long Island, and its economy was being threatened by the Depression. Faced with high taxes from the newly established income tax, skyrocketing maintenance costs, and a dwindling reservoir of help, the wealthy residents began razing their mansions. Although many of these vast estates have been long gone and forgotten, author John W. Rae's collection of early Morris County photographs recaptures the area's palatial homes in their full grandeur. Within the pages of Morris County Mansions, Rae invites you to join him on a visual tour of the magnificent architecture of the Gilded Age. Meet the area's prominent families and discover little-known facts about the homes in which they resided.

Denville in the 1950s was an idyllic place to live, yet a dark chapter in the era's history has remained uncovered. During the summer of 1953, a wealthy traveler with a secret rap sheet as a convicted sex offender arrived in town to continue his misdeeds. A group of thirteen local boys ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-two took it upon themselves to teach the man a lesson and drive him out of town. What resulted was his brutal death and the largest number of people ever indicted for murder in the nation at the time. The harrowing trial and its aftermath revealed a town forced to grapple with how to protect its youth and come to terms with the gruesome incident. Local historian Peter Zablocki covers the crime and a small town's path to redemption.

" ... provides updated county and town listings within the same overall state-by-state organization ... information on records and holdings for every county in the United States, as well as excellent maps from renowned mapmaker William Dollarhide ... The availability of census records such as federal, state, and territorial census reports is covered in detail ... Vital records are also discussed, including when and where they were kept and how"--Publisher decription.

A Place Called Whippany is a book about the history and contemporary times of Hanover Township, New Jersey. The Township of Hanover includes the villages of Whippany and Cedar Knolls, the communities of Countrywood and Trailwood, and the historic districts of Malapardis and Monroe. Whippany is a musical name with a fanciful meaning given to us by the Native Americans who first inhabited this land. The name was adopted by its New World inhabitants when the Township of Whippenny was established in the seventeenth century. Whippenny Township was a vast wilderness that included all the land that is now known as Morris County. Eventually its American name was replaced by a German name when Whippenny Township was renamed Hanover Township in the eighteenth century. Through the years its landmass has dwindled as municipalities formed and ceded from the township. Although Hanover is a notable name, it is also quite common; hundreds of places in the world are known as Hanover, including over seventy-five Hanover municipalities in the United States. In order to distinguish this place from the other Hanovers of the world, it seems fitting to call it by its original name of Whippany, since Whippany is unique to only one place on earth. A Place Called Whippany contains the indigenous, colonial, industrial, agricultural, and early modern history and contemporary times of Hanover Township, as well as a description of its character and how and why it has changed. It takes the reader from a time when Whippatiy was a prehistoric wilderness, through its colonial times, to its present status as a busy suburban community, including accounts of local politics, government, points of interest, and community institutions, organizations, and activities. It contains over 150 photos of its colonial past, its agricultural and industrial heritage, and scenes of the township as it appears today. ---Black & White Edition