Tag: nature

Frelinghuysen Arboretum 53 East Hanover Avenue Morristown, NJ 07962

Frelinghuysen Arboretum 53 East Hanover Avenue Morristown, NJ 07962

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

53 East Hanover Avenue

Morristown, NJ. 07962

(973) 326-7600

Frelinghuysen Arboretum

Open: Sunday-Saturday 8:00am-Sunset

Admission: Free

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60906-d183697-r1011332193-The_Frelinghuysen_Arboretum-Morristown_Morris_County_New_Jersey.html?m=19905

I had never been to the Frelinghuysen-Ballentine estate before and in the peak of the Spring and after all the rain we have had, the gardens were in full bloom. The gardens were broken down into different sections that surrounded the main mansion and the stables.

The entrance to Frelinghuysen Arboretum with the Home Demonstration Gardens

The gardens spread out along the edges of the estate. The main gardens sit between the mansion and the stables, which now serves as the Visitors Center. The lawns and the gardens are so beautifully maintained. Many of the flowers were in full bloom and it made a colorful display of Mother Nature.

The entrance to the gardens

The History of the Frelinghuysen Estate:

(from the Friends blog post)

George G. Frelinghuysen, a patent attorney and son of Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State under president Chester A. Arthur, was married in 1881 to Sara Ballantine of Newark. She was the granddaughter of the founder of the P. Ballantine Brewing Company.

In 1891 the couple commissioned the Boston architectural firm of Rotch & Tilden to construct a summer home and carriage house on property they named Whippany Farm for the river nearby. The Colonial Revival style is evident in such details as the Federal urns and swags, Ionic columns on the porte-cochere and the large Palladian window on the second floor landing.

The family only lived here during the summer months. In the winter they resided at 1 Sutton Place in New York City. The property was a working farm. Vegetables and flowers were grown for the family’s consumption and sent to them in New York City via train. There were greenhouses, several barns and some smaller houses on the property. Some servants lived on the property year around.

George Frelinghuysen died in 1936 and Sara Frelinghuysen died in 1940. This property was left to their only daughter, Matilda. Miss Frelinghuysen had an interest in gardening and was a member of the Garden Club of Morristown. In 1964, she began plans for turning the estate into an arboretum. Upon her death the land and house was bequeathed to the people of Morris County for the use as a public arboretum. The Frelinghuysen Arboretum was dedicated in 1971.

The Haggerty Education Center was opened in 1989. It contains a multi-purpose auditorium and two classrooms. Its purpose is to provide continuing horticultural educational programs for the public. It is also home for various regional plant societies.

The gardens in bloom in the Spring of 2025

The flowers on the beds in full bloom

The pathways around the gift shop and Education Center.

The statuary around the gardens

The flowers around the old stables area

The gardens around the old stables

Walking to the family mansion (which was closed for a wedding)

The Frelinghuysen Mansion

The mansion was closed for a wedding but I was able to walk around the front gardens and the extensive lawn. The clouds kept moving in and out of the sky but when the sun peaked out, the gardens showed off their beautiful colors.

The lawn in front of the mansion

Off to the side of the house between the old stables and the parking lot, there were a series of paths in a natural preserve garden just off the lawn.

The pathways through the garden

The pathways with landscaping

Walking along the pathways by the stables

The gardens just south of the house with a pathway into the woods

Walking the pathway into the woods. There was not much to see but it was cooler in the woods

After I had visited the mansion grounds and the gardens that surrounded the house (the mansion was closed for a private wedding), I walked through the parking lot to the gardens to the north of the house. This was the Marsh Meadow Garden.

The Marsh Meadow Garden was a catch bastion on the property and with this grows the reeds and water vegetation that makes up the garden.

All the rain had made these gardens very lush

The catch bastion was filled with reeds and flowers

The flowers by the parking lot were in full bloom

I walked all along the pathways admiring the flower beds

The garden tour just east of the mansion

Map of the Gardens of the Four Seasons

Just south of the main off the main lawn in front of the house are the Gardens of the Four Seasons, which is a pathway through a small landscaped woods.

Maybe this was a patch of the woods when the mansion was being built but it was like a natural preserve to just relax and walk around when the family lived here. I could this as a place of refuge after a long day at work just to unwind.

The pathways of the natural garden off the main lawn

The gardens just south of the mansion just off the main lawn

The reflective pool just off the paths

The gardens next to the mansion

The view of the mansion from the gardens south of the home

The end of the pathway through the gardens

It was a nice visit to the gardens and I will have to visit again when the mansion is open and visit the landscaped gardens behind the house.

Walking through the gardens is so relaxing and enjoyable on a sunny afternoon.

Smith Mansion Historical Museum 101 South Main Street Mahanoy City, PA 17948

Smith Mansion Historical Museum 101 South Main Street Mahanoy City, PA 17948

Smith Mansion Historical Museum

101 South Main Street

Mahanoy City, PA 17948

(570) 773-1034

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2203971582/posts/10160483727871583

https://www.mahanoyhistory.org/mahanoy-1973.html

Smith Mansion

Open: Appointment only by owner

Admission: Small Donation for restoration of the house

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g53087-d33088953-r1003860232-Smith_Mansion_Tour-Mahanoy_City_Pennsylvania.html?m=19905

The front of the Smith Mansion

The historic plaque in the front of the home

The porch sitting area as you wait for your hosts to greet you

We were warmly greeted by our hosts and owners of the home. I had not realized that this is a private home and less of a museum. The only way to see the inside of the mansions by private arranged tour or when the owners have an open house either at Halloween or Christmas.

The History of the family and their fortunes:

(from WordPress.com article by Kubek: Project)

By the turn of the century, John Žinčak Smith had become the most accomplished Carpatho-Rusyn businessman and community leader in Mahanoy City, and in 1908, Smith moved his family from their modest West Centre Street home to this monumental mansion at the corner of South Main and East Spruce Street. Built at a cost of $40,000, the mansion included fourteen rooms, four chandeliers, wooden cabinets, and a number of stained glass windows (Mahanoy Area 2004, 15). 

Just as he changed his name from Ioann Žinčak to John Smith nearly 30 years earlier, his move from the predominantly Slavic, Catholic West End to the Anglo-Saxon, Protestant East End symbolized his meteoric rise from his humble origins to the economic elite of the region.

However, not all Carpathian-Rusyn Americans viewed Smith’s prosperity favorably. One parishioner penned an anonymous letter to the Carpathian-Rusyn newspaper Postup (The Progress) that sharply criticizes Smith as “a former nobody who wants to stand on the brow of the Rusyn people in America.” The author implies that Smith is embarrassed by being Carpathian-Rusyn, for “he doesn’t speak Rusyn with his children at home” and “is ashamed of his father’s last name” (“From Mahanoy City, PA: Our Chairman” 1908: 3).

We started our tour of the house in the main Living Room and foyer. This is one of the most welcoming houses and you can tell it was designed for entertaining and for a large family to live and enjoy.

The foyer of the house as you enter the home

On the first floor of the home was the formal Living Room and Dining Room of the home. The very energetic small dogs of the owners welcomed us as well.

The formal Living Room

The house still has all its beautiful and ornate moldings and fixtures. The owners told us when the family moved out, robbers had come in and stole the mansions elaborate fixtures and chandeliers so they had to replace them.

The green couch is the only thing outside some family portraits and pictures still original to the house

The portrait of Mr. Smith in the Living Room

The portrait of Mrs. Smith in the Living Room

The owners had collected the most beautiful antique and period furniture over the years which decorates all the rooms. Every piece of furniture and decoration fits each room perfectly. From the elaborate window treatments to the beautifully maintained fireplace, the room may be formal but it is still very comfortable and cosy. The house from the time you walk in has a very welcoming feel to it.

The formal Dining Room

The formal Dining Room is set for formal tour and at the holidays. For today, the owners tiny dog greeted us and wanted to play. The details on these chairs were just spectacular. What a design.

All the moldings are original to the house and all the furniture is beautifully carved and elaborate. The owners told us said the chandelier they picked fit perfectly in the room.

The Dining Room chandelier and the original wood moldings

The window seat of the Dining Room lets in lots of light

The Dining Room may be formal but with all the windows the room lets in lots of natural light and with seating around the room it still feels welcoming and less formal.

We moved from the first floor to the second floor where the library and some of the bedrooms were located.

The staircase to the second floor with the elegant carved staircase

The family portrait of Mr. Smith’s mother greets you up the stairs

In the hallway of the second floor were photos and portraits of the family members which the third generation of the family did not want and sold to the current owners. It is amazing what family will not want of their own past.

Photos of the third generation of Smith’s who moved out of the area. These are of the children and grandchildren of the Smith’s

The Smith family photo in the late 1890’s

The Smith family again in the 1930’s

Our next room of the tour was the library where the owners books, paperwork and more art was located.

The second floor library

The work space, book shelves and the alcoves give the room that homey touch

The Alcove in the library looks over the City

The Library with the music boxes

The owners opened this music box and played for us

The video of the music:

The Library is such a great room just to sit and read, think and relax. I could see why they love it so much.

We then walked to the third floor and we toured the Tower Room, which really has an amazing view of the city. You could see all over town from here. The inside garden in the Tower Room is so beautiful and receives so much sun.

The Tower Room is one of the sunniest rooms of the house.

This room on the third floor of the mansion has the best views of Mahanoy City and looked like Mr. Smith’s message to the town that he had arrived. You could see all over town from this window. Now the room is used as a type of greenhouse for beautiful potted plants and flowers perfect with all the sunlight. This is one of the nicest room in the house.

The Curio Room where the owners keep their collections of knick-knacks and decorative items that line the shelves and tables of the house, there was another music box. One of the owners collected these treasures over the years and the house has lots of examples of these beautiful antiques that were created before radio and records.

The Music box playing:

The music box was once in a hotel lobby

The owners explained that part of the third floor is used for storage and for their collections. There were all sorts of small sculptures and assorted Knick-knacks that decorate rooms lining the shelves. The owners had done and amazing job on the upkeep of this beautiful home.

The last part of the tour was we went outside on this sunny morning to see the outside gardens. They were impressive for such a small space. The flowers were just starting to bloom and the trees were starting to bud over this cold patch of the early Spring. This weekend was the first weekend where the weather had been nice and started to warm up.

The garden in front of the house just as Spring was starting

The back walled garden and fish pound

The owners own the two homes next door to the mansion and have combined the back gardens. So they had this small fish pond stacked with Japanese fish and walls covered with vines. There is a small gazebo so that you can sit and relax outside in the warmer months.

The other side of the backyard garden just as Spring started

Faces pop up between the vines of the walked garden

The views of the downtown from the house

The tour concluded in the gardens. The owners were explaining how much more beautiful the gardens are in the late Spring and Fall.

The tour was wonderful and the owners could have not been more gracious with their time. They also explained how they will be opening their home again to the public during the holidays during Christmas and hopefully Halloween and how I should come back to visit.

The formal tour of the Smith Mansion again is by private tour only except at holiday Open Houses and can be arranged through the owners of the home. It really is an interesting look at areas industrial past and what life in local society must have been like at that time. It also shows how things change over time and fortunes are made and lost and business and families move on.

It was a wonderful afternoon of stepping back into the past.