The biggest Revolutionary War event of Morristown's fall was supposed to fill the Green on Saturday, Sept. 26. The plan called for reenactors, a militia, exhibits on 18th-century medicine and weaponry, and a silhouette artist from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., followed by fireworks that evening. The nor'easter called it off instead. The encampment was postponed, the fireworks were canceled, and the Morristown Partnership's Festival on the Green moved to Sunday, Oct. 4.
According to Morristown Green's report that Friday, the only Living History Weekend event still going ahead was Revolutionary history trivia at Glenbrook Brewery, from 7 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 25.
The September weekend was the county's showcase. Morristown's own anniversary is still ahead. Washington's first winter encampment here dates to 1777, so its 250th falls in early 2027. The programs counting down to it don't depend on one Saturday's weather. They run in small rooms on regular schedules: a taproom on Morris Street, a library meeting room in Brookside, and the auditorium at the Washington's Headquarters Museum.
Two Official Pages Give Two Answers on the Encampment
The Morris County government press release now has a weather notice added at the top:
"Due to inclement weather this weekend, the event will be postponed until Oct. 24."
The Morris County 250 Living History page, which is the committee's page for this specific event, says something different about the Saturday encampment:
"Postponed due to inclement weather. A new date will be announced at a later time."
The county release refers to the whole three-day weekend as "the event." The committee page addresses the encampment on its own and doesn't give a date. As of Oct. 12, neither page confirms Oct. 24 as the day reenactors return to the Green. The committee page also says historic sites may have changed their own plans, and it asks visitors to contact each site directly before going. That advice applies to the encampment too. Treat Oct. 24 as possible but unconfirmed, and check the Morris County 250 page before planning a Saturday around it.
The Series That Kept Its Dates
Glenbrook Brewery at 95 Morris Street went ahead with trivia on the stormy Friday, and it is also running the most complete thread through the anniversary year. Its Colonial Tavern Series, listed on RevNJ, began in the spring and ends in January:
- March 27: A live court-martial staged by the 2nd NJ Regiment reenactors, with guests encouraged to take part
- May 8: Storytelling, "Tales of the Hard Winter"
- June 19: A Culper Ring murder mystery
- July 4: A live reading of the Declaration of Independence
- October 23: Colonial Game Night
- November 13: Tavern Talks
- December 4: Colonial Tavern Night
- January 8, 2027: "Washington's Arrival to Morristown," 7 to 8 p.m.
Four of the eight are still to come. The listing gives no cost or presenter for the January program. The order of the series matches the history it marks. It moves from summer's Declaration reading toward a closing night named for the army's arrival in town.
October to January, Month by Month
The brewery dates make up only part of the schedule. A park program, a monthly lecture series, two library talks and a museum exhibition fill in the rest, and on a few nights they overlap.
October
Oct. 23, Colonial Game Night at Glenbrook Brewery opens the remaining tavern series.
Oct. 24, "Myths & Legends: Evening Campfire Chat" is on the National Park Service calendar for Morristown National Historical Park at 5:30 p.m. The listing doesn't say which part of the park will host it, and it doesn't present the program as part of America 250. That evening is also the date in the county release, so if the encampment does land on Oct. 24, the campfire would follow it the same day.
November
Through November, "Washington, Dolley, Franklin: Voices that Shaped a Nation" is on view at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum. The exhibition opened in February and features founding-era letters and artifacts. November is the last month on its listed run.
Nov. 12 has two programs at the same hour. The North Jersey American Revolution Roundtable meets at 7 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the Washington's Headquarters NHP Museum Auditorium, 30 Washington Place, and that falls on Nov. 12 this year. That same evening, from 7 to 9 p.m., lecturer Michael Jesberger presents "Our First Soldiers: Revolutionary War Veteran's Images" at Mendham Township Library, 2 W Main St. in Brookside. It is free, and registration is required. The Roundtable listing doesn't give individual talk titles or a cost, so check with the group about that month's topic before choosing.
Nov. 13, Tavern Talks at Glenbrook is the next night.
Thanksgiving Day is one of three days a year the park's buildings close.
December
Dec. 1: Jesberger returns to Mendham Township Library with "Washington Crossing the Delaware and The Battle of Trenton," a Tuesday program from 7 to 9 p.m. It is free, space is limited, and registration is required. The battle comes just before the encampment in the story, so the talk works as the chapter before Morristown's.
Dec. 4, Colonial Tavern Night at Glenbrook.
Dec. 10: The Roundtable's second-Thursday meeting at the museum auditorium.
Dec. 16: Morris County 250's related-events listings include "Washington's First Winter Encampment, 1777" on this date. The venue, time and cost weren't confirmed in our research. Of all the fall programs, its title is the closest match to the anniversary itself, so watch the committee's events page for details.
Dec. 25: Park buildings closed.
January
Jan. 1: Park buildings closed.
Jan. 8, 2027, "Washington's Arrival to Morristown," 7 to 8 p.m. at Glenbrook Brewery, the last program in the tavern series.
Jan. 14: The Roundtable meets again at the museum auditorium. Its season runs through June 10, 2027.
As of Oct. 12, our research turned up no January commemoration announced by Morristown National Historical Park. Jan. 8 at Glenbrook is the only dated program tied directly to the arrival.
The Ground the Programs Are About Is Open
Most of the calendar above takes place in a taproom, a library, a museum or an auditorium. The ground itself has a schedule of its own, and right now it is mostly open.
According to the park's current conditions page, the Jockey Hollow Tour Road, the Soldier Huts, the New York Brigade Comfort Station and all 27 miles of hiking trails are open. The grounds are open every day from sunrise to sunset. The buildings are open Thursday through Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. So a Tuesday or Wednesday visit means trails and huts only, with no building access.
One part of the museum is closed. An NPS alert posted Aug. 4, 2026, says the Lloyd W. Smith Gallery is temporarily closed for construction, while the museum's other exhibits stay open. The alert gives no reopening date. That's worth knowing before a Roundtable night, since the meetings are in the same building.
The Ford Mansion formally reopened on Oct. 5, 2024, and our research found no new closure or reopening there or at Jockey Hollow since then.
Downtown, the Morristown Partnership's "Historic Heroes" banners honor Morristown residents for their military and civic service during the Revolutionary War. The Partnership's page doesn't list a date when the banners come down. They hang along the same streets that lead from Glenbrook on Morris Street to the museum on Washington Place.
The next fixed date on this calendar is Colonial Game Night at 95 Morris Street on Friday, Oct. 23. The tavern series ends there on Jan. 8, 2027, the night it marks Washington's arrival in Morristown.
Some Morristown houses have their own place in this history. If you own one and wonder how buyers value that story today, Bonnie & Greg pair Bonnie's storytelling with Greg's pricing analysis for character properties. Get your instant home valuation, then ask us how a home's history fits into its price.
