Mount Tabor Porch & Garden Tour

This Fall, the Mount Tabor Historical Society again welcomes visitors for a special, outdoor-focused Tour to provide an enjoyable and safe event for our visitors and hosts. The all-outdoor, self-guided tour will take place on Saturday, September 24, 2022, rain or shine from 11am to 4pm.

This walkable tour of the Mount Tabor Historic District allows visitors to experience the unique qualities of this historic community focusing on its exuberant Victorian gingerbread porches and charming cottage gardens. As an added bonus, a select number of house interiors will be open for viewing. This tour highlights some of Mount Tabor’s most delightful and unique “hidden gardens” and showcases a variety of garden types, plants, and settings. Sit a spell and enjoy the view from select period porches and see how they define the character of our community. Porches and gardens can be visited in any order at any time, during the event window, allowing guests to go at their own pace. Tours begin at the check-in table located at the Old Firehouse on Simpson Avenue where those who purchased advance tickets can pick up their tour booklets with a self-guided map, or tickets can be purchased on the day of the tour.

Additional features include a furnished replica Camp Meeting Tent and the Richardson History House, a camp meeting cottage museum. A quilt show will be displayed in the historic Tabernacle. Stop by the gift shop, which is stocked with Mount Tabor souvenirs and vintage items. Box lunches are available by pre-order only.

Advance Tickets are $25 per person, or $35 with a box lunch, via online order or mailed check. Tickets also can be purchased for $30 on the day of the Tour. For advance tickets, information about the community, photos, and directions, visit our dedicated House Tour Event Page: https://mounttabornj.org, or call 973-975-0001.

Founded in 1869, the Mount Tabor Historic District embodies the distinctive characteristics of a permanent Methodist Camp Meeting Ground that evolved into a summer residential community. Particularly notable is the architecture of the early camp meeting Stick-Style and Gothic Revival-influenced cottages with their prominent steep gables, open porches, and elaborate gingerbread embellishments.

This event is the largest fundraiser for the Mount Tabor Historical Society. The non-profit organization puts all event proceeds back into the community through beautification, educational, and preservation projects, including the restoration of the Richardson History House.

Parking will be provided at the Mount Tabor School, located on Park Road, Morris Plains, off Route 53 (GPS: use 864 Park Rd. Morris Plains) where a shuttle bus will be available for transport into the heart of Mount Tabor. Mount Tabor is located in Morris County along Route 53 between Denville and Morris Plains. Visitors who prefer mass transit can take the NJ Transit Morris & Essex line to the Mount Tabor stop.

A History of Methodist Camp Meeting Towns and Lessons for Sustaining Vibrant Communities Today

 

Over 150 years ago, Methodists undertook one of the greatest ventures in the history of town planning in America.

Between the 1860s and the 1890s, Methodists established over 150 new camp meeting communities. Part religious revival, part suburb, and part middle-class vacation resort, camp meeting communities were popular with religious vacationers and many soon transformed into thriving resort towns. Popularity drove town growth, but popularity also brought challenges. Decades before the professionalization of town planning in the United States, the boards of Methodist ministers and laity overseeing these communities had to cobble together strategies to address issues from managing lot sales to garbage collection, maintaining streets, policing, providing a water supply, and even dealing with sewage.

This presentation explores the ways such planning strategies shaped the landscape of camp meeting communities and how town planners today (including advocates of “new urbanism”) have turned to similar strategies to create more livable, sustainable, and walkable communities.

Dr. Samuel Avery-Quinn is a University College Senior Lecturer at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina where he studies landscape in American religious history. His recent book, Cities of Zion: The Holiness Movement and Camp Meeting Towns in America (Lexington Books, 2019) explores how late-19th-century Methodist efforts to create camp meeting resorts gave members of the Wesleyan Holiness movement spaces to develop and practice their theology in the decades before many holiness folks left the Methodist church for new holiness denominations. He is currently working on a book about the ”afterlife” of camp meeting communities, exploring what happened to camp meeting resorts in the Northeast in the 20th century.

You must register for the FREE presentation at Eventbrite. After registering, you will receive the Zoom Link for the program. We suggest logging into the program a few minutes early to allow for any technical difficulties.  Please share the registration link!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/methodist-camp-meeting-towns-and-lessons-for-sustaining-vibrant-communities-tickets-115098103526

Pathways of History Weekend

A Self-Guided Weekend Tour of Historic Places in Morris County
Saturday, September 21, 2019, 10–4pm
Sunday, September 22, 2019, 12–4pm

20 historic sites are all open for free admission. Spanning nearly 300 years of Morris County, the museum buildings are an eclectic representation of architectural periods and styles. Each site has its own unique and fascinating story.

You can start your “tour” at our Richardson History House, Mount Tabor’s Camp Meeting Cottage Museum, and pick up a map of this year’s participating sites. Located in Trinity Park of Mount Tabor, use 30 Simpson Avenue to find the parking area. Walk up the path next to the Post Office and follow the signs to the Richardson History House. Guided tours of the museum, a furnished camp meeting tent, and check out the 1885 Tabernacle which will be open for viewing. At 2pm and 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday join us for a guided walking tour of Trinity Park.

For tour maps and more information on each site, please visit: PathwaysofHistoryNJ.net