Knox Hill - Morris Township

This 1999 Mansion in May takes its name from Morristown’s Revolutionary War history.  Revolutionary War troops, commanded by General Henry Knox, were camped in the park of the Artillery, now the Burnham Park area of Morristown. General Knox was housed on the hilly property of Fosterfields, adjacent to the mansion property – thus, Knox Hill. The area was rural farmlands owned by Frederick Betts, a leather manufacturer in Newark, who built a summer home for his family but maintained it as a working farm. In 1887, he sold 70 acres to three executives from the New York and New Jersey Telephone Company who intended to build summer homes for their families within easy distance of New York City. They renamed this acreage “Telephone Hill.” In 1932, Frank H.  Spencer built a new home on part of this property, featuring large bedrooms with private baths (an innovation for the time), mahogany entry hall and staircase with  intricately-carved spindles, leaded glass windows and unique hand-molded plaster  work on the living room ceiling.