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Community Corner

New Historic Marker to be Dedicated

The Rockaway Valley Railroad is commemorated with a panel

Residents of the Washington Valley Historic District as well as the rest of Morris Township might want to take a break from their holiday routine to check out the dedication of a new interpretive panel in the series developed by the Washington Valley Community Association.

This second panel is about the Rockaway Valley Railroad, located at the Whippany River entrance to Patriots’ Path on Washington Valley Road. The dedication will be on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. at the Whippany River entrance to Patriots’ Path on Washington Valley Road

The railroad was a project of railroad promoter John Melick and a group of Somerset County farmers and businessmen in 1888. The built the Rockaway Valley Railroad. to capitalize on a new potentially profitable crop just being introduced into Somerset County: peaches.

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The fruit was too delicate to be transported over bumpy county roads, so the consortium believe a railroad was needed.

Although it was initially proposed as a 25-mile-long railroad reaching to Morristown and beyond, the railroad had to be built in pieces due to lack of financing. Started at White House Station on the Central Railroad of New Jersey’s main line, it was built first to German Valley, then to Pottersville, and in 1895 the railroad reached Watnong Station just outside of Morristown. Poor engineering meant that the route was badly designed and the roadbed poorly constructed. Even at low speeds, cars often lurched from side to side. Riders often called the railroad the Rock-a-bye Baby.

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 Even though the railroad was a financial disaster, it so endeared itself to the people that it served, that it continued long after it should have been shut down. Today, it continues as the route of the Patriots Path recreation trail used by thousands of people every year.

 There will be three more panels located throughout the Valley - all will be located at Patriots’ Path entrances for convenience. “We wanted to bring the history of this wonderful Valley off the library shelves and into the Valley for people to see.”  Said Sue Young, President of the WVCA.

The Washington Valley Community Association continues its interpretive panel series about Historic Washington Valley located in western Morris Township.  This Valley is “the single substantial remnant of the agricultural landscape which reflected the course of Morris Township history for nearly 200 years,” according to the Morris Township Master Plan of 1994.  The WVCA is responsible for preserving and maintaining the historic district and the historic Washington Valley Little Red School House.  The first panel, located at the School House on Washington Valley Road and School House Lane depicts life at a rural one-room school house. 

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