Town · Chester Borough, Morris County
Chester
A Morris County crossroads town with a long Main Street of shops and cafes in old houses, surrounded by farms, gardens and hiking.
Chester grew up as a crossroads and boomed briefly with iron mining in the late 1800s; today its Main Street is a long, pleasant run of old houses turned into shops, cafes and galleries, in the middle of some of the prettiest farm country in Morris County. In late summer and fall the farms around town are busy with pick-your-own fruit and pumpkins.
Just outside town, the Cooper Gristmill, a water-powered mill from 1826 run by the Morris County Park Commission, still turns its millstones for visitors in season, and the boulder-strewn gorge of Hacklebarney State Park is a few minutes away.
Make a day of it
In and around Chester
State Park · Washington Township, Morris County
Hacklebarney State Park
A small, rocky park where the Black River tumbles through a hemlock-shaded gorge, with easy riverside trails and picnic spots.
Photo: Zeete, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Public Garden · Chester Township, Morris County
Willowwood Arboretum
A peaceful arboretum in the Chester hills, with old trees, a farmhouse garden and meadows, run by the Morris County Park Commission.
Public Garden · Far Hills Borough, Somerset County
Leonard J. Buck Garden
A rock garden set into a wooded glacial valley, where ferns, wildflowers and alpine plants grow among natural rock outcrops. Spring is the peak.
Also nearby
Nearby
-
Hacklebarney State Park
A small, rocky park where the Black River tumbles through a hemlock-shaded gorge, with easy riverside trails and picnic spots.
-
Willowwood Arboretum
A peaceful arboretum in the Chester hills, with old trees, a farmhouse garden and meadows, run by the Morris County Park Commission.