Morven, named after a mythical Gaelic kingdom, exemplifies the formal elegance aspired to by wealthy American colonials. It was build on a 150 acre tract of land by a rising young lawyer, Richard Stockton, sometime after 1758, and was occupied by British troops in 1776 while Stockton was imprisoned in New York for having signed the Declaration of Independence. On his release, Stockton returned to Morven and took up once again the fight for independence. General Washington and Count Rochambeau met at Morven to further their plans for the march on Yorktown in 1781. Morven was the site of a celebratory dinner hosted by the Continental Congress in honor of the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. It was home to New Jersey’s governors from 1945 to 1981. Thanks to a vast restoration effort, funded in part by the New Jersey Historic Trust, today’s visitors can view several rotating exhibits of fine, folk, and decorative arts.
