353 East Hanover Avenue, Morris Township, NJ 07960

(For driving / GPS address)

Want to learn about the Frelinghuysen Arboretum Meadow Restoration Project..... just click here!

Hours of Operation / Spring & Summer Activities/ History / Cell Phone Tour / No Smoking Policy

An arboretum is a facility dedicated to the cultivation of woody plants for public display and both scientific and educational purposes, because the Frelinghuysen Arboretum is a place of learning, each garden teaches a lesson.

An arboretum is also a museum with a living collection. The following describes some of the lessons and collection components. For additional details, please refer to interpretive signage located throughout the gardens.

The majestic 124 acres of The Frelinghuysen Arboretum offer a serene place to relax, as well as to learn, explore, and celebrate. Surrounding a magnificent Colonial Revival mansion, the woodlands, meadows, gardens, and distinctive collections of trees and shrubs provide an ideal setting for leisurely enjoyment, as well as provide educational and scientific exploration. Digital maps of The Frelinghuysen Arboretum are available online.

Enjoy a picnic on the Great Lawn, take memorable family photographs under the Rose Garden Arbor, celebrate a wedding under a reservable tent, read a book next to a water feature, tour the Carriage House, and be amazed at the historic horse-drawn carriages. View the home demonstration gardens and create a vision of your own dream garden. Register for one or more of the many gardening programs, lectures, special events, camps, and more. Themed cell phone tours are offered seasonally.

The Frelinghuysen Arboretum, a regional center for horticultural activities, offers a myriad of educational programs, special tours and events, and a comprehensive collection of botanical literature. For a complete list of gardens and their descriptions, as well as a facility map, please click here.

Photography

The Frelinghuysen Arboretum is a popular location to take wedding/prom/family photographs. We understand this is an important time and want your experience to be most enjoyable. Therefore, MCPC requires you and all professional photographers to obtain a photography permit and pay a fee. You will have exclusive use of a location at a specific time to photograph your memories. To schedule your photography session in any of the reservable locations, please CLICK HERE to fill out the reservation request form.

Weddings and Special Occasions

This breathtaking site offers a magnificent setting with a multitude of options to customize your wedding day or special event. With spectacular garden settings, meticulously manicured lawns, and indoor/outdoor reception options…no site could be more romantic and unique! For more information or to reserve a date, please CLICK HERE to fill out the Event Request Form.

Spring and Summer Activities:

Even before the daffodils and tulips explode, the earliest spring-blooming trees and shrubs, announce the end of winter. A cavalcade of color follows with greens of every shade and pastels to gently wrest your senses from winter’s grip. Migrating birds return to make their summer homes in the trees and the smell of earth and grass is everywhere. Indoors at the Haggerty Education Center, free plant shows offer plant discoveries as well. The Hosta Society, African Violet Club, and Great Swamp Bonsai Society are among these.

Monthly art exhibits provide interest when you need a respite from spring rains. The first weekend in May, The Friends of the Frelinghuysen Arboretum’s Annual Plant Sale fills the big tent with carefully selected, well-bred plants.

Check out a wide range of programs and special events for gardeners of every age and interest on our calendar. Favorites include: Fairy Day, Expressions of Nature, Make and Take Workshops, and "Branching Out!"

The Special Events page highlights programs and activities, offering unique and fun opportunities for visitors of all ages.

History:

The Frelinghuysen Arboretum was once the country home of George Griswold Frelinghuysen and his wife, Sara Ballantine Frelinghuysen, and was called Whippany Farm. The Frelinghuysens commissioned the Boston architectural firm of Rotch & Tilden to construct a summer home and carriage house on the property. The mansion, a fine example of Colonial Revival architecture, was built in 1891 and the property was designed in the style of an English country estate. The mansion features Federal urns, swages, and Ionic columns. A Palladian window overlooks the Rose Garden. The estate was planted with trees and shrubs considered essential to an English-style landscape. The home, large trees, and Great Lawn evoke the feeling of the Country Place era.

The Frelinghuysens spent 40 summers at Whippany Farm in fashionable Morristown. Their daughter, Matilda E. Frelinghuysen, inherited the 127-acre property from her parents and participated in plans to convert it into a public arboretum in memory of her parents. Whippany Farm was bequeathed to Morris County in 1969 and was entered on the State and National Register of Historic Places on September 22, 1977. The Frelinghuysen Arboretum was dedicated in 1971.

Hours of Operation:

The Frelinghuysen Arboretum grounds are open daily, 8 a.m. until Sunset throughout the year.

The Joseph F. Haggerty Education Center is open daily 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Haggerty Education Center is closed on all Park Commission holidays.

No Smoking Policy

The Morris County Park Commission has recently announced a No Smoking Policy banning all smoking including burning of, inhaling from, exhaling the smoke from or the possession of a lighted cigar, cigarette, pipe or any other matter of substance which contains tobacco or any other matter that can be smoked, or the inhaling or exhaling of smoke or vapor from an electronic smoking device. CLICK HERE for more details. Thank you for your continued support!

For more information, 973.326.7601.