Verona/Montclair, NJ - this medieval castle-like mansion was the cozy home of industrialist…read moreFrederic Ellsworth Kip in the early 1900s, and, saved from the ignominious fate of being developed into a row of townhouses during the modern era, the estate is now part of the historic Essex County Park System and thankfully is being preserved as an eventual resource center for the arts & culture. Although the 11-acre grounds of Kip's Castle Park is open from dawn to dusk year-round, the house itself is normally closed to the public except for a brief few days around Christmas, when the home is decorated in vintage holiday splendor and the first floor is open to viewing. The home looks grand but is charmingly intimate inside. It doesn't take long to tour but makes for a lovely little visit if you happen to find yourself in the area over the holidays.

I absolutely love castles! First visit!…read more Kips Castle is a replica of a Medieval Castle! Located in Verona and Montclair New Jersey. The Castle was closed but you can explore the 11 acres of land on the ridge of First Mountain. You have beautiful views of the New York skyline. On our way out, saw the deers!!

On this first gorgeous Sunday in June, my partner and I took a ride approximately 32 miles west of…read moreNYC to the Vail Mansion, located in the heart of Morristown. Commissioned in 1917 by William Welles Bosworth to construct an Italian Renaissance Palazzo-style home and museum whose lawn turned into an outdoor art gallery at the 32nd Rose Squared Celebrate Morristown Art Show on South Street. The creative work of fine artists in a variety of media as well as fine crafters in glass, clay, clothing, leather, wood, jewelry, and photography was on full display.

It's definitely not for everyone. I will say the price is very affordable at $16, but it literally…read morejust includes a walk through tour. It would have been nice to have the option to sit in the garden, or even have some group photos taken somewhere other than the gift shop and parking lot. I think a few things could have been done to elevate the experience, for instance offering some refreshments or seating in the garden instead of waiting in the gift shop for enough people for the tour to start. If you're at all interested in this era it's worth trying for $16

I had the opportunity to visit the Liberty Hall Museum for a Yelp Elite Event…read more This place is so beautiful and is sort of hidden within the Kean University campus, not sure if that's intentional, but I love it. I was able to visit the mansion and was fascinated by the history behind it. As I enter one of the dinning room, I notice it was decorated for a young boy's birthday/Halloween party. Later on I found out from one of the tour guide that the little boy's birthday party was around Halloween in 1930. Haha! He's 86 years old and the decoration that was used in 1930 was the same decoration displayed today in that dinning room - please check my picture out. Now that's amazing! The rest of the mansion and museum is indeed historical and tells a special story. As I made my way into the British garden I was wowed. The garden is picture perfect and is well maintained. For those planning on having an outdoor and well reserved wedding, I'd recommend this place. For my fellow New Yorkers that don't drive. It's convenient to get to Liberty Hall Museum with the N113 bus from Port Authority! It's beautiful to visit during the fall!

A historic national landmark, right here in New Jersey…read more Beautiful grounds well kept and full of history. Easy day trip on the way to Morristown NJ or beyond. Ford Mansion is not open to inside tours, but the outdoor gardens are sprouting spring blossoms. Quick walk around the property on such a beautiful spring day.

We went here for a kid fall festival. Everything is spread…read moreout and if you use a stroller and elderly family members (which I have both) this is a bit of task on their uneven, rocky walking paths. No fault of theirs as it is a huge farm but just a note for people who would like to venture here. The area is otherwise beautiful. They have lots of farm animals to view and a blacksmith on site (maybe just for the festival) which was a disorganized mess but cool to see. They charged $8 to get in. Keep in mind there is a lot to do on the site, check out their website before going.

Great day for wine tasting!! This was easy to find and plenty of parking. They even allow you to…read morebring a cooler which served us perfectly. I was able to bring cheeses, olives, crackers, salami, pear jam, olive oil dip, crusty bread, hummus, roasted red peppers dip, and eggplant and artichoke dip. Also a birthday cake for my daughter. The lines weren't long since there were several wineries there. I don't remember the pouts being so small. It was literally just a swallow. You couldn't share it with another person. But it's all in good fun, meeting people and mingling while waiting. The live music was extraordinary, played most popular music. Plenty of portable potties. Several vendors with their amazing products. I would do it again,until next year!! I would do it again.

A local small vintage library for children and young adults. Police office and Fire Department…read morenearby make this cute location even safer. Parking lot behind the library with good numbers of spots for the small neighbors. I have been looking for library that accepts used books, and this one does. There are activities for kids and teens and adults, and learning programs for the community. I am looking forward to sign up their book club this Summer. If you are also looking for place to donate your precious books, and don't mind to drive to Northern Jersey, this cute library is a great place. The staffs are very friendly, and helpful, to help you enrich their treasure chest!

Working remote, last minute or emergency business meeting, random need to get online... come to…read moreWharton public library!!! Starbucks may have amazing coffee, but you can't really work there comfortably if you have a call or just need to focus... so grab your drink and head over to the library you won't be disappointed!! This was a wonderful and well needed discovery. I was hustling back from the Newark Airport but couldn't get to my lodging back in time for a 10am scheduled call and just popping into Starbucks was just not feasible to have this call. So, I figured hit a library! Ugh, the challenge was on! I tried to pop into Denville library but of course there was yard work going on and they don't have any private study space and you can't be on a call/talking... and to add to my challenges... was down to 7% battery life on my computer for a 90 minute call... (Murphy's law has nothing on me) but thanks to an amazing Denville librarian workers mentioned Wharton offers this awesome setup so I had to check it out and could not be more surprised and appreciative for this life saving setup! Shout out to Denville for knowing about this and HUGE PROPS to Wharton municipality to putting this setup together! More municipalities need to consider this and follow Wharton's initiative! This is great even with this "Living with Covid and the new normal" it offers people to socially distance, be outside, be productive (by getting online) and also some quiet space, all the while not disrupting or adding more pressure to structural constricts of nothing having more space within the library building. Hats off to whoever thought of this solution! You rock!!! Also the library has ample parking and is a quick walk to other businesses on Main Street... so bring on the walk traffic... lots of close by eateries and shops! Wharton, NJ has top billing in my humble opinion!

I will say I didn't come for the general intent of book borrowing, but I did come from the art and…read morearchitecture, so I had a good time. The building, described as a "collegiate Gothic style" makes the library feel significant. The librarian gave us a brochure with the notable works through the museum, which was handy. We came for the Thomas Nast painting, but we wanted around to the giant eagle sculpture from a WWI armory and the stained glass with initials from famous authors. It was like a scavenger hunt. The space is nice if one needs to get out the house to read or use a computer, and obviously they have the standard books, CDs, and DVDs. But as a space, it's very nice.

This library offers broad fiction and nonfiction collections, a huge sunlit children's section,…read moremovies on DVD, music on CD and a big reference room. It's housed in a gorgeous old stone building with a large, bright new addition. I strongly prefer a book with real paper pages over a device. My bookshelves were full years ago so I finally decided to borrow and return instead of stuffing my place further. This means I'm in the Morristown library almost every week, usually for books but occasionally for movies and music. This library's a member of the Morris County library network so it's easy to borrow from any library's holdings, which means you can get quite a lot. Not everything under the sun, but a large variety for sure. Yes there's free wi-fi and free power. If you don't have a laptop, they also have networked computers which are also free. You must have a library card to use the computers, which you can get at no cost by showing ID that proves you are a local resident. The library offers meeting rooms for community organizations, not sure of the cost. Homeless people definitely can be seen here. They've never bothered me, for what that's worth. I wonder if modern library school teaches how to handle this challenge, it must be difficult. @Benjamin M - the library reopened early 2012 after repairs from the 2010 explosion were finally complete, and the scaffolding that's up in Jan 2013 is for new stone rehab work. Yelps page needs to mention that Summer hours are abbreviated - short hours on Saturday and closed on Sundays.

This is a wonderful library to have in town. Sure it's small, but Morris Plains is also small…read more There are other large libraries nearby such as the Morris County Library and Morristown Library. For a local town library this checks off all of the boxes. Staff is friendly and helpful. There is a large children's section and everything is well-organized and clean. In addition to books there are some other things to occupy the kids like a dollhouse and a train. They also have events for kids like story time (outdoors in the summer) and crafts. In the winter there is a great hill to go sledding. Happy to have this library nearby and I'm sure we'll be in often, especially now that my 3.5 year old is a proud library card holder.

Very friendly and helpful staff. Been going here for 15 years with children I nanny. Have nice…read morelittle coloring station. Convenient parking.