Ringwood Manor
National Historic Landmark · Ringwood, New Jersey
A rambling fifty-one-room house in the Ramapo Mountains that grew by accretion over a century and a half around the iron industry that made it. RINGWOOD IRON WENT INTO THE GREAT HUDSON RIVER CHAIN, the barrier strung across the river at West Point in 1778 to stop the Royal Navy sailing up it — and Washington stayed in the house on the property more than once. Later it belonged to ABRAM HEWITT, the ironmaster who became the reform mayor of New York, and to the Cooper and Hewitt families whose collection is still in the rooms. It is a National Historic Landmark and it is cheap.
1304 Sloatsburg Road, Ringwood, New Jersey, 07456, United States
THE GROUNDS ARE FREE — gardens, lake, ironworks remains, family cemetery and the Hudson River Chain links — with a seasonal parking fee on summer weekends and holidays and free parking otherwise, open dawn to dusk. THE HOUSE IS SHOWN ON GUIDED TOURS ONLY for a small charge, ON A LIMITED SCHEDULE AND NOT EVERY DAY, historically Wednesday to Sunday in season with reduced or no house tours in winter — and the days have varied, so check before travelling if the house is the point. Interior photography is restricted. December holiday tours are the busiest of the year and should be booked. The New Jersey Botanical Garden at Skylands is a separate operation elsewhere in the same state park.