Rockaway – Historic Structures and Local Remembrance

Rockaway brings together a range of historical themes: remembrance of the borough’s residents, a three-arch stone bridge, the history of the Morris Canal, and a residential building now used as a library. If you would like to add local history to your stay, you can consider these themes according to their respective focus. The sites represent remembrance, architectural form, canal history, and present-day use.

Remembrance and Structures

The Veterans Memorial honors people who lived in the Borough of Rockaway and served in the armed forces. The memorial’s tower lists the names of well-known people from the borough who served in wartime, from the Spanish-American War of 1898 and 1899 through deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. This connects a local dedication with a broad span of time. The dedication honors people from the borough; the wars named add different historical eras to this local connection.

The East Main Street over Rockaway River bridge is located at the end of Main Street in Rockaway. It dates to around 1840 and is a three-arch stone bridge. Its three arches are a distinctive feature of its design; the approximate date places its construction in time. Unlike the memorial, the focus here is on the form of a structure. If you are interested in historic building methods, the stone-arch construction and its three arches offer a concrete point of reference.

Morris Canal and Historic Buildings

Historic routes and sites of the Morris Canal in the Borough of Rockaway are marked by signs and information boards. These markers relate to routes and sites in the borough and give the canal’s history a specific local connection. The condition of the signage is also relevant when planning a visit; check it before your trip using local information.

The Fox's Brook Culvert illustrates a former function of the Morris Canal system through a specific structure: built around 1826 as a stone-arch structure, it carried canal boats over Fox's Brook. The arch is part of a public park. Its construction, approximate date, and function provide three points of reference for understanding the culvert. While signs and information boards mark historic routes and sites, the culvert illustrates a specific role within the canal system.

The Joseph Jackson House connects architectural history with present-day use. Built between 1800 and 1829 as a Dutch Colonial-style residence, it is now the Rockaway Borough Free Public Library. This brings a historic residential function and present-day library use together in the same building. The Dutch Colonial style provides a different architectural reference from the bridge’s stone-arch form: one is a former residence, while the other is a three-arch bridge.

The construction dates can also be compared: the Joseph Jackson House was built between 1800 and 1829, the Fox's Brook Culvert around 1826, and the bridge around 1840. The house and culvert thus point to the first decades of the 19th century; the bridge dates to approximately later. If you are interested in the chronological development of the structures, these dates provide a general guide without assigning all three a single construction year.

Discover more destinations: White Meadow Lake, Morristown, Florham Park, Pequannock, Whippany, Denville, Montville, Parsippany-Troy Hills

For the main travel overview: Morris.