… Is this really New Jersey’s oldest general store? Let’s find out…
Thanks, Mark De Mos, for the artwork.
Who the Heck Was Schooley, and How Did He Get a Mountain?
First things first. Schooley’s Mountain wasn’t named after a school, a schoolteacher, or someone particularly good at geography. The Schooley family named it after themselves, arriving in the area in the early 1700s. Thomas Schooley reportedly purchased some 350 acres in 1714, and his son Samuel later owned the property. Somewhere along the way, the family name stuck to the mountain. Not a bad deal, considering most of us are lucky to get a street named after us! By the 1800s, the mountain had become a fashionable resort destination, famous for its mineral springs, fancy hotels, and visitors willing to travel miles to drink water that tasted suspiciously like rusty nails. Apparently, that was considered a luxury vacation back then.
Beginnings
We get to go way back to the beginning of this story. Back in 1810, Schooley’s Mountain in Morris County, New Jersey, earned a reputation as one of the region’s most fashionable summer retreats, drawing wealthy families and prominent visitors from New York City, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and the southern states. The attraction was an iron-rich mineral spring whose waters were believed to possess remarkable healing properties. Combined with the mountain’s cool summer breezes, scenic views, and peaceful surroundings, the spring helped transform this rural mountaintop into a thriving resort destination. Grand hotels, boardinghouses, churches, schools, and businesses soon emerged to accommodate the growing crowds.
Over time, Schooley’s Mountain became as famous for its elegant social gatherings, entertainment, and summer vacations as for its medicinal waters. Although the grand hotels eventually disappeared, one remarkable landmark survived: the Schooley’s Mountain General Store, a reminder of the mountain’s once-glorious resort era.
Grand hotels, boardinghouses, and businesses soon followed, transforming the rural mountaintop into a thriving vacation community. This tradition of attracting well-to-do visitors to the countryside later echoed in the Somerset Hills, where the Childs family envisioned an elegant spring-related hotel destination in Bernardsville, and Pluckemin developed its own spring-related tradition of hospitality.
Unlike Schooley’s Mountain, however, those later hotel ventures were not founded on the appeal of medicinal springs. Today, the Schooley’s Mountain General Store remains a tangible reminder of an era when the promise of good health, fresh air, and fashionable surroundings helped shape New Jersey’s early resort industry.
A General Store Born in the Age of Mineral Springs
By 1810, Schooley’s Mountain in Morris County, New Jersey, was emerging as one of the region’s fashionable summer destinations, attracting wealthy families and vacationers from New York, Philadelphia, and beyond. Much like Saratoga Springs, New York, visitors traveled to the mountain to “take the waters,” believing its iron-rich mineral springs offered medicinal benefits. Refreshing mountain air, scenic countryside, and a growing reputation for hospitality soon transformed this rural community into a thriving resort destination. Grand hotels, boardinghouses, and small businesses developed to accommodate the steady flow of summer visitors.
One surviving reminder of this remarkable era is Schooley’s Mountain General Store at 250 Schooley’s Mountain Road. Although local tradition traces the store’s beginnings to 1803, the historical record tells a more complicated and fascinating story.
1800s
As the 19th century progressed, Schooley’s Mountain gradually evolved from a destination celebrated primarily for its medicinal waters into a fashionable summer resort known for recreation, entertainment, and social gatherings. Although the mountain’s great hotels would eventually disappear, the circa-1840 general store building endured, preserving a tangible reminder of a time when Schooley’s Mountain was among New Jersey’s most celebrated vacation destinations.
Welsh and Dellicker
On January 20, 1812, William Dellicker served as postmaster when the Schooley’s Mountain Post Office was established. Dellicker also operated a general store in the nearby settlement of Springtown, where merchants supplied residents and visitors to the growing resort community. An 1882 history of Morris County identifies an early Springtown store operated by Welsh and Dellicker, and later by Neighbor and Dellicker. While this establishes an early tradition of general-store commerce on the mountain, no documentary evidence has yet connected that business directly to the present-day store.
Daniel Wagner
The National Register of Historic Places documentation dates the surviving general store building to approximately 1840. An 1838 property deed identifies Daniel Wagner in connection with the site, while the adjacent building at 252 Schooley’s Mountain Road, historically associated with the storekeeper, also dates to approximately 1840.
Robert Hockinbery
Another intriguing connection appears in the early 1850s. Postal records identify Robert H. Hockinbery, who was appointed Schooley’s Mountain postmaster on April 12, 1852. Just one year later, an 1853 historic map associates the general store property with R, Hockenberry. Although the spelling varies, the similar names and dates suggest a possible connection between the store and the community’s postal operations. Whether these references identify the same individual, and whether he owned or operated the store, remains to be confirmed.
It’s not the same as German Valley, which was renamed Long Valley. “Springtown likely took its name from the natural springs that helped make the mountain one of New Jersey’s celebrated 19th-century health resort destinations.”
By the mid-1800s, Schooley’s Mountain had become a celebrated summer retreat. Grand establishments such as Heath House and Belmont Hall welcomed hundreds of guests, while boardinghouses, churches, schools, and businesses served the surrounding community. The general store was part of this developing commercial landscape, providing a lasting connection between the resort economy and the everyday lives of mountain residents.
1900–1980: From Resort Community to Neighborhood Landmark
As the 20th century began, Schooley’s Mountain was undergoing a dramatic transformation. The grand hotels and mineral springs that once attracted fashionable vacationers from across the eastern United States lost their appeal. Improved transportation opened new vacation destinations, while changing medical practices diminished the popularity of mineral-water cures. Belmont Hall, later known as Dorincourt, closed around 1911 and was demolished in 1938. Heath House had disappeared decades earlier.
Schooley’s Mountain’s fashionable resort era attracted prominent visitors, including several individuals who later served as U.S. presidents. Local historical accounts associate Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, and Theodore Roosevelt with the mountain’s celebrated hotels and mineral springs. Although more recent articles claim that Ulysses S. Grant, William Henry Harrison, and Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Schooley’s Mountain General Store itself, we have not located contemporary newspaper accounts, guest registers, photographs, or other primary records confirming those specific visits.
The General Store
While the mountain’s great resort era faded into history, the Schooley’s Mountain General Store remained part of the community’s everyday life. Located along Schooley’s Mountain Road, the old wooden building continued to represent the kind of rural commercial establishment that had served generations of residents. Its longstanding association with the local post office gave the property a particularly important role in the village.
Constructed around 1840, the Schooley’s Mountain General Store and Post Office is a historic, one-and-a-half-story, wood-frame commercial building with a three-bay façade and gabled roof. Its clapboard-covered front features a central entrance flanked by storefront windows, decorative cornerboard pilasters, and an Italianate-style porch supported by posts. The building’s side walls are finished with shiplap siding.
The interior of the historic Schooley’s Mountain General Store retains the character of a traditional nineteenth-century country store. The 1990 National Register nomination specifically documents a post office service window and a pot-bellied stove, two features that recall the building’s role as a gathering place for local residents and visitors.
The adjoining storekeeper’s residence at 252 Schooley’s Mountain Road was historically connected to the business and features wide wooden plank floors and a narrow staircase. Interestingly, an 1858 newspaper advertisement described an “Ice Cream and Confectionary Saloon” operating in the adjoining residence, supported by an ice house capable of storing 100 tons of ice. Together, the store and residence formed an important commercial and social center of the Schooley’s Mountain resort community.
Throughout the early and mid-1900s, Schooley’s Mountain gradually shifted from a celebrated summer resort to a quieter residential and rural community. The general store building survived this transition, retaining architectural features tied to its 19th-century origins, including a traditional clapboard exterior, gabled roof, storefront windows, and covered front porch.
According to the New Jersey Postal History Society, Corcoran was appointed postmaster of Schooley’s Mountain on November 17, 1913, serving until October 15, 1918. We guess he owned the store as well.
Fast Forward to the 1970s
By the 1970s, much of the mountain’s former resort landscape had disappeared, but interest in preserving the area’s natural beauty and historic character was growing. Morris County opened Schooley’s Mountain County Park to the public in 1974, giving residents and visitors a new recreational destination.
By 1980, the general store building stood as one of the community’s surviving links to its 19th-century commercial past. While further research is needed to identify its 20th-century storekeepers and the details of its changing operations, the building’s continued presence offered a tangible connection to the era when Schooley’s Mountain was among New Jersey’s best-known summer destinations.
2019 – Historic General Store Offered for Sale
Years before Schooley’s Mountain General Store closed its doors, its future was already uncertain. In 2019, longtime operator Peter Andrich reportedly placed the historic property on the market for $850,000 as he considered retirement. Despite the proposed sale, the business continued serving the community. The COVID-19 pandemic later created additional financial challenges, prompting a $15,000 Morris County recovery grant in 2022.
2022 – Pandemic and a Financial Lifeline
In June 2022, Schooley’s Mountain General Store received a much-needed financial lifeline when Morris County awarded owner Peter Aldrich a $15,000 small-business recovery grant. Aldrich, who has operated the historic store since 2006, explained that the COVID-19 pandemic devastated business, especially the morning breakfast and evening crowds. The store had temporarily closed and struggled to recover. Morris County Commissioner John Krickus and Washington Township Mayor Matt Murello personally visited the landmark to present the grant. During their visit, Aldrich shared stories about the store’s long history and pointed out historic photographs displayed inside the building. The county celebrated the business as New Jersey’s oldest continuously operating country market, with roots traditionally traced to approximately 1803.
By April 2025, Andrich had decided to retire, and the general store closed. The adjoining post office, however, remained open, preserving an important connection between the historic building and the surrounding community.
2026 – A Historic General Store Begins a New Chapter
On October 17, 2026, Schooley’s Mountain General Store reopened after an 18-month closure, marking another milestone in the history of one of Morris County’s oldest commercial landmarks. Local residents Mark and Maria Broadhurst took over the store and undertook renovations while preserving the character of the circa-1840 building. The reopening restored a longstanding community gathering place that had served generations of residents and visitors since the mountain’s celebrated 19th-century resort era.
With renewed offerings of food, beverages, groceries, and locally produced goods, the Broadhursts hope to establish a sustainable future for the business while honoring its historical significance. Although the grand hotels and mineral-spring resorts that once made Schooley’s Mountain famous have long since disappeared, the general store continues to connect the community with that remarkable past. Its reopening represents an important chapter in the ongoing preservation of the Schooley’s Mountain Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Schooley Mountain General Store is located at 250 Schooley’s Mountain Rd in Washington Township (Morris County) and is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Makes You Go… Hmmmmmmmmmm
Five of New Jersey’s Oldest General Stores
Ranked by their reported founding dates, oldest first. Debate amongst yourselves:
- Oldwick General Store – 1760 – Oldwick, Hunterdon County
- Schooley’s Mountain General Store – 1803 (claimed) – Long Valley, Morris County
- Garris General Store – 1876 – Stillwater, Sussex County
- Hainesville General Store – 1883 – Sandyston, Sussex County
- Rambo’s Country Store – 1888 – Califon, Hunterdon County
Sources for reported founding dates include WorldAtlas (Oldwick, 1760), Morris County Government (Schooley’s Mountain, circa 1803), Historical Society of Stillwater Township (Garris, 1876), Jersey Digs (Hainesville, 1883), and NewJerseyology (Rambo’s, 1888).
SIDEBAR:
Schooley’s Mountain: A National Register Historic District
Schooley’s Mountain in Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey, was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 14, 1991. The approximately 240-acre district was recognized for its statewide significance as one of New Jersey’s earliest and most successful mineral-springs resort communities. Beginning in the early 1800s, visitors traveled to the mountain seeking the supposed healing properties of its mineral waters, refreshing mountain air, and fashionable summer accommodations.
The district’s historic significance spans 1810–1929 and includes grand resort hotels, boardinghouses, a medical water-cure institute, schools, churches, and Schooley’s Mountain General Store. The original nomination documented 71 contributing buildings and five archaeological sites.
Today, the historic district preserves the remnants of a once-celebrated resort destination that attracted visitors from New York, Philadelphia, and beyond.
