Home*Photos from 50th Aniversary CelebrationOur PurposeBecoming a MemberHistory of RalstonEarly IndustryRalston School HouseTour the General StoreRalston Area HomesMuseum CollectionMuseum StoreNewslettersEvents CalendarContact Us

willsfarmhouse.jpg

Wills Farm House c. 1724
In 1713, the West Jersey Proprietors granted their clerk, John Wills, 862 acres of land west of India Brook and north of the Raritan River.  With this grant, Wills became the first recorded landowner in the region.  Although he never lived on his land, his son, James built the area's first home here in 1724,  Over the years this home has had numerous additions and in the late 1950s was moved 1,800 feet back from Rt. 24 to its present location on Valley View Drive. At the turn of the last century, a lady spiritualist held seances in a small rear room.  Still later, when the property was known as Knox Farm, it operated as an American Legion convalescent home for World War 1 soldiers.       

16Roxiticus508cropped.JPG

Tenant House c. 1760
This house was built to house the workers at Samuel Ledell's mill.  It exhibits Georgian architecture of the late 18th and 19th centuries and retains most of its original doors and hardware.  This home also has a fieldstone foundation, original ceilings with hand-hewn beams, a first floor fireplace and two basement fireplaces.
 

eddellhouse.gif

Ledell House c. 1841
Was designed by local architect Aaron Hudson who also designed the Phoenix house in Mendham.  It was a wedding gift to Samuel Ledell and his bride from his father, Dr. John Wick Ledell, then owner of the former Ralston estate.  Architecturally, the house is styled after the French villas of the era with its eyebrow windows, square shape and shallow pyramidal roofs.  This house has a twin on New Street in Mendham Borough.  

clearmanorhouse.gif

Ralston Manor House c. 1780
Was purchased by John Ralston from his father-in-law John Logan in 1786.  This federal style house of post and beam construction has a gambrel roof, double end chimneys, ten foot ceilings and a ten foot wide center hallway.  The plaster molding in the front rooms is identical to that of the Ford Mansion in Morristown.  Of particular interest is the former slaves quarter in the attic.  They were partially dismantled in the 1940s and the wood was sold to the National Park Service for use in the reconstruction of the Wick house in Jockey Hollow.    
 

nesbitthome.JPG

Nesbitt House c. 1813 and enlarged c. 1850
The original part of the house is the small, wood frame, southern-facing farmhouse that became home to John Ralston's daughter Mary Ann and her husband Hugh Nesbitt.  This home was substantially enlarged in the mid-19th century with the addition of the Georgian center hall brick structure that is now the main part of the house.  Built in 1790, the stone barn behind the house is one of the few original barns left in the area.  

wysong.jpg

Home and houses of Mrs. C. C. Davis on the Ralston Curve.  Center building was the old blacksmith shop and site of the first church and burying grounds in Mendham Township.  Building to the far right is known as the Widow Ralston House.  Photo taken in 1906 by Malcolm Dunsmore. 




For more information about Ralston area buildings, please click the link below for the 2005 House Tour Brochure.

click here to download file