Skylands (estate)

Skylands is a 1,119 acres (4.5 km²) estate property located in Ringwood State Park in Ringwood, New Jersey, a borough in Passaic County in the state of New Jersey. The Skylands property consists of the historic Skylands Manor mansion, The Castle at Skylands Manor and the New Jersey Botanical Garden; the botanical garden is 96-acre (390,000 m2) and it is open to the public year-round. The Skylands property is within the Ramapo Mountains and it is maintained by the Skyland Association. The property is marketed with the garden as New Jersey State Botanical Garden at Skylands.

Skylands
Skylands manor
LocationRingwood State Park, Ringwood, New Jersey
Coordinates41°7′30″N 74°14′14″W
Area96 acres (39 ha)
Built1922
ArchitectJohn Russell Pope
Architectural styleTudor Revival
NRHP reference No.90001438[1]
NJRHP No.2405[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPSeptember 28, 1990
Designated NJRHPFebruary 28, 1990

The house and gardens, including formal gardens and specimen plantings, were built in the 1920s by Clarence MacKenzie Lewis, a New York City stockbroker and civil engineer. Lewis hired architect John Russell Pope to design the 44-room Tudor revival manor house. The manor is a reproduction English mansion featuring rectangular, bay and oriel windows. A nine-hole golf course once graced this property.

The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 28, 1990 for its significance in architecture and landscape architecture.[3]

Garden

In 1966 the entire estate was bought by the State of New Jersey to form a State Botanical Garden whose settings include a Lilac Garden, Magnolia Walk, the Wild Flower Garden, the Crab Apple Vista, an allée of 166 trees extending almost a half-mile, and the Perennial Garden. The entire section now comprises slightly over 4,000 acres (16 km²) of parkland.

The Winter Garden included New Jersey's largest Jeffery pine (Pinus jeffreyi). Its east side features a weeping beech beside a century-old upright beech, as well as a Japanese umbrella pine. Other interesting non-native trees include an Algerian fir (Abies numidica) and Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica).

  • The State Botanical Garden at Skylands
  • Fall view of the garden
  • An Outbuilding at Skylands Manor
  • Lake Sheperd leisure area
  • Eagle by Adolph Weinman from Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963), now at Skylands[4]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Passaic County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – Historic Preservation Office. June 24, 2019. p. 9.
  3. Kerzfeld, Norma K. "NRHP Nomination: Skylands / Skylands Botanical Garden". National Park Service. Accompanying 41 photos
  4. "Penn Station eagles come to roost in the Highlands". www.hiddennj.com. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
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