by Patricia Florio Colrick (Author)
The Morris County community of Montville covers a nine-milelong area bounded by the Rockaway River to the west and the Passaic River to the east. Montville Township was formed in 1867 from land set off from Pequannock Township, and incorporates the hamlets of Pine Book and Towaco (formerly known as White Hall). Set within the foothills of the Hook Mountains, the area has always been known for its plentiful, clear springs, deposits of limestone and iron ore, and fertile soil. Long traversed by the Lenni Lenape people, it drew Dutch patentees to hide-trapping, tanning, and eventually farming. During the Revolutionary War, General Washington frequented the Doremus House in the northwestern part of Montville. The Morris Canal, built between 1824 and
1831, provided an inland waterway to transport coal west from Pennsylvania across New Jersey to the Hudson River. Montville celebrates this community's long and multifaceted history.