Business View Civil and Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 6

87 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 6 MORR I S TOWNSHI P , NEW JERSEY Morris Township’s many parks offer playgrounds, sports fields, ice rinks, and trails for walking, hiking, and biking. “One aspect that drew me to our town is the parks; the accessibility from where I live to the county park and being able to use that for running and biking,” says Grayzel. Located an hour’s drive or train ride from New York City, Morris Township is home to a population of around 23,000 people. The area is highly accessible, located right off Route 287 and just five miles south of Route 80. Grayzel reports, “We are almost at the crossroads of two major highways in the state of New Jersey. Route 24 also starts in our town and runs southeast toward Route 78. So our accessibility is very good.” The township takes up 16 square miles surrounding the encapsulated Morristown. Morris Township is one of 12 “doughnut towns” located in New Jersey, where one town is surrounded by another town. Grayzel explains, “That has a lot of historic significance because the town center developed and they didn’t want to extend services such as sewers and water to the farmland that surrounded the town center, so they broke off and Morristown became its own town.” The two towns share some services, such as their school system and a post office, but they operate completely separately as two distinct municipalities. They also share a rich history dating as far back as the 18th century. George Washington’s troops were once stationed in Morristown and Morris Township. In fact, Washington’s headquarters at the time were in Morristown, at what was then Jacob Arnold’s tavern. There are still existing troop barracks in the national historic park and the communities boast a choice collection of beautiful historic