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About
Denville, NJ
Native Lenape Native Americans were known to travel
the Minisink Trail for centuries before Europeans
arrived in New Jersey. Part of that trail cut
across what is now southern Denville, roughly
following the course of Route 10 and Mount Pleasant
Turnpike. Some research has indicated that there
was a Lenape campsite along the trail in Denville,
on or near the Ayers / Knuth Farm Historic Site
along Route 10.
When Dutch and English settlers began to arrive
in the new world in the early 17th century, the
Minisink Trail was the likely route they traveled
to explore the interior. Daniel Denton, one of
the purchasers of what is known as the Elizabethtown
Tract in 1664, led an expedition into the interior
of northern New Jersey. In 1670 he wrote the first
English language description of the area. Some
researchers would later conclude that it was Denton
who lent his name to the naming of Denville.
Some researchers have suggested that European
settlers began to come to the Denville area as
early as 1690. These early settlers were primarily
Dutch and English from Long Island, Quakers from
Philadelphia, and Germans. William Penn and several
other proprietors began to survey and stake out
lands in the Denville area around 1715. These
surveys are the first documentation of Denville.
Between 1730 and 1760, several forges and mills
were erected in Denville along the Rockaway River
and the Denbrook. A number of communities associated
with the forges and mills began to emerge. Ninkey
and Franklin in southern Denville developed around
the forges there of the same names. Denville village
developed around the Job Allen Iron Works.
A letter from early Denville settler John Hinchman
in the year 1800, recounts some of the oral history
of Denville from 50 years earlier, as stated to
him by some of the elders of the time. Hinchman
explains in his letter that the naming of Denville
can be traced to a "den" of wild animals
located in the swampy regions along the Denbrook
and Rockaway River. The animals would bask on
a knoll that juts out into the meadows where they
were hunted by the native Lenapes. This "den",
Hinchman states, was the basis for the name of
Denville and the Denbrook.
Real Estate Brokers s in Denville, NJ