Mt. Olive's Historical Sites
Drakestown Marker
Click on picture to enlarge
On August 17, 2004 this Morris County Heritage
Commission marker placed at the Drakestown Church, Church Road,
Long Valley was dedicated. This is the first time that two
historical societies (Mt. Olive and Washington Township) worked
together to place one marker. The historical area known as
Drakestown spans both townships.
Thea Dunkle of the Mt. Olive Township Historical Society gave a historical briefing on the area and
Dr. Ruth Hennessey offered a prayer of
thanksgiving and an original hymn to remember those who formed
the community and the church. A reception followed in the
church hall.
Drakestown formed sometime after Ebenezer Drake
brought 200 acres in what was then Roxbury Township in 1759. If
the hamlet was name after him(there were other Drakes) it was
not because he was a model citizen. Court record in the Morris
County Archives reveal that an Ebenezer Drake of Roxbury was
convicted of assault and battery in 1762. Drake was also tried
several time for failing to pay debts.
A tavern was kept on Drakestown Road for several
decades beginning in the late eighteenth century, but he
formation of a Methodist congregation in 1811 and the founding
of a village school suggest that Drakestown was a good community
for families. Daily needs could be met at the Sharp family
store built circa 1822, where a post office opened in 1837. The
church was built in 1855 at the cost of $1,445 on a parcel of
land sold to the trustees by Esther Lawrence. Within a few years
a shoe shop, blacksmith, and carriage shop completed the rural
village.
Everything changed in the the twentieth century,
when the automobile reduced the need for local services.
Drakestown post office closed in 1911, followed by the little
school house in 1925when children were buses to Flanders and
Budd Lake. The village is now entirely residential except for
the church and its tranquil cemetery.