| Calendar | Community Events |
|---|---|
| Location | Louise King House |
| Address | 209 Main Street, Ledgewood, NJ 07852 |
| Google Map | |
| http://www.roxburynewjersey.com/trust.htm | |
| Date | Sunday, December 7, 2025 at 1:00pm - 4:00pm |
| Duration | 3 hours |
The Christmas Season at the Museums at Drakesville opens on Friday, Dec. 5, from 6 to 9 p.m.
This special Friday opening gives visitors an extra chance to tour the Victorian style King Homestead and the adjacent King Store, museums operated by the Roxbury Historic Trust and also the Silas Riggs Saltbox House, operated by the Roxbury Historical Society. Visitors are invited to take holiday photos in the King house decorated for the Victorian holidays. Mrs. Santa Claus will also be available for photos and carolers will entertain visitors.
The King Store is one of the most intact of the general stores that served Morris Canal boat crews and their families. In operation for the life of the canal, the store features period merchandise on the shelves, a built-in icebox to preserve perishables and a rope-operated wooden hoisting wheel to move merchandise. Theodore King operated the store on Main Street for many decades, much of that time serving as the local Postmaster. The post office has been replicated in the front of the store. After living in an apartment over the store, King’s fortunes grew and sometimre around 1880 he built the Victorian/Queen Anne House next door for his wife and daughter. Louise King lived in the house her father built until her death in 1975. Together the buildings tell the story of the King Family and people who lived and worked on the canal.
Open the first Sunday of each month except for January through March, the docents educate visitors on the marketplace of the 1800s.
The house tells the story of a little girl living in the Victorian era and has a schoolroom in the former front parlor where visitors can learn about the days before Roxbury Township consolidated its many one-room schoolhouses. Also on Main Street is the Silas Riggs Saltbox House, an example of the earliest type of home in Roxbury. Silas was a tanner by trade and the contractor who built the local section of the Morris Canal. Candlelight and a warm fire on the hearth will greet visitors who will be able to enjoy light refreshments. This home was saved from demolition in the 1960s and moved to its current site in a major preservation effort.
The museums will also be open on Sunday, Dec. 7 from 1 to 4 p.m.