Morven Museum & Garden

Welcome to Morven Museum & Garden located in the beautiful town of Princeton, New Jersey! This former home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence also served as New Jersey’s first Governor’s Mansion. Morven is the “people’s” place : a National Historic Landmark owned by the State of New Jersey and operated by the non-profit, Historic Morven, Inc.. We are delighted to share this stately historic home and garden with you! By presenting permanent and changing exhibitions, educational programs and special events, Morven strives to fulfill its mission to educate diverse audiences about its rich history and the cultural heritage of New Jersey. Whether your passion lies in history, the arts or in the pleasures of the garden, you will leave from your visit enlightened and refreshed. Morven is a place where you will take time to pause from the demands of your everyday life.

Established in 1987.

Home to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and to five New Jersey governors, Morven has played a role in the history of New Jersey and the nation for more than 250 years. Richard Stockton (1730-1781) built Morven in the 1750s on land granted to his grandfather by William Penn in 1701. After a fire in 1758, the home was rebuilt and christened Morven, (“big mountain” in Gaelic) by Richard’s wife, Annis Boudinot Stockton (1736-1801). Richard was one of five NJ delegates appointed to the Continental Congress where he signed the Declaration of Independence. Four more generations of Stocktons resided at Morven before the property was leased to General Robert Wood Johnson, Chairman of Johnson & Johnson, in 1928.He was followed by five New Jersey governors when Morven served as the state’s first Governor’s Mansion (1945-1981). After the Governor’s Mansion was relocated in 1982, Morven went through an extensive restoration and re-opened a museum and garden in 2004.