For nearly a quarter century as tourism director, Leslie Bensley promoted Morris County’s contributions to the American Revolution.
Now, she’s coming out of retirement to promote a mutiny.
As executive director of the new Friends of Jockey Hollow, one of her goals is to add a half-mile “Pennsylvania Mutiny Trail” to the 27 miles of hiking paths at Jockey Hollow in the Morristown National Historical Park.
The nonprofit Friends, established by the Kirby and Wentworth families, aims to to help the National Park Service enhance Jockey Hollow’s trails and amenities.
“I think it’s fantastic,” Tom Ross, superintendent of the historical park, said of the Friends. “They will provide a great deal of support and advocacy for the park…I think it’s a great opportunity.”
Thanks partly to Bensley’s efforts over the years, many people know that George Washington’s troops endured the cruelest winter of the Revolution at Jockey Hollow.
But they might be surprised to learn that mutinous soldiers killed Captain Adam Bettin there on New Year’s Day, 1781.
“Telling the mutiny story is impactful, because it tells how distressed these troops were,” Bensley said. “That doesn’t get told as often as the famous battles, or the crossing of the Delaware.”
The Continental Army persevered against long odds and extreme hardships to win our democracy, Bensley said. Some men snapped under the strain.
“They were hungry tired, underpaid, underfed, cold men. They were fed up. We need to tell that story. So we’re going to tell it.”
THE FRIENDS BEHIND THE FRIENDS
Underwriting these efforts are two philanthropic families whose love for Jockey Hollow yielded an award-winning 2009 NJN documentary, Morristown: Where America Survived, based on John T. Cunningham’s book, The Uncertain Revolution.
Extending their collaboration, the S. Dillard and Adrienne Kirby Family Philanthropic Fund and Finn and Kim Wentworth of Morristown have created the Friends of Jockey Hollow to augment scarce federal dollars for the park.
“We have this jewel in our community that’s not been polished to the extent it should be,” because of funding shortfalls, said Kim Wentworth, prime mover of the Friends idea.
While people flocked to Jockey Hollow during the pandemic, she said, few may realize it needs help. A washed-out bridge near the Cross Estate, for example, may cost $250,000 to replace, according to her husband.
The Friends organization is meant to offer a way for the public to pitch in, via tax- deductible contributions and volunteer projects. Jockey Hollow’s Revolutionary pedigree, and its affiliation with the country’s first National Historical Park (1933), should appeal to benefactors beyond New Jersey, the founders believe.
Priorities for the Friends of Jockey Hollow include wayfinding signs and trail maintenance, archeological studies, curbing invasive species, and restoring the Wick House orchard. The 1,300-acre park in Harding once held about 1,000 huts and lodged more than 10,000 troops – which at the time would have been the young nation’s fifth-largest city.
Funds will be administered through the Community Foundation of New Jersey, a nonprofit based in Morris Township.
The Wentworths were inspired by the Friends of Acadia, established in 1986 to help “preserve, protect and promote” Acadia National Park in Maine.
That grassroots group has helped the National Park Service accommodate a six-fold increase in visitors to Acadia, said Finn Wentworth, an entrepreneur and developer.
He has led major fund drives for Morristown Medical Center and pandemic relief, among other charitable ventures.
Kim Wentworth serves on the Community Foundation board and is a former Morris County parks commissioner. She dates her interest in environmental causes to the cleanup of a polluted Menlo Park playground when she was 11.
Their son, Mark X. Wentworth, a California vintner and conservationist, also is a Friends founder and board volunteer.
Adrienne Kirby is a member of the Garden Club of Morristown and former chairperson of Preschool Advantage. Her husband Dillard stepped down last year as president of the Morristown-based F.M. Kirby Foundation, which supports numerous environmental organizations and other nonprofits. American River, a documentary he produced, is being featured at environmental film festivals across the country.
The Kirbys, from Mendham, and the Wentworths are close friends and avid hikers at Jockey Hollow.
LAST HUZZAH?
Already, the Friends have supplied a digital message board for the Jockey Hollow Visitors Center. Next, Ross said, they may support archeological explorations, which are required ahead of trail upgrades on the historic grounds.
The park superintendent added he is pleased to partner again with Bensley, who retired last December as founding director of the Morris County Tourism Bureau. The Friends founders said they were pleasantly surprised when Bensley agreed to spearhead fundraising and volunteer recruitment.
“We’re very fortunate to have Leslie. Her enthusiasm is infectious” and her experience and contacts are extensive, said Adrienne Kirby.
“Very few things could entice me to come out of retirement so soon. But this is one of them,” said Bensley, serving part-time as the Friends’ sole paid staffer.
“I’m not finished contributing. And there was something very special about this opportunity,” said the Morris Township resident, who designed the Friends website that went live this week.
The job also complements her advisory role on a committee planning New Jersey’s 250th anniversary celebration in 2026, she said.
And being able to “hyper-focus on this one park, and tell its story, dovetails with what I’ve done in the past,” Bensley explained, adding wryly: “I have the costumes. And I can say Huzzah! with authority.”
Bensley also has a personal connection to Jockey Hollow. An ancestor, Samuel Pauling, bivouacked there during the War for Independence. But don’t look for any skeletons rattling in this closet.
Asked if Pauling joined the mutineers, Bensley responded with a resounding:
“Nope!”
