Tree work in Randolph changes with elevation. Ridge lots around Mount Freedom bring shallow roots over rock and long, steep driveways, while low ground near the Black River and Mill Brook stays wet and lets big trees tip. Lake sections like Shongum add narrow roads and shoreline slopes to the plan.
Randolph
Randolph is one of the more wooded towns in Morris County, and plenty of homes here sit on lots carved out of mature forest. That means a lot of tall oaks, maples and tulip trees growing close to houses, decks and driveways. Tree work in Randolph tends to involve removals of dead or storm damaged trees, clearing limbs off roofs, and grinding out stumps left behind from earlier jobs. A local crew familiar with hilly Randolph lots can tell you what access will look like before they quote.
What sets Randolph apart is the combination of big forest trees and hard ground. Bedrock in parts of the township is close to the surface, and soils like the Edneyville series are full of gneiss cobbles and stones, so roots often spread wide and shallow instead of deep. In the valleys the problem flips: the Black River wetlands in the northwest and the Mill Brook and Rockaway River corridors in the northeast hold a high water table, and saturated soil there lets trees tip in a strong wind. Add steep driveways, narrow township roads and lots that back onto woods, and many jobs here come down to careful rigging and smart equipment placement rather than simply dropping a tree.
Sections of Randolph
- Black River Pond
- Calais
- Center Grove
- Fernbrook
- Ironia
- Mill Brook
- Mount Fern
- Mount Freedom
- Shongum
- Youngstown
Main roads
- Route 10. state highway through the township; the Route 10 area is on public sewer
- Dover-Chester Road (County Route 513). County Route 513, one of the township's main county roads
- Sussex Turnpike (County Route 617). County Route 617, running through the southern part of town
- Center Grove Road. home of the County College of Morris, site of the Freedom Festival
- Millbrook Avenue. location of the township municipal building (502 Millbrook Ave)
- Calais Road. leads to Veterans Community Park and the Randolph Community Center
- West Hanover Road. a reference line in the township's sewer service area mapping
- Gristmill Road. listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Landmarks
- Brundage Park. 232-acre recreation complex with a pond and the Brundage Park Playhouse
- Freedom Park. 172-acre township park
- Heistein Park. 44-acre park with a lake for fishing and ice skating
- Randolph Park. 41-acre park with a swimming beach
- Hidden Valley Park. 51-acre park with a pond
- Veterans Community Park. on Calais Road; hosts Arts in the Park and the Country Fair
- Combs Hollow Historic District. added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996
- Bryant Distillery. 1869 distillery known for applejack
Neighborhood guides
- Shongum. Shongum grew up around a lake that was dammed in 1758 to power an iron forge, and the woods around it have had more than two centuries to fill back in. Today the section is a mix of lakeside homes, wooded hillside lots and old shade trees reaching over narrow roads.
- Mount Freedom. Mount Freedom sits at about 883 feet in south Randolph, and for much of the twentieth century it was a summer resort area with hotels and dozens of bungalow colonies. Many of those properties became homes and subdivisions, and the trees left standing on the old resort grounds are now very large.
- Ironia. Ironia, in the southwest corner of Randolph near the Chester border, was planned in 1871 as an industrial town that never happened. It stayed a place of farms, woods and a few resorts until the 1970s, and many homes here now sit on lots carved out of that woodland and farmland.
Nearby towns
- Denville
- Morris Township
- Mendham Township
- Chester Township
- Roxbury
- Mine Hill