Free Republic

CHRIS PEDOTA/Staff photographer Larry Stephan of Oakland, center, on the porch of the Ringwood manor reading the Declaration of Independence to visitors who braved the rain Friday. When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to celebrate the Fourth of July in the pouring rain, they huddle under trees at the Ringwood Manor, pop up umbrellas and make the best of a soggy situation with a spirited reading of the Declaration of Independence.  On a Fourth of July that offered more soak than sizzle, hundreds gathered for the traditional reading of our nation’s founding creed,...

For Kathleen Tanis of West Milford, the mines and ghosts of the historic Ringwood Manor will always have special significance. Tanis grew up listening to stories of her great-grandfather's death by beheading after a mining accident at Peter's Mine located near the grounds of the 200-year-old estate. Her grandmother firmly believed that his ghost haunted the Manor. "My grandmother said that after that, he could never rest in peace," she said. "She said he haunted the upstairs bedroom, and she was glad he did!" Ringwood Manor is one of two historic estates in Ringwood State Park. (The other estate is...