Abraham Canfield moved to the area c. 1740 and established a country store, blacksmith shop, and cider mill. The community was first called "New Vernon" in a newspaper printed in 1808 at Morristown.[11] The New Vernon Presbyterian Church was established in 1833.[12]
The New Vernon Historic District is a 46-acre (19 ha) historic district located along Lee's Hill, Village, Mill Brook and Glen Alpin roads in the community. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 8, 1982, for its significance in architecture and exploration/settlement. The district has 24 contributing buildings. The First Presbyterian Church of New Vernon was built in 1833 and features Federal and Gothic Revival styles. The church manse is a brick house built in the 1930s with Tudor architecture. The church education building is also built of brick and features a tower and spire.[11] The contributing Tunis–Ellicks House is home to the Harding Township Historical Society.[15]
New Vernon is in southeastern Morris County, in central Harding Township. It is bordered to the east by unincorporated Green Village. Morristown, the county seat, is 4 miles (6 km) to the north, and Basking Ridge is the same distance to the southwest.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the New Vernon CDP has a total area of 3.57 square miles (9.25 km2), of which 0.01 square miles (0.03 km2), or 0.34%, are water.[1] The community sits on a hill which drains in all directions to Great Brook, which flows through the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge along the southern edge of the community. New Vernon is within the Passaic River watershed.
^"How I See It", Daily Record, July 25, 2012. Accessed June 25, 2023, via Newspapers.com. "Darnell Lawson of Irvington, left, and Kerry Kittles, former trustee and Nets player from New Vernon."
^Kwoh, Leslie. "Jets coach Eric Mangini buys $4 million home in Morris County", The Star-Ledger, July 30, 2008. Accessed March 2, 2016. "Mangini and his wife, Julie, bought the six-bedroom home in the New Vernon section of town last Wednesday and have already begun moving their belongings from their home in Garden City, N.Y."
^Staff. "Joseph Sullivan, 63; Led Turnpike Unit", The New York Times, March 16, 2000. Accessed December 30, 2017. "Joseph Sullivan, a New Jersey businessman who ran for governor and later served as chairman of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, died Monday at a hospital in Morristown, N.J. He was 63.... Mr. Sullivan, who lived in New Vernon, N.J., spent $1 million of his own money and came in third in the Republican primary in 1981, behind Thomas Kean, who became governor, and former Paterson Mayor Lawrence Kramer."
^Intersimone, Jenna. "Mansion in May is now Splendor in September due to COVID-19", Courier News,September 8, 2020. Accessed August 31, 2021. "Besides being minutes away from Morristown Medical Center, the property that Tyvan Hill sits on was once acquired by the Van Beuren family. Dr. Frederick Theodore Van Beuren was president of Morristown Memorial Hospital, now known as Morristown Medical Center, for 10 years and his wife, the former Jessica T. Mohlman, was a member of the hospital’s board of directors."