Step inside an incredible Chester Township, New Jersey manor home with an epic history dating back over 220 years. Wildfair is open to the public all this month as 2025’s Mansion in May. 36 interior designers and 13 landscape architects have teamed up to reimagine this stunning house and beautiful grounds as a designer showcase for the public to experience and enjoy.
For over 50 years, the Women’s Association for Morristown Medical Center (WAMMC) has presented Mansion in May, presenting a spectacular Morris or Somerset County home for private and public tours, with all proceeds benefiting the hospital. The organization has been active since 1893 and has raised $32 million over the years. This year’s proceeds will help fund the new cutting-edge Proton Therapy Center at Morristown Medical Center.
Wildfair is the 21st Mansion in May and the first since 2023 when Three Fields in the Borough of Mendham was visited by more than 20,000 guests. To prepare the estate for the big reveal, 1,000 volunteers have donated their time and resources, including dozens of top interior designers and landscape artists. Grohe provided many of the bathroom and kitchen fixtures. The 9,000-square-foot house sits on 55 acres of meticulously designed gardens. Inside, visitors will enjoy a home transformed. With 8 bedrooms, 3 powder rooms, library, 6 bathrooms, wine cellar, and so much more, every space will surprise and delight.
Long before it was redesigned as a country estate, the property served as a working farm and the site of a sawmill and gristmill. An 1804 property deed shows that a mill was already in place on a pond near Peapack Brook. For much of the 19th century, the farm and gristmill were owned by the Dorland family.
The biggest changes came in 1934 when Elizabeth Elkins and Harry Hollins III purchased the property. With Philadelphia architects Willing, Sims and Taslbutt, the couple transformed the 19th-century farmhouse into Wildfair, a rambling rural retreat. The home was further expanded and redesigned in the 1990s by architect Hiland Hall Turner and Eberle Builders, Inc.
You can visit Wildfair all this month. The estate will be open from 10am – 4pm daily and all proceeds benefit WAMMC. Free shuttle service will be provided from an off-site parking area in Mendham. Tickets and details available here.
