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No. 21 Vol. 9
www.mypaperonline.com • 973-809-4784 September 2025
Denville Teen Curates Township-Based Historical Research Project
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By Megan Roche race Ort, a recent graduate of Morris Knolls High School, has always had an interest in history, but never knew it could take her places. “History has kind of been something that I’ve always loved. When I was a kid, every single game that I made up with my friends or that I played by myself, always had to do with history. I was obsessed with the past and I’m not really quite sure why. I just always wanted to crawl into the past of any era. But, I didn’t realize that it was something that I was really passionate about until someone pointed it out to me in high school,” Ort said. As a junior in high school, Ort was procrastinating on a homework assignment and had begun scrolling through photos of the former Saint Francis Health Resort that was located in the township. She had found an article written by the Denville Historical Society about Saint Francis and immediately contacted them about how to get involved in historical preservation. The group accepted her as a volunteer immediately. When Ort joined the Denville Township Historical Society, she stumbled upon a dusty box of diaries. Upon opening the box, she discovered the life story of Kate Ayres. “There were 23 diaries from the late 19th century just sitting in there. It looked
like nobody had opened the box in awhile,” Ort said. After reading through Ayers diaries, Ort knew she needed to make an exhibit in the Denville Township Museum. “Just reading her words and knowing she was an actual living person who has kind of been forgotten…that really propelled me forward on this project,” Ort said. From the roles that the faith communities played in the township to growing up on the Ayres farm, Ort found herself immersed in Kate’s life story. It took Ort over nine months to read the diaries and another few months writing up her findings before the project was complete in February 2025. Located in the Denville Musuem on Diamond Spring Road, Ort established a glass case with various artifacts from Ayres time growing up in the township. There is also one of her diaries on display. In addition to the artifacts in the museum, Ort also built a website (sites.google.com/ view/kate-ayres-dhs) that features an expansive explanation of her findings. After graduating from Morris Knolls this past June, Ort is now studying history at Yale University. “This project definitely focused me interest in history. Before this, I didn’t know what specific area of history that I found interesting. Now that I’ve read these diaries, I’ve really found myself being continually fascinated by
Grace stands by her exhibit in the Denville Township Museum
American history, especially in the late 1800s. There was so much change that happened and I just want to continue exploring that,” Ort said.
The Denville Museum is open on the second Saturday of each month from 10 AM to 2 PM. For more information, visit www.denvillemuseum.org.
For decades, a dusty box of handwritten diaries has lay untouched inside the Denville Museum. Their author, Kate Ayres, was a resident of Denville for nearly 40 years, and her detailed handwritten records constitute a hidden history of Denville. The resulting story is fascinating, frustrating, and even heartbreaking at times, providing a raw look into the life, thoughts, and prejudices of an unmarried white woman in rural New Jersey at the turn of the 19th century. Kate was born on April 28th, 1849, as Harriet Katherine Ayres, going by the shortened version of her middle name for the rest of her life. Her father, Joseph J. Ayres, was the eldest son of Daniel
Ayres, the patriarch of the family who founded the historic Ayres-Knuth Farm in 1803. Her mother, Phebe Losey Ayres, was the daughter of another prominent Union Hill family. Kate was the youngest of seven children, with her eldest sibling being 17 years her senior, but she seems to have lost contact with many of her siblings in her older years. Little is known about Kate’s early life. While her family did not live directly on the historic Ayres-Knuth Farm, they likely would have enjoyed being connected to such a prosperous enterprise. Kate’s father, Joseph Ayres, did not participate in the farm’s operations and was instead employed as a shoemaker. Around 1855, Kate
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