Jockey Hollow was the principal winter camp of the Continental Army during the exceptionally severe winter of 1779–1780. Its wooded hills and proximity to Morristown offered timber, water, roads, and some protection from British forces in New York. Around ten thousand soldiers and camp followers occupied an extensive landscape, while Washington established his headquarters at the separate Ford Mansion in town. Jockey Hollow is therefore a soldiers' encampment rather than Washington's own residence. The present unit contains the Wick House, hut sites, reconstructed soldiers' huts, and trails across the former camp area.

Units arrived in December and cut timber to build rows of log shelters. The army consumed large quantities of wood for huts and fuel, reshaping farms including that of Henry Wick. Conditions were difficult: cold, snow, shortages of food and clothing, illness, and delayed pay tested the soldiers' endurance. Officers lodged in nearby houses, including Wick's. Household members and local residents bore costs as land, supplies, and labor were diverted to the encampment. The winter is often compared with Valley Forge, but its specific geography and supply crisis deserve explanation on their own terms.

The soldiers' work continued despite hardship. They drilled, repaired equipment, guarded approaches, and managed an army whose presence influenced local prices and roads. Camps also included free and enslaved Black people, women, and families whose contributions are harder to trace in standard military records. Pennsylvania troops returned to parts of Jockey Hollow in late 1780; their January 1781 mutiny belongs to a later winter, rather than the main 1779–1780 encampment. Separating these episodes avoids turning several different crises into one undated hardship story.

Morristown National Historical Park protects camp terrain, house fabric, archaeological remains, and commemorative features. The Wick House survives from the eighteenth century, while the visible soldier huts are modern reconstructions based on research. The visitor center adds a model, film, and exhibitions, and trails permit a fuller reading of the wooded landscape. Interpretive signs and earth traces indicate positions where thousands lived in temporary shelters, though farming, regrowth, and park development altered the view. Preservation keeps both surviving buildings and archaeological ground available for study without claiming a complete original camp still stands.

Park grounds are open daily from sunrise to sunset; the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center is generally open Thursday through Monday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with building access subject to staffing. The park is free. Its Tempe Wick Road address is in New Jersey; the record's linked city currently points to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and needs a CMS reference correction. Visitors should confirm Wick House hours and use the trails to relate hut areas to the farm. The contrast between the surviving house and reconstructed soldiers' shelters helps explain the social and material inequalities within the encampment.