via the Morristown Muster/ Morristown National Historical Park
As the temperature cools and the days get shorter after the fall equinox, Jockey Hollow comes alive with color. The best time to see all the fall foliage at Jockey is an inexact science however traditionally speaking the best time is mid-October. Jockey Hollow is a place where nature still rules and the noise from the highway and planes are seldom heard. You can view the foliage from the comfort of your car on our three mile tour road or be engulfed by the colorful trees while hiking one of our 27 miles of trails total.
While you are out enjoying everything the fall season has to offer you may be asking yourself, why and how do the leaves change color? In the summer the green chlorophyll is very busy. The chlorophyll in the leaves catches the sunlight and combines with the water in the root system to make sugars. These sugars are food for the trees. The water is soaked up by the tree roots and travels to the leaves through tiny tubes in the leaves stem.
As the weather gets cooler the trees realize winter is near and begins to get ready. A thin layer of cells grow over the water tubes in the leaves and closes them up in preparation for the winter. Without the water, the chlorophyll starts to disappear and the other colors in the leaf, the yellows and oranges can finally be seen. The leaves don’t really ‘turn’ a certain color, they just lose their green.
Morristown FYI 