Historic Speedwell

Where Morse and Vail proved the electromagnetic telegraph in 1838.

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On January 11, 1838, Alfred Vail and Samuel F. B. Morse successfully transmitted a telegraph message across two miles of wire strung inside the Vail family’s factory building here. The demonstration proved the system to investors and to the U.S. Congress and is the moment electrical communication left the laboratory.

The site is operated by the Morris County Park Commission and includes:

  • The 1829 Vail Homestead, the family’s main house, with restored period rooms;
  • The Factory Building, a National Historic Landmark, the actual room where the 1838 demonstration took place;
  • Several relocated period structures around the grounds (a schoolhouse, an early carriage house, the Granary).

Seasonal site: open April through October on Thursdays and Saturdays only. Special programming around Telegraph Day in mid-January (the only mid-winter opening) commemorates the demonstration’s anniversary.

Free on-site parking. The site sits about a mile north of the Green on Speedwell Avenue, opposite the Speedwell Lake park.