Thomas Edison

Above: Glenmont, Home of Thomas Alva Edison in Llewellyn Park, West Orange

Glenmont is located in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, the first romantically designed, planned residential community in the United States. The community was developed in the 1850's by Llewellyn Haskell, who had acquired 350 acres in West Orange, New Jersey, about fifteen miles from New York City. The architect Alexander Jackson Davis landscaped the park, which grew to 700 acres by the 1870's.

A Queen Anne style mansion with 29 rooms, Glenmont was designed by the architect Henry Hudson Holly. Edison purchased the Glenmont estate – 13.5 acres including house, barn, greenhouse, and furnishings –in January of 1886 for $125,000, half its estimated value.