Lambert Castle Museum

The Lambert Castle is located in Passaic County, more precisely in Paterson. Founder of the castle, Catholina Lambert, was born in 1834 in England, and in 1851 after finishing a mill apprenticeship, moved to America. He began work in America in a silk mill and after four years became a partner in the mill, eventually buying out his partner to become head of 'Dexter, Lambert, and Company.'

After taking over the company he met Isabella Shattuck, the daughter of a rich farmer, and they wed. Now being a husband and a mill owner, Lambert reminisced of the castles in England that he used to view, and in 1891 began designing plans for his one and a half million dollar, sandstone castle home to be located on the hillside cliffs of Garret Mountain.

In 1892 the castle was completed. In 1898 President McKinley and vice president Garret Hobart visited. In 1896 the 70-foot observation tower was built in the crest of a cliff. Then in the years 1900 and 1904, two floods, a tornado, and a great fire took place affecting all of Lambert's mills. After that Lambert's wife, Isabella, died.

On February 15, 1923, Lambert died and was buried next to his wife in the Cedar Lawn Cemetery. The castle was sold for $125,000 to the City of Paterson. Garret Mountain Reservation was then established as a public park, including the castle, its grounds, and hundreds of acres of woods behind the cliffs of the castle.

In 1976 the castle was submitted to both the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places. The grounds around the tower are open for viewing and show off areas such as the George Washington Bridge, New York city skyline, and past Sandy Hook. Since the castle has been listed on the registers it has been completely remodeled and restored.

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