The over 300 seat theatre at the Morris Museum, a Smithsonian Institution located in Morristown, New Jersey, was packed for the “Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips” sold out PBS screening event, attended by community members, County Commissioners, Assemblywomen, historians, families and those with an interest in New Jersey’s past and future.
Ticket holders to the event watched Emmy Award-nominated TV host and producer Darley Newman give a sneak preview and behind the scenes of three half hour episodes focused on sites related to the American Revolution in New Jersey coming to PBS stations and streaming as part of the “Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips” series. The well-attended event sold out over a week before the scheduled Feb 18th President’s Day Weekend gathering with momentum building on social media, where the #RevRoadTrips hashtag recently reached over 10.7 million impressions.
Tom Loughman, Executive Director of the Morris Museum, introduced the event, which included remarks from Morris County Commissioner Director Christine Myers and Craig Schlosser, President & CEO of the Morris County Economic Development Alliance.
Remarks included acknowledging notable event attendees like Kellie Doucette, District Director for Congresswoman Mike Sherrill, Aura K. Dunn, New Jersey Legislature Assistant Minority Whip and Morristown County Commissioner Tayfun Selen. Darley also had her production team, who all hail from New Jersey and who she said made her “Jersey proud,” stand. Greg Barna, who has been working with Darley for over a decade and a half on her Emmy Award-winning PBS series, hails from Bernardsville and raised own family in Mendham. Janice Selinger, producer and writer on the three New Jersey Revolutionary Road Trips episodes was previously the Executive Director of Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area in New Jersey and prior to that NJN Public Television. There she worked with “Travels with Darley’s” story editor Bob Szuter. Bob and Janice worked on the national PBS documentary Morristown: Where America Survived so are not strangers to telling the important story of Morristown and the American Revolution.
The audience was also introduced to those featured in the episodes who attended the screening, including “Ten Crucial Days” author and historian Larry Kidder, Morris County Commissioner John Krickus, Executive Director of Crossroads of the American Revolution Carrie Fellows, Executive Director of Morris Historical Society Amy Curry, Executive Director of Macculloch Hall Trish Pongracz, and owner of Princeton Tour Company Mimi Omiecinski. Also in the audience and tabling at the event were staff from Morristown National Historical Park. Ranger Eric Olsen is included in the episode featuring Morristown.
Morris County Commissioner Director Christine Myers, who was joined by Commissioners John Krickus, Deborah Smith and Tayfun Selen at the event, educated attendees on the upcoming 250th anniversary of America’s independence in 2026. She choose the event to make a special announcement– that the Morris County Board of County Commissioners will commit $100,000 in county funds to the Morris County Economic Development Alliance (MCEDAlliance) and the Morris County Tourism Bureau to coordinate 250th anniversary celebrations.
“Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trip Part I, II and III” features sites and local businesses throughout New Jersey. In each episode, locals experts and guides share untold stories of the Revolutionary War in Princeton, including on the campus of Princeton University and at Princeton Battlefield State Park. Darley Newman takes viewers to Monmouth Battlefield, Washington Crossing, Somerville and Somerset County, Trenton, New Brunswick and Perth Amboy. In Morris County, Darley learns about Jockey Hollow, the Ford Mansion, Schuyler-Hamilton House, the Morristown Green, Festival on the Green and Glen Brook Brewery in Morristown.
The “Travels with Darley” screening was organized with the support of Morris Museum, the American Battlefield Trust and the MCEDAlliance and Tourism Bureaus’ 250th Anniversary Committee. Participants saw the world premiere of the complete half hour episodes of Parts I and II of Darley’s “Revolutionary Road Trip” series and got a preview of the third half hour. They also learned about the upcoming release on NJ PBS and PBS stations nationwide, as well as streaming.
Following the screening, the audience participated in a Q&A panel led by Tom Loughman that featured Darley Newman, Sara Cureton, Director of the New Jersey Historical Commission and Jeffrey Vasser Executive Director of the New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism. They also got to meet a puppy from The Seeing Eye, an organization that has been training guide dogs and people for over 90 years and is headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey.
Audience members then were able to meet with representatives of organizations who preserve history and share it with communities in the museum post event, including American Battlefield Trust, who with the help of the Princeton Battlefield Society and New Jersey State Historic Sites and Parks, is on a mission to reimagine the Princeton Battlefield. Representatives also shared literature and information from Morristown National Historical Park, Journey Through New Jersey, Sons of the American Revolution, The Seeing Eye, Somerset County Tourism and New Jersey Historical Commission.
This is one of a number of diverse nationwide screening events for Season 11 of “Travels with Darley,” including a recent popular in-person screening and livestream with Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC. Upcoming screenings will also take place in Saratoga, New York, Chicago, Illinois and at the State Theatre and in Somerset County in New Jersey.
Darley’s “Revolutionary Road Trips” project is a multi-year sub-series of her current “Travels wtih Darley” series, which has been on PBS stations since 2016 and includes 72 half hours and a popular podcast on iHeart, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Audible. This spring, the production team heads back to New Jersey to film another episode and to Delaware, North Dakota and beyond for new episodes.
In addition to the PBS and streaming series, episodes will circle the globe. Darley’s content is also on Ovation TV, JOURNY, Wondrium, Great Courses, Amazon Prime, Samsung, Apple TV, Korean Airlines and other platforms. Social media affiliated with the #revroadtrips hashtag used in conjunction with the series recently topped a whopping 10.7 million impressions, as Darley Newman and her team continue filming, live events, livestreams and news segments related to “Revolutionary Road Trips.”
On NJ PBS watch “Travels with Darley” weekdays at 3:30pm and Sundays at 12:30pm and watch “Travels wtih Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips”
- “Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips Part I” Wednesday, March 6 at 8:30pm and Sunday, March 24 at 12:30pm (Princeton, Trenton, Washington Crossing)
- “Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips Part II” Wednesday, March 13 at 8:30pm and Sunday, March 31 at 12:30pm (Morristown, Monmouth Battlefield)
- “Travels with Darley: Revolutionary Road Trips Part III” Wednesday, March 20 at 8:30pm and Sunday, April 7th at 12:30pm (Middlesex and Somerset Counties
- Travels with Darley Revolutionary Road Trip episodes across the entire state:
Watch NJ PBS locally on Verizon Fios, channel 23 or 523; on Comcast, channel 23 or 800, on Spectrum on channel 23 or 723. Visit njpbs.org/anywhereto find more information on watching elsewhere, including on your favorite apps.
