Mendham's Applejack History Has a New Book, a Tasting Night, and a Mill to Support

Mendham Township's applejack story has stayed public because people keep paying for it. In 2004 the township bought the Ralston Cider Mill for $900,000. The Morris County Open Space Trust covered $400,000 and the township's own open space fund paid the rest. This fall the support has come in smaller amounts. There was a $15 ticket and a $10 gallon of cider at the October 24 pressing day, and in November there's a new book whose sales go to the mill.

On Wednesday, November 11, the Mendham Borough Library will host the three groups that carry this story today: the mill, the author who wrote its new history, and a Morristown distillery named for a Mendham Township trail.

The Stone Mill That Started as a Grist Mill

The building at 336 Mendham Road West began as a grist mill. The Mendham Township Historic Preservation Committee's history of the mill traces it to an 1848 agreement between Mary Ann Nesbitt and her son, John Ralston Nesbitt, to build a larger grist mill on Burnett Brook. It was a three-story building with four-foot-thick stone walls, and local farmers brought corn, rye, barley and wheat there to be ground. In those days the area was called Roxiticus, and it was a busy industrial center powered by the north branch of the Raritan River.

The mill's history from there, according to the committee:

1. Around 1905: Thomas Laughlin bought the mill and moved his Tiger Applejack production there from Bernardsville Road. He swapped the grinding wheel for a cast-iron turbine and added steel supports for heavy vats, an apple elevator, and pressing equipment made by the Boomer and Boschert Company.
2. 1919: When Prohibition began, production went underground into hidden basements, and the mill supplied speakeasies in the area and in Newark and New York.
3. 1933: Sammy Fornaro Sr. owned the mill and a speakeasy across the street. That speakeasy became Sammy's Ye Olde Cider Mill restaurant, and Fornaro kept pressing cider at the mill.
4. 1938: Cider production stopped as the local orchards began to disappear. The mill then sat empty for decades with its machinery still inside.
5. 1999 to early 2000s: The National Register nomination for the Ralston Historic District counted the Nesbitt Mill-Tiger Distillery as a contributing building. Within a few years it was named one of the 10 most endangered historic sites in New Jersey, with parts of the roof collapsed.
6. 2004 to 2008: After the open-space purchase, the township handed restoration and operation to the Trustees of the Ralston Cider Mill, a nonprofit. Rondout Woodworking of Saugerties, New York, did the structural and machinery work. The mill reopened in 2008 as an operating cider mill that the public can visit for research and education.

The committee also explains why so few applejack distilleries survived Repeal. Dozens opened in New Jersey after Prohibition ended, then closed because making spirits from rye, grains and corn paid better than making them from apples. That economics helps explain why a working mill full of original equipment is so rare today.

The Pressing Day That Just Happened

The mill's busiest public afternoon of the year was Saturday, October 24. A community event listing on Patch, posted by James Malchow, advertised a pressing demonstration from 1 to 4 p.m. on the mill's restored 19th-century machinery. Admission was $15 per person, children under 7 got in free, and fresh cider was sold to take home for $10 a gallon. Visitors could also sample hard cider from regional makers.

If you missed it, the mill is still open for visits. The Ralston Cider Mill's hours page says small-group tours are by appointment, one individual or group at a time, and lists general admission at $10 per person with a $20 minimum. The volunteer nonprofit that runs the site goes by the name Ralston Cider Mill Museum.

How a Mendham Trail Ended Up on a Morristown Bar

Dismal Harmony Distillery is at 77 Morris Street in Morristown, not in Mendham. Its connection to Mendham is its name and its founder. In 2021 Morristown Green reported that Bob Dillon, then described as a Mendham resident, wanted to put a distillery in the former Cy's Brakes building at that address. Bob Dillon is the owner and distiller, and Karen Novotny Dillon is the owner and manager.

The name comes from the Dismal Harmony natural area in Mendham Township, where the trail crosses two creeks named Dismal and Harmony. New Jersey Monthly explained that "dismal" was the colonial-era word for swamp, and asked the owners why they chose it. Bob Dillon told the magazine:

"First of all, we love the Dismal Harmony hiking trail. It's beautiful and shadowy, and fits its name."

In the same article Karen Dillon said the poetry of the name appealed to them, and Bob added that as a drummer he liked the word harmony. The article ran in April 2024 and said the distillery had opened the month before.

Two years in, the distillery is winning awards. Its Recado took gold and its Barista and Libertasse took silver in the 2026 American Craft Spirits Awards. Craft Spirits Magazine also named it one of its 2026 Top Tasting Rooms in the Northeast. Its current spirits list covers liqueur, gin, whiskey, rum and vodka and does not include an applejack. At the library, the Dillons will be talking about the state's applejack history and pouring their own liqueurs.

November 11 Brings the Mill, the Author and the Distillery Together

The library's event page lists "Sip and Learn: The History of Applejack Distilling in New Jersey" for Wednesday, November 11, at 6 p.m. at 10 Hilltop Road. Bob and Karen Dillon will join author James Malchow to talk about where applejack came from, and guests can taste Dismal Harmony's award-winning liqueurs. Attendees must be 21 or older, and registration is through the library.

Copies of Malchow's book will be for sale, with proceeds going to the Ralston cider museum. Arcadia Publishing lists New Jersey Cider and Applejack for publication on September 15, 2026. It is part of the Images of America series and covers the state's apple growing, cider making and applejack history through photographs from museums, private collections, libraries and other archives.

Malchow also posted the October pressing-day listing for the mill. So at the library you'll meet the people who press the cider, write the history, and run the tasting room, and the book money goes back to the stone mill on Burnett Brook.

The history goes back well before Tiger Applejack. A New Jersey Hills historical account describes the Hunterdon and Morris area as a center of applejack production in colonial times and says the drink was still common through the nineteenth century.

Before or After the Tasting, Walk the Trail Behind the Name

The Dismal Harmony natural area is a short drive from the library. A 2025 hike report on Scenes From the Trail puts the trailhead and parking on East Main Street, describes a loop of about 3.4 miles, and mentions a gravel lot with room for roughly 8 to 10 cars. The same report notes that the natural area borders 198 acres donated to the Morris County Park Commission.

The trail has some work coming. At its March 16, 2026 meeting, the Mendham Township Environmental Commission discussed a proposed remediation project on the township's section north of the East Main Street trailhead, along with an ANJEC grant application and a proposed Eagle Scout project. The preserve dates back to 1965, when the New Jersey Conservation Foundation helped establish the Dismal-Harmony Reserve.

If you'd rather end the evening at the bar the trail named, Dismal Harmony's posted hours are 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 4 p.m. to midnight Thursday and Friday, noon to midnight Saturday, and noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. It's closed Mondays, and guests must be 21 or older.

The Borough Calendar From the Tasting to the Tree Lighting

The rest of Mendham's late-fall calendar runs on community giving too. Food, tree plantings and holiday treats all stay in town. Here are the dates from now through the first Saturday in December:

Each of these keeps its benefit local. According to the Borough's 2026 recreation guide, Mendham Area Faith Leaders sponsor the Thanksgiving drive, and its donations go to the Interfaith Food Pantry Network, which serves several Morris County communities. The Borough's Holiday Food Drive collects for the Chester Mendham Food Pantry. The Shade Tree Commission's foliage contest has a prize to match its mission: the winner gets a tree of their choice planted in front of their home, and the winning photo goes on the Borough website. Photos must be taken in Mendham Borough and labeled with the location and the photographer's name. Last year's winner was Brandon Moore's "Mountain Valley Pond."

The Brookside Community Club boutique is free to attend. On December 5, Borough businesses and service organizations will hand out treats along the Holly Trail and run the "Where's Santa Game." Cookies and Photos with Santa run from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Phoenix House, and you'll need a reservation for the photos. After a community holiday concert at Mendham United Methodist Church, the day ends with the tree lighting at the Borough Park Gazebo, with high school carolers and Santa arriving on a firetruck. These details come from the Borough's printed 2026 guide, so check the Recreation homepage closer to the day for any changes.

I love telling stories like the Ralston Cider Mill's, a building that went from grinding grain to making applejack to sitting empty, then came back because neighbors paid to save it. If you'd like to know what yours is worth right now, Kimberly Brechka will put together a free home valuation and tell you what we find, the same way we'd tell the mill's story.