Cedar Crest - Bald Hill
(1908) 138 Hillcrest Drive

Dr. George Huntington Donaldson and his wife, Etta Beekman Donaldson, purchased lots on Bald Hill from Cedar Lake Park, Inc., and built the first house on Hillcrest Drive (No. 138), Cedar Crest, in 1908.  They purchased the balance of Bald Hill from Issac P. Kitchell the following year and opened the land on both sides of Hillcrest Drive for its entire length. Dr. Donaldson had Ph.D. degrees in both Biology and theology and envisioned the establishment of a Chautauqua-like community in Denville.
The house was a summer cottage that was expanded in 1942. The addition of an entertainment center off the living room was completed in 1957 by Cortlandt B. and Virginia M. Donaldson.   In 1979 a well was drilled enabling the house to be winterized in 1980 when the third addition was completed, replacing the porch by the lake with two rooms and adding the current deck. In 1994, when the current owner, Robert Donaldson, decided to live in the home year-round, and a master bedroom suite on the main floor level, over a two-car garage.

The house contains a number of historically significant items including an 1821 portrait of Peter Lyon likely by William D. Parisen (1800-1832) of the Hudson River School of post-revolutionary War painters. Peter Lyon was a magistrate during the Revolution in a community north of West Point. He is the great-great-great grandfather of the present owner. A second item is a crazy quilt completed in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia where it won the first prize for needlework. The quilt was made by Eudora Virginia Meng, the present owner's great grandmother. In addition, there are numerous antiques- some of local interest.