Mary Hone

Mary Crane Hone II (November 21, 1904 – November 27, 1990) was an American stage actress, political activist, campaign manager, and historical preservationist. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, she was the only child of engineer Augustus Crane Hone and historical preservationist Alice Castleman Hone. Her family had owned Acorn Hall, a mansion in Morristown, New Jersey, since 1857. In 1916, the family relocated to New York, though Hone continued to visit Morristown regularly throughout her life.

Hone graduated from Rosemary Hall in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1921 and chose to pursue a career on the stage, with her mother Alice serving as her manager. The two traveled to England, where Hone enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts before returning to New York to begin what would become a Broadway career spanning 1922 to 1936. Prior to her Broadway debut, she had performed the role of Desdemona in Othello. On October 9, 1922, she appeared in a lead role as Helena the Robot in the Czech science fiction play R. U. R. at New York's Garrick Theatre. Her Broadway credits also include The Admirable Crichton, The Joyous Season, The School for Scandal, and Floriani's Wife, among other productions. Beyond Broadway, Hone performed lead roles in the United States, Canada, England, and Egypt, including work with a repertory company and a production of Ibsen's Lady from the Sea. By 1937, she had shifted her focus away from acting toward political activism, and she returned to Morristown in 1939.

In 1941, Hone took a position as a secretary at the BBC's New York office, a role that enabled her to attend three international conferences, including the 1945 United Nations Conference on International Organization in San Francisco. Her interest in international governance dated to her youth, when she had followed the founding of the League of Nations in 1920 and attended the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco that same year alongside her mother and grandmother. In 1944, she composed a piano march titled "Let's Re-Re-Re-Elect Roosevelt," a campaign song supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt's fourth presidential term, published by Finger Lakes Press in Auburn, New York. Around 1946, she moved to Washington, D.C. to work for World Federalist radio commentator Raymond Graham Swing, and later relocated to Amsterdam for eight months to work for the Dutch branch of the World Federalist Movement. Her mother died in December 1949, and Hone subsequently returned to Morristown, continuing her work for the New Jersey branch of the World Federalist Movement. She also campaigned for Democrat Robert B. Meyner, who won the New Jersey governorship in 1954, and held his victory reception at Acorn Hall. In 1956, she campaigned for Adlai Stevenson in his second presidential run against Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Preserving Acorn Hall became a central mission of Hone's later life. As early as the spring of 1953, she met with Morristown mayor William Parsons Todd to explore transferring the property to the town as a house museum. When Morristown declined to take ownership, she turned down a job offer from the United Nations that would have taken her to Turkey for two years, choosing instead to continue her preservation efforts. On April 9, 1966, at the age of 61, Hone and a friend climbed into a bulldozer scoop to protest the construction of Interstate 287, which threatened local historical properties. The demonstration did not halt the highway's completion, but her activism led her to formally join the Morris County Historical Society in 1967. In 1968 she made plans to donate Acorn Hall to the Society, and in 1971 she officially bequeathed the property along with its furniture, family heirlooms, papers, and photographs. The National Park Service has noted that the building's current excellent state of preservation is due largely to her efforts. Following the donation, Hone retired to Nantucket, Massachusetts, where she died on November 27, 1990. Acorn Hall opened as a museum in 1973 and continues to operate as a historic house museum.