The Sussex County Heritage Weekend
https://www.scahc.org/heritageweekend
https://scahc.org/event-6291386
I started the first part of my birthday weekend visiting cultural sites in Sussex County, NJ for the 16th Annual Sussex County Heritage Weekend which was two days of exploring small museums, historical societies and homes all over Sussex County, NJ. The County, like many in New Jersey, is large and spread out so visiting many of these sites takes time just with driving around to all of them. Unfortunately a Nor’easter came through on late Saturday night and made touring on Sunday impossible. So many of these small sites are on off beat roads and back highways and I did not want to risk driving around on Sunday in the bad weather with these places not even opening up for the day.
The trip visiting cultural sites in Sussex County began over the summer when I visited the Old Schoolhouse and Fire Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ. This was a museum that had been on my bucket list to visit for several years but it was never open. The museum got a new Director whom I reached out to when the new website went up. This small museum was on the way to the very popular Sterling Mine Museum up the road. What I liked about the museum was the diversity of the communities history tied into the history of the mining industry and community in the area.
While I was there, I came across the pamphlet for the Sussex County Heritage Weekend and all the amazing historical sites to visit in the County of Sussex, NJ. What made it nice and somewhat of an adventure was not I had never really explored Sussex County this way. I had traveled up Route 23 North on my way to Narrowsburg, NY and stopped along the way and that was about it. I marked my calendar and planned my trip for several months from now. These are the wonderful cultural sites I visited for this blog over the next several months.
The front of the museum
I visited the Ogdensburg Old Schoolhouse and Firehouse Museum at 6 Passaic Avenue in Downtown Ogdensburg and discovered the community’s rich history of farming and mining in its past and its current destination as a weekend vacation spot and a up and coming bedroom community of New York City.
The County still has some farming and agriculture going on as the County continues to be built up with expats from the City, and Bergen and Morris Counties. The first floor is dedicated to the history of the Ogdensburg Fire Department with an old Engine and Ladders trucks, artifacts from the Sterling Mine just up the road and township property such as an old voting booth. You can read about the history of the Ogdensburg family as you head to the outside gallery.
The second floor has displays of various town departments including the Rescue, the Police Department and Fire Department. There are various displays of the town’s school system and various clubs in town. There are displays on the town’s mining and agricultural past with items such as farm advertising and mining equipment and minerals. Each display plays a role in the development of the community and how it progressed from farming to mining to manufacturing to the bedroom community it is today.
History of the Building:
“Built in 1910 as Ogdensburg’s fifth public school, it was adapted for re-use in 1930 as the Borough’s first firehouse replacing the one built in 1872. In 1984, with the aid of two state grants, the Ogdensburg Historical Society adapted it for re-use and dedicated it as the Old Schoolhouse and Firehouse Museum in 1987.
After 97 years, the Museum continues to serve the Borough of Ogdensburg as an historical learning and preservation center, and as a meeting hall. On June 10, 2006 it was dedicated as an Ogdensburg Historic Site.”
The historic sign of the museum
The Borough of Ogdensburg is the host of this marker commemorating the rich history provided by this building. This building has been maintained with much thought and care and remains as a museum and meeting place for the residents of the town. The marker is located in front of the building on Passaic Avenue just off Main Street by the Ogdensburg Elementary School. This marker was part of the 2008 placement (Museum website).
The museum at 6 Passaic Avenue once served as a school and a firehouse
https://www.sussex.nj.us/561/Old-Schoolhouse-Fire-Museum
https://www.facebook.com/oburghistoricalsocietypage
Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm (Only on the forth Sunday of the Month) Monday-Saturday Closed-Check the website for seasonality.
Admission: Free but a donation is appreciated
My review on TripAdvisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/14495681?m=19905
The first floor of the building has the fire trucks, the history of the fire department and Ogdensburg’s 250th Anniversary of the United States on display.
The museum artifacts from the 250th celebration of the Country
The museum is on the heart of mining country of Sussex County, NJ and the museum has an interesting mineral collection along with their collection of mining artifacts.
The Mineral and Mining Collection
The museum being home to the Ogdensburg Fire Department contains the history of the local fire department along with vehicles and artifacts from the department.
https://www.facebook.com/oburgfd
The history of the Ogdensburg Fire Department
One of the early Ladder Trucks
The history of the department
One of the early Engine Trucks
The history of the department
One of the early pull hose beds pulled by men and then by horses
The first floor also contains the history of the Ogden family in the region.
The history of the Ogden family in the community
The town voting booth and a turn of the last century phone
The second floor gallery used to serve as offices and living space of the fire department.
The main gallery on the second floor
The gallery case lines are filled with memorabilia from different aspects of the community telling the story of the growth of the community that included Mining and Farming. It explains the growth into the modern suburbs of today. This includes the Fire and Police and Rescue Departments, the School System and cultural events in the community.
The main gallery on the second floor of the museum
The main gallery on the second floor
The display case of Ogdensburg departments including school, fire and police departments
The display of the Ogdensburg Police Department
https://www.facebook.com/people/Ogdensburg-NJ-Police-Department/61590226020577
The display of the Ogdensburg First Aid Squad
Blanket with historical sites and artifacts of the town of Ogdensburg, NJ
The businesses including schools and the domestic and farming industries
Each of the display cases represented different aspects of the town and has a variety of pictures and memorabilia from a variety of eras. The case lines show how the community changed over time from a mining community to the changes of a bedroom community of Newark and New York City.
The school system with classes and sports teams
https://www.obboe.org/apps/events
Household, town and business artifacts
After the tour was over, my host said that I should visit the Sparta Historical Society at the Van Kirk House down the street that was open that day for tours and for an outside concert. So I rode down the road to the former Van Kirk Farm and grounds at local elementary school.
The front of the Van Kirk family home at 336 Main Street in Sparta, NJ, which serves as the headquarters of the Sparta Historical Society
https://www.vankirkmuseum.org/gardens.htm
https://www.sussexskylands.com/listing/sparta-historical-society-van-kirk-homestead-museum/90
Admission: The admission is free except when there is a special event and price is determined by the event
Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm (Second & Forth of each month)/Monday-Saturday Closed
The Museum is open from April-December. Please check website for seasonality.
My review on TripAdvisor:
The History of the Site:
(from the museum website)
The Van Kirk Homestead, as it stands today, is 3.5 acres. There is one outbuilding both dating from 1930s – the red carriage barn. A detached garage, dating from the 1970s, is across from the carriage barn. The original log cabin is gone but its site is known (Sparta Historical Society website).
The house that exists today is from 1780s but because it was lived in by generational Van Kirks’ it has had a few expansions. It is this house which has been revamped into a museum. The original part of the house has a stone basement that was opened in 2019 as two exhibit galleries. The first floor has two original fireplaces comprised of four exhibit galleries. The second floor has the original wide plank floors and has another three exhibit galleries (Sparta Historical Society website).
The sign in the Main Street
The historical description of the house
The main part of the house was closed due to a renovation and the members were going to be opening a new exhibition upstairs. So I toured the lower level kitchen area.
The lower level of the house which was used for the kitchen and storage areas
The history of the kitchen at the Van Kirk House:
(from the museum website)
A two-year major restoration of century comparison period kitchens with the addition of several new gifts and collection purchases. This exhibit shows the original fireplace colonial kitchen, reopened after 100 years, and the numerous transitions experienced by American families during the Industrial Revolution and its effect on kitchen appliances (Sparta Historical Society website).
The kitchen and dining area with family China and cookware in the background
The prep area, washing equipment and summer storage area
The baking and prep area
The wash equipment and ice box and tongs in the back
The Mining Exhibition just off the kitchen:
(from the museum website)
Opened in October 2019, this permanent exhibit features original Edison artifacts, a scale model of Lime Crest Quarry, and a large fluorescent mineral display. Through these and other rare artifacts, the exhibit explores the town’s mines and the people who worked at them. Housed in the 1780 section of the Van Kirk Homestead Museum, expect insights into, and understanding of, the past which supplements our understanding of our once primary iron and lime industry in Sparta and elsewhere in Sussex County. It also provides a glimpse into the time-consuming, labor-intensive methods used in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries to prepare, and ship minerals (Sparta Historical Society website).
The other side of the kitchen has an exhibition on the Mining Industry which is a big fabric of the community. The exhibition included a model of the Lime Crest Quarry and the Sterling Quarry.
The sign for the Lime Crest Quarry Model
The Mining exhibition-the Lime Crest Quarry model
The Men, Mines and Minerals exhibition with the lights off
The minerals and the clock from the mines
The Mineral exhibition with the lights off
The iron ore and the magnet exhibition
After touring the inside exhibition, I then explored the grounds which are still being used for gardens and vegetable beds for the society.
The back of the house grounds. They were setting up for an afternoon concert
The grounds of the house and the garage in the background
Afterwards, I stayed for a bit and watch the concert planning to come back later in the Fall to the tours of all the sites. On October 10, 2026 on a beautiful sunny morning and afternoon, I had put my game plan together of sites that I wanted to see. Even there were many sites on my new bucket list but I concentrated around the Sparta area and then down by Newton, the County seat of Sussex County. There were some museums that are literally never open and I wanted to be sure to visit while the weather was still nice.
I started the tour at the Old Monroe Schoolhouse which was still locked up. I found later on from the director the schoolhouse museum there was a power issue at the site so it was would not be open for the weekend. I was bummed but the drive up with all the gorgeous foliage made the trip well worth it. Just walking around the schoolhouse I got to see all the beautiful colors of the trees.
The foliage along the highway leading to the Old Monroe Schoolhouse
The land near the museum on a beautiful Fall day
The entrance to the museum property
The sign that welcomes you
History of the Old Monroe Schoolhouse:
One of the premier historical locations in Hardyston Township, that still exists, is the Monroe One Room Schoolhouse. This quaint stone structure is located on the southwest corner of the Township along today’s Route 94. Back in the day, Hardyston Township was much larger and the area had a number of small schools in each of the hamlets. Monroe was one such area, as was nearby North Church school.
The Old Monroe Schoolhouse Museum at 3134 NJ 94 on a Fall day
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-Monroe-School-House/133026696732235
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Monroe School was located a few hundred yards from the border of Sparta Township. Today it is very near the road of Route 94, in a way indicating how things have changed from yesteryear’s slow procession of the infrequent horse and buggy or milk wagon from, say, 150 years ago.
The museum on the bend of the road
The building has stone walls and a wooden roof. It was in operation as a school as far back as the year 1820. There were many teachers who provided the education of youth, mixed together in one room, who aged from a young 5 to those in their later teens.
The front of the schoolhouse
One teacher was Kate Coyle who lived on a farm nearby and for whom the park next to the school was named. Here’s s a poem by the last teacher at the school, Ms. Mary A. Van Camp, before education of the youth was moved to a larger and more modern consolidated school:
Let us take up our spindles today
And unwind the years that have gone
For much can be learned from the past.
The school entrance
The schoolhouse is on the National Register. For many years Georgeanna Lewis was the teacher on weekends. Now it is open once or twice a year for tours, flag raising, and with local docents and old desks with ink wells and black boards and, if you are bad—a dunce cap and stool in the corner!
I double back to downtown Franklin, NJ and visited the Franklin Heritage Museum run by the Franklin Historical Society at 95 Main Street. The museum is housed in the old Zinc Company Office building. Behind the museum, is the old mine entrance.
The Franklin Heritage Museum at 95 Main Street
During the Annual Sussex County Heritage Weekend, one of the first stops I made was to the Franklin Heritage Museum in Downtown Franklin, NJ. The museum was the house in one of the offices of the mining company. The museum was a glimpse into community’s mining past and how it shaped this area of the State of New Jersey.
The museum sign out front
The museum building was the old New Jersey Zinc Company ‘Time Office’. This meant that the miners had to punch into their shift at the mine through this building. The old turnstile is to the right of the building.
History of the Franklin Historical Society:
(From the museum pamphlet)
The Franklin Historical Society was organized and incorporated in September 1996 as a non-profit all volunteer education association. It was founded to preserve the heritage of the Franklin Borough to create awareness of both the County and Borough of Franklin and its rich history of culture and ethnic heritage.
The Historical Society’s Museum is located at 95 Main Street in the historic Franklin Mill complex of the former New Jersey Zinc Company.
The Heritage Museum was opened to the public in April 1997 and its displays include:
Iron and Zinc Mining
Railroads
Franklin’s Churches and Schools
Franklin’s Local History
The sign for the old New Jersey Zinc Company ‘Time Office’ historical sign
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsehead_Corporation
https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/joj5gje
The history of the Franklin Mine and its place in New Jersey history
The smaller gallery off to the side of the building concentrates on the history of the NJ Mining industry and the many mining areas in Sussex County.
The room contains all sorts of artifacts related to the industry including both pictures and everyday equipment.
The pictures of all the miners at the company
The Mining Gallery
The Mining Gallery with equipment and artifacts for a day of working in the mines
Artifacts from home and work
This gallery was in transition with the volunteers working on the displays. This side of the museum with be on the local NJ Zinc Mine Company and its history.
The main gallery in the old Main Office space
The main gallery of the museum has a mixture of more mining artifacts and town objects that cover the history of the town.
The ‘250th Anniversary exhibition of the town and its mining past
For the ‘250th Celebration’ of our country, the museum created an interesting display of the formation of the community around the mining industry to its growth today.
The Mining and Equipment display
Community artifacts
Pictures of the police and fire department’s in this small mining community
https://www.franklintwpnj.org/departments/police-department
https://www.facebook.com/FranklinBoroughPolice
https://www.franklinborough.org/index.php/public-safety/fire-department
The main gallery display
My next stop was the Sparta Train Station Museum housed in the old town stop. The museum looked like it had gone through a complete renovation from top to bottom. I have to admit that it was tough to find with all the twists and turns down the road and they did not mark it with a sign at the bottom of the road.
When I visited the Old Sparta Train Station Museum as part of the Sussex Heritage Weekend, it was a fascinating trip back in time to when these rural communities started getting connected to the cities after the Civil War.
The old Sparta Train Station
https://www.facebook.com/SpartaTrainStation
Open: The museum is seasonable and open for special events. Please check out their website for more information. Open for the Sussex County Heritage weekend event.
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
The museum was at the beginning stages of development with displays being created in the rail system in Sussex County and train artifacts that were mounted on display. There was a model train set chugging along a train route.
The side view of the station
The plaque dedicated to the train station
The water tower outside the train station on the station’s grounds
The grounds where the station and the water tower are located are still an active train line.
The inside gallery at the Sparta Train Station Museum
The back part of the station’s gallery
Old travel equipment used on the train rails
Though the collection is small for now, the docents explained they will continue to add more to the collection. They were also a wonder book of knowledge on the history of this area of New Jersey.
The history of the museum
The building and the museum have had quite the history. This includes the fire and the rebuilding.
The train displays
The train display
The engine display
The museum on my bucket list and I managed to visit was the Hill Memorial Museum at 82 Main Street in Downtown Newton, NJ, the County seat of Sussex County, NJ. The museum is rarely ever open and because it is run solely by volunteers it is open from just from 9:00am-1:00pm on Fridays. This is too bad since this is such a fascinating museum with interesting displays. One of the displays I was most interested in was their dinosaur exhibition.
The front of the Hill Memorial Museum at 82 Main Street
https://www.facebook.com/SussexCountyHistoricalSocietyNj
Open: Sunday-Thursday Closed/Friday 9:00am-1:00pm/Saturday Closed
Admission: Free but donations are accepted
My review on TripAdvisor:
The front sign to the museum
The History of the Hill Memorial Museum:
(from the museum website)
The Hill Memorial was constructed in 1916 by Newton contractor Thomas Farrel in renaissance revival style according to the design of Henry T. Stephens, a Paterson architect. It was built for the society’s use by donations from Joshua Hill, a native of Sussex County and was dedicated on Founder’s Day, June 8, 1917. The building was named in memory of Joshua’s parents, Luther and Abigail (Dildine) Hill, and his uncle, Joseph Price Hill. The building is faced with two shades of tapestry brick furnished by the N.H. Sloan kilns of Pennsylvania. The main entrance is ornamented with a portico and door casings manufactured by the Brick Terra Cotta & Tile Company of Corning, New York. The main architectural feature of the entry hall is the grand staircase of quartered oak.
The Hill Memorial Museum Mission Statement:
(from the museum website)
The purpose of the SCHS is to promote public knowledge and interest in the history of Sussex County, New Jersey, and surrounding areas by:
- Compiling, publishing and disseminating information;
- Collecting, preserving and studying historical, genealogical and archaeological records, documents, papers and artifacts;
- Maintaining a public museum;
- Promoting the preservation and protection of buildings, cemeteries and other sites of historic interest and co-operating with other organizations of similar interest.
During the Sussex Heritage Weekend, one of the museums on my bucket list was the Hill Memorial Museum, the home of the Sussex County Historical Society. The museum has very limited hours and I have been wanting to visit since last summer. The museum is worth the wait. What an interesting museum filled with fascinating artifacts found from all corners of Sussex County, NJ. The collections fills two floors that also include a historical room and a research library.
The entrance foyer to the museum is quite grand
The museum home to an extensive collection of artifacts and does an interesting job of displaying these objects case by case. Each case holds a story of businesses, the participation of the community in wars, parks and schools and daily life over the last hundred years. The museum is a treasure trove of information on not just the County but the State of New Jersey as well.
Historic musical instruments on display along the stairs
The Second Floor Galleries of the Hill Memorial Museum:
(from the museum website)
The Victorian display in the upstairs gallery were custom made for jeweler H.D. Couse, and donated by his successor, John Coats Sr., when Coats Jewelry Store moved from the Cochran House to 103 Spring Street in 1950. Here are displayed some of the Society’s collections including the partial skeleton of a Mastodon discovered in 1962 during the dredging of a bog at Camp Auxilium in Hampton Township. New exhibits include “The History of” Farming, Railroads, and Creameries “of Sussex County”. The Civil War display now includes information about 22 Soldiers who rest across the street in the Old Newton Burial Ground.
The second floor is where the larger part of the gallery and displays are located. Each case-line has a different category of artifacts depending on the theme. The main room is used as a meeting space for organization meetings and lectures for the community. The room is surrounding on all sides by cases filled with different objects depending on the subject matter.
The main gallery and meeting room on the second floor
The back of the main gallery behind the meeting space is lined with glass and wood case lines of artifacts from the County of Sussex, NJ
Each case line has a different set of displays:
The first display case was lined with dinosaur bones locally found and the Woolly Mammoth skull and bones found in the County is the highlight of the collection
The Native American and Lenape display of domestic and agriculture artifacts
The 250th Anniversary display
The Sussex County farming and agriculture display
The Sussex County Railroad display
The Dairy industry case
The World War I display and veterans memorabilia
The rail system in Sussex County
The vintage Toy display
It was interesting to look at the vintage toy collection as you wonder today if children in the twenty-first century still have the same imagination as the children in the 19th century. I think creativity comes from within.
The vintage doll
The vintage rocking horse
The World War II display
After the tour of the museum was over, I toured the historic Green in the middle of the downtown. Downtown Newton as the County Seat of Sussex County is coming into its own as the City gentrifies bringing in new restaurants and shops. The Green was in bloom with Fall colors. Lots of restaurants are in the process of opening and their are lots of coffee shops as well.
Downtown Newton in the Fall of 2026
https://www.newtontownhall.com/346/Explore-Newtons-Vibrant-Dining-Scene-for
https://www.newtontownhall.com/181/Maps-of-Newton
The historic Newton Green
The historic marker of the Green
The colorful gardens and the historic County Courthouse in the distance
The history of the Green
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_New_Jersey
I really learned a lot about the City of Newton both inside the museum and outside. This is a community that is still writing its own history.
As the afternoon wore to an end, my last stop of the afternoon was the Stillwater Historical Museum in Newton, NJ. The museum was located in the most historical and quaint town that looked like a town plopped from Vermont instead in a town located about an hour outside Manhattan.
The front of the Stillwater Historical Society at 900 Main Street in Newton, NJ
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HistoricStillwater
https://www.historicstillwater.org
Admission: Free but donations are appreciated
Open: check the website for hours/Seasonal
My review on TripAdvisor:
The Historical Society is set up like a General store on the first floor with displays with merchandise of the past and household items. They have recreated the recreation of the past with a modern twist. How did a small town buy and sell a hundred years ago? How did they socialize when this was the place of communication?
The sign for the museum
The Historical Society of Stillwater Township:
(from the museum pamphlet)
Since its organization in 1977, the mission of the Society has been to foster and promote an interest in Stillwater area history by maintaining a museum and reference library of historic artifacts and genealogical records of area families and support preservation efforts of historic structures sites and events.
Through the generous foresight and planning of Mr. Amos F. Dixon and his wife, Mrs. Mary W. Dixon, the museum associated with the Historical Society of Stillwater Township has been located within the Neighborhood House on Main Street in Stillwater since 1954. Originally a one room schoolhouse from 1842 to 1909 and the home of Mary W. Dixon Library, within the building are interpretive displays of a restored schoolroom and a general store with a post office. A collection of artifacts depicting the early life of the village and surrounding area is on display as well as a costume collection, mineral collection, Native American artifacts and military items dating back to the Revolutionary War. Genealogical records, photographs and newspaper clippings of historic significance to the area and its families are part of the Reference Library.
The first floor gallery of the Stillwater Historical Society is set up like a general store.
The first floor gallery
The History of the Museum:
(from the museum pamphlet)
The museum’s collection has grown and flourished throughout the years thanks to generous donations from the Stillwater community. The Society is always seeking locally-relevant physical artifacts and genealogical information. Dedicated members are working to preserve the artifacts and we are currently computerizing our collections to make the information.
The Preservation of the Museum:
(from the museum pamphlet)
Along with the continued preservation of the Museum and its artifacts, the society has supported the concept of an historic district in Stillwater and recently assisted in the historic registry designation of the Shafer Grist Mill in Stillwater village. The Society & the Casper Shafer residence on Main Street previously assisted with the preservation of Keen’s Mill in the Swartswood Lake area.
The Van Horn family burial plot is also preserved and maintained by the Society. The Society supports all efforts to preserve these and other important historic structures and to make them available for public enjoyment and educational purposes.
To support Stillwater’s community life, the Society hosts educational programs and fund-raising events throughout the year. Past topics have included the evolution of grist mills, herbal remedies used during the 18th Century, Revolutionary War weaponry, the Tocks Island Project and historic cemeteries. Fundraising events range from festivals featuring music, food and games to seasonal bus tours.
The General Store display
The General Store display
The old pot belly stove the center of the General store
The stove of the old General Store
The pot belly stove
Kitchen artifacts
Local artifacts from the Stillwater community
The second floor galleries were broken up into two different sections, Native American and early settler artifacts plus part of the building was once a schoolhouse so the museum also set up a schoolhouse display.
The Lenape Native American display
Native American artifacts
Native American artifacts
This was the old stage of the elementary school now being used to house the Children’s display.
The Children’s Schoolhouse display on the old second floor stage
The other side of the second floor galleries houses clothes, accessories and household goods. The clothing was beautifully displayed.
The second part of the second floor galleries
The back part of the second galleries
It really was an interesting little museum with wonderful artifacts nicely displayed throughout the museum. The museum did a nice job with this.
The Morning clothing display
Day and Evening dresses
Hats and gloves and other accessories
Military outfits and some formal clothing
Farming equipment
Farming equipment
As the museum started to close down after a long afternoon of activities, I toured the surrounding community of Stillwater, NJ. It was a small farming community with the beautiful character to it from the farms with the Fall crops being harvested to the historical homes centered by an historical church that now served as a cultural center.
The Town of Stillwater, NJ:
(from the museum pamphlet)
https://www.historicstillwater.org/township-overview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stillwater_Township,_New_Jersey
Stillwater Township is located in Sussex County, eights miles west of Newton. Its encompasses an area of 28 square miles. Three small villages: Stillwater, Middleville and Swartswood, together with residents now residing in what was only a few years ago a farming community, compete its population of approximately 4,500.
After my tour of the Stillwater Historical Society Museum, I took a walk in the rural downtown of Stillwater, NJ. I felt like I was in a quaint New England village and not twenty miles from Manhattan.
The beautiful Victorian homes
The town was decorated for upcoming Halloween
The General Store restaurant downtown
The farm view from the downtown
The historic sign for the old Casper Shafer farm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casper_Shafer
https://www.sussex.nj.us/585/Casper-Shafer
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HistoricStillwater/permalink/10159716198614329
The original farmhouse decorated for the Halloween holidays
The ghost on their porch
The picturesque farmland
The farm stand in front of the house (on the honor system)
The plant and pumpkin stand on the farm (also on the honor system)
The also had a arranged flower stand with colorful Fall flowers
The back of the old Shafer farm in the Fall
The town was so beautiful and picturesque and it was so much fun just walking around looking at the foliage. It was also a nice way to end my tour on the Sussex County Heritage Tour for the afternoon. I could not believe I was still in New Jersey. After the tour was over, it was time for a late lunch. I doubled back down Route 94 to a pizzeria I had passed earlier.
For dinner that evening before I went home was at Luigi’s Pizzeria at 397 State Highway 94 in Newton, NJ. The pizzeria looked like it had just opened and it was one of the only restaurants that I had passed along the highway since I had left Downtown Newton.
https://luigispizzeriaofnewton.com
My review on TripAdvisor:
I had a very nice lunch. I kept it simple and had a slice of Cheese pizza for my late lunch. The service was very nice and I enjoyed just sitting and relaxing after a long day of driving.
The selection of pizzas in the case to choose from
It was nice to just sit and relax over lunch of a slice of Cheese Pizza and a cold Mountain Dew
It had been a really nice day of touring and I got to see communities that I had never been to before and I have lived in New Jersey my whole life. It was interesting to view the history of these communities and see how important the mining industry was once to this area of our state. It never ceases to amaze me how much I do not know about the State of New Jersey. It was a fun day on a sunny Fall day just to get in the car and just drive around the County of Sussex. It was unfortunate that it poured like crazy the next day so I only got the one day. There is always next year.
The Sussex County Heritage Weekend is every October.
Places to Visit:
Old Schoolhouse and Firehouse Museum
6 Passaic Avenue
Ogdensburg, NJ 07439
https://www.sussex.nj.us/561/Old-Schoolhouse-Fire-Museum
https://www.facebook.com/oburghistoricalsocietypage
Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm (Only on the forth Sunday of the Month) Monday-Saturday Closed-Check the website for seasonality.
Admission: Free but a donation is appreciated
My review on TripAdvisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/14495681?m=19905
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Sparta Historical Society/Van Kirk Homestead
336 Main Street
Sparta, NJ 07871
(973) 726-0883
https://www.vankirkmuseum.org/gardens.htm
https://www.sussexskylands.com/listing/sparta-historical-society-van-kirk-homestead-museum/90
Admission: The admission is free except when there is a special event and price is determined by the event
Open: Sunday 1:00pm-4:00pm (Second & Forth of each month)/Monday-Saturday Closed
The Museum is open from April-December. Please check website for seasonality.
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Old Monroe Schoolhouse/Hardyston Historical Inc.
3134 NJ 94
Franklin, NJ 07416
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Old-Monroe-School-House/133026696732235
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Franklin Heritage Museum
95 Main Street
Franklin, NJ 07416
(973) 827-3481
Open: Seasonal please check the website
Admission: Free but donations are appreciated
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Sparta Train Station
30 Station Road
Sparta, NJ 07871
https://www.facebook.com/SpartaTrainStation
Open: The museum is seasonable and open for special events. Please check out their website for more information. Open for the Sussex County Heritage weekend event.
Admission: Free
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
The Hill Memorial Museum/Sussex County Historical Society
82 Main Street
Newton, NJ 07860
(973) 383-6010
https://www.facebook.com/SussexCountyHistoricalSocietyNj
Open: Sunday-Thursday Closed/Friday 9:00am-1:00pm/Saturday Closed
Admission: Free but donations are accepted
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Stillwater Historical Museum/Historical Society of Stillwater
900 Main Street
Newton, NJ 07860
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HistoricStillwater
https://www.historicstillwater.org
Admission: Free but donations are appreciated
Open: check the website for hours/Seasonal
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Places to Eat:
Luigi’s Pizzeria
397 State Highway 94
Newton, NJ 07840
(862) 389-4119
https://luigispizzeriaofnewton.com
Open: Sunday-Saturday 10:30am-9:30pm
My review on TripAdvisor:
