by Charlie Fineran

On Saturday, November 4, 2023 I was at Rutherfurd Hall along with other volunteers conducting tours throughout the building, our guests were participating in this year’s Explore Warren History Trail 2023!!  What a Great and Busy Day!!

Many of Warren County’s historic sites participated in the annual self-guided county-wide tour, with family activities at each location, on November 4-5, 2023. Each stop along the trail offered something different and exciting for the whole family.  The Explore Warren History Trail activities were divided into two segments, Northern Warren County Sites were open on Saturday and Southern Warren County Sites were open on Sunday.  The Weather was perfect!!!  Our visitors not only had wonderful On-site experiences!!  They were also treated to Warren County’s Famous Natural Beauty during their travels about to all the sites!!

NORTHERN SITES

Millbrook Village

Vass Farmstead

Blairstown

Johnsonburg

Rutherfurd Hall

Moravian Village of Hope

Ramsayburg Homestead

Belvidere

SOUTHERN SITES

***NOTICE – Morris Canal, Inclined Plane 9 west***  Not included due to flood damage to access bridge!!

Ladies and Gentlemen while this message reports on recent activities at these sites KEEP IN MIND these are great places to visit for Your future adventures!! 

IMPORTANT NOTE:  As it approaches its bicentennial in 2024-2025, Warren County will celebrate a remarkable history as well as its reputation for the cleanest waterways and richest farmland in New Jersey. This History stems from wilderness times, well before, the county’s official formation, through 1824 legislation, and our celebration, continues thru and includes right up to current times!!!  Our area’s earliest settlements were in Greenwich, Oxford Furnace, and Pahaquarry. GREENWICH, situated at the confluence of the Delaware and Musconetcong Rivers, was the gateway for the northward migration of Quaker, German, and Scots-Irish settlers landing at Philadelphia. OXFORD FURNACE’S first pioneers arrived in 1726, but real growth followed the building of the furnace in 1741, creating Warren County’s first hub of commercial activity and population growth. PAHAQUARRY, in 1732, Abraham Van Campen built a mill in what became the tiny village of Calno in Pahaquarry, the southernmost settlement in a chain of Dutch villages extending down the Minisink Valley from Esopus (now Kingston), New York. Warren County’s agricultural heritage, in combination with eighteenth and nineteenth century innovations in transportation and industry, are important chapters in the rural American tradition.

Go to Explore Warren History Trail | Explore Warren History Trail for more information & PHOTOS of ALL SITES  The above photos are from my archives, I don’t have all the sites.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR VISITING THESE WARREN COUNTY TREASURES!!!  THANK ALL THE VOLUNTEERS AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONS FOR MAKING THIS POSSIBLE  !!

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran