Paulins Kill
Encyclopedia
The Paulins Kill is a 41.6 miles (66.9 km) tributary of the Delaware River
in northwestern New Jersey
in the United States. It is New Jersey's third largest contributor (behind the Musconetcong River
and Maurice River
) to the Delaware River in terms of long-term median flow—flowing at a rate of 76 cubic feet of water per second (2.15 m³/s). The Paulins Kill drains an area of 176.85 square miles (458 km²) across portions of two counties (Sussex
and Warren
) consisting of eleven municipalities. The Paulins Kill, which flows north from its source near Newton, New Jersey
, and then turns southwest. The river is located in the Ridge and Valley geophysical province.
The Paulins Kill was a conduit for the emigration
of Palatine Germans
who settled in northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania
during the colonial period
and the American Revolution
. Remnants of their settlement are still found in local architecture
and cemeteries
. The results of these settlements were chiefly agricultural
, as evinced by surviving farm
s and mills
, and the area remains largely rural
to this day.
Flowing through rural sections of Sussex
and Warren
counties, the Paulins Kill is regarded as an excellent venue for fly fishing
. The surrounding area has hiking
, other forms of recreation
such as observation of a multitude of species of birds
and other wildlife
.
, is fed by several mountain streams, many of which are unnamed. However, several larger named streams contribute their waters to the Paulinskill at various points along its 41.6 miles (66.9 km) length.
The river was formed after the Wisconsin Glacier melted 13,000 years ago. As the glacier melted due to climate change, a lake was formed just north of Newton. The lake drained by following the slope of the Martinsburg Shale. The river flows over the Martinsburg Shale formation. The hills in Newton prevented the lake from draining south, so the lake drained north and thus the Paulins Kill was born. Melt water from the glacier created other streams which flowed into the Paulins Kill.
The main branch of the Paulins Kill begins to form immediately north of Newton, New Jersey
, in the marshes that straddle Newton. The headwaters start near Route 622 in Fredon Township
. The headwaters are two very small brooks, west of Newton in Fredon Township. Moore's Brook is one of several small mountain streams, some beginning at small ponds, that enter the Paulins Kill near its source. The east branch of the Paulins Kill originates in Lafayette Township and flow northwest to meet the Paulins Kill river in Lafayette Township. The river flows northward into Lafayette Township
before curving west where it meets with Culver's Lake Creek in which is also fed by Dry Brook in Branchville. Culver's Lake Creek begins at Culver's Lake, which is fed by Lake Owassa
, which is fed by the Bear Swamp, all in the western portion of Frankford Township. Culver's Lake Creek flows east through Branchville
before the creek merges with the Paulins Kill just southwest of the Augusta Hill Road bridge.
The reason why the Paulins Kill flows west after the town of Lafayette is because the Wisconsin Glacier left end moraines just south of Augusta which made the river flow west until it went around the end moraines.
The Paulins Kill then flows southwest for the rest of its journey, through Hampton
and Stillwater
townships in Sussex County
. Trout Brook, which rises on Kittatinny Mountain, flows into the Paulins Kill near Middleville in Stillwater Township. Swartswood Lake
feeds Trout Brook through Keen's Mill Brook. The Paulins Kill continues its course southwest, entering Warren County
, where it initially forms the border between Frelinghuysen
and Hardwick
townships. It enters Blairstown immediately after, where it is joined by Blair Creek, named (as is the town) for John Insley Blair
(1802–1899), as well as Jacksonburg Creek, Susquehanna Creek, Dilts Creek and Walnut Creek. Yards Creek, which rises at the Yards Creek reservoir in Blairstown, enters the Paulins Kill near the hamlet of Hainesburg in Knowlton Township
. Finally, in Warren County its waters enter the Delaware River
just south of the Delaware Water Gap
at the hamlet of Columbia in Knowlton Township.
A dam was built in the 1920s across the Paulins Kill in Stillwater Township, to create Paulinskill Lake, a narrow, 3 miles (4.8 km) body of water that stretches back into Hampton Township to the north. It was constructed in response to the 1914 establishment of Swartswood State Park
, to provide seasonal (summer) housing and recreation for vacationers from the New York metropolitan area. At present, it is a year-round residential community managed by a homeowners association.
Today, several dams and mill race
s remain from the grist
, saw
, oil
and fulling mills built along the river's banks during the 18th and 19th century, and continue to alter the course and flow of the river.
of the Appalachians. Kittatinny Mountain, which is a segment of the northeast extension of the Appalachians. Kittatinny Mountain was once known, historically as "Schawangunk Mountain" (as it is known north of the New York
-New Jersey
border), or "Pahaqualong Mountain". This ridge was largely formed by folding and faulting due to a continental strike of a long and thin continent that struck proto North America. 450 million years ago. To the east of Kittatinny Valley is the New York – New Jersey Highlands region, a geological formation composed primarily of Precambrian
igneous and metamorphic rock—within New Jersey. Elevations within the Highlands region separate the Paulins Kill watershed from the watersheds of the Pequest River
and Musconetcong River
located a few miles to the east.
The Paulins Kill and its watershed share the Kittatinny Valley, once known as the Mamakating valley with Papakating Creek
, which flows northward to the Wallkill River
and is a part of the Hudson River
watershed. At their closest, the Papakating Creek and Paulins Kill flow within 1 miles (1.6 km) of each other, in Frankford Township
in Sussex County
.
This is due to end moraines from the Wisconsin Glacier, which is a set of hills which prevent Papakating Creek from flowing into the Paulins Kill River.
Board of Geographic Names
decided that the official spelling of the name would be Paulins Kill in 1898. Other spellings (Pawlins Kill or Paulinskill) have remained in common use. The use of Paulinskill River, however—while often used—is redundant as Kill
is a geographic designation for a small stream or creek, derived from Dutch
.
Local tradition says that the Paulins Kill was named for a girl named Pauline, the daughter of a Hessian
soldier. During the American Revolution
, Hessian soldiers captured at the Battle of Trenton
and other skirmishes within New Jersey were held as prisoners of war
in the Stillwater area. Several of these Hessians are alleged to have deserted the British and taken up residence in Stillwater because of the village's predominantly German emigrant population. The assumption is that the name Paulins Kill was derived from "Pauline's Kill". However, the fact that the name Paulins Kill is present on maps and surveys dating from the 1740s and 1750s—two and three decades before the Revolution—negates the veracity of this tradition. Some local traditions state that the girl's name was Pauline Snover. However, extant genealogical records do not indicate that any person existed by that name at that time.
Two other possibilities for the naming of the Paulins Kill are more likely. First, that the wife of one of the area's first settler
s, Johan Peter Bernhardt (died 1748), was named Maria Paulina and that she had died prior to the first settlement at Stillwater in 1742. However, very few records are extant detailing Bernhardt's family. The second and most likely etymological origin is that the Native American name given to the mountain on the valley's western flank, Pahaqualong (also spelled Pahaqualin, Pohoqualin and Pahaquarra) may have been corrupted and anglicized to a spelling such as "Paulins" by early white settlers or surveyors. Pahaqualong is roughly translated as “end of two mountains with stream between”, from a combination of the words pe’uck meaning “water hole,” qua meaning “boundary,” and the suffix -onk meaning “place.” This translation is thought to refer either to the valley of the Paulins Kill itself, or to the Delaware Water Gap
. Local tradition does place an Indian village named Pahaquarra near the mouth of the Paulinskill which is immediately south of the Delaware Water Gap. Likewise, the former Pahaquarry Township
in Warren County
derived its name from this origin.
A village named Paulina located a short distance east of Blairstown on Route 94
, is said to have been named "from the stream upon which it is located." William Armstrong, a local settler, built the first grist mill there along the river in 1768, and the village took root.
The Paulins Kill was originally known as the Tockhockonetcong by the local Native Americans, who were likely Munsee, a tribe
or phratry
of the Lenni Lenape. The name Tockhockonetcong (or Tockhockonetcunk) roughly translates to "stream that comes from Tok-Hok-Nok"—Tok-hok-nok being an Indian village believed to been within the boundaries of present-day Newton, New Jersey
, near which the eastern (main) branch of the Paulins Kill begins, and the Lenape
roots hannek meaning "stream" and the suffix -ong denoting "place".
(known as the Wisconsin glaciation
). At the time of the first settlement by emigrating Europeans in this region, it was populated by the Munsee tribe of the Lenni Lenape (or Delaware) Indians. Artifacts (often of stone, clay or bone) of the Native American culture are often found in nearby farm fields and at the site of their ancient villages.
Typically, early European settlement along the Paulins Kill was by Palatine Germans who had emigrated to the New World via the port of Philadelphia from 1720 to 1800. Many had trekked north through the valley of the Delaware and settled along the Musconetcong
, Pequest
and Paulins Kill valleys in New Jersey
and along the Lehigh River
valley in Pennsylvania
. Areas along the Paulins Kill generally were not settled until the 1740s and 1750s. Often villages established and settled by German emigrants remained culturally German well into the Nineteenth Century, with German Lutheran and Reformed churches (often as "Union" churches) established shortly after the first settlements (as was the case in Knowlton and in Stillwater). However, by the early Nineteenth Century, many descendants of these German settlers removed to newly opened lands in the West (i.e. Ohio
, the Northwest Territory
, the Southern Tier
of New York) and those that remained had assimilated into English-speaking culture, and the German Reformed or Lutheran Churches often became Presbyterian
. The German cultural impact of this community can still be seen in local architecture—most notably in barns and in stone houses—and in cemeteries
containing intricately carved gravestones
often bearing archaic German text
and funerary
symbols. English, Scottish, Welsh settlers located in the Paulins Kill valley throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century, often traveling north from Philadelphia, or west from Long Island
, Newark
, and Elizabethtown
(now Elizabeth).
The area around present-day Stillwater was first settled by the family of Casper Shafer (1712–1784), a Palatine German who had emigrated to Philadelphia a few years earlier. Shafer, with his father-in-law, Johan Peter Bernhardt (?–1748), and his brother-in-law Johann Georg Windemuth (or John George Wintermute) (1711–1782), settled at Stillwater in 1742. Both Shafer and Windemuth were married to Bernhardt's daughters. Shafer, who operated a grist mill at Stillwater starting in 1746, transported flour
, fruit
, and other products by flatboat
down the Paulins Kill and the Delaware River to the market in Philadelphia. Most of the New Jersey shoreline and cities such as Elizabethtown and Newark were practically unknown to the German settlers along the Paulins Kill who learned of the existence of these cities only through trade with the local Lenni Lenape. Part of this was because of the incredible hardship of an overland journey east to these cities resulting from a lack of roads.
The first road connecting Elizabethtown, and Morristown
with settlements along the Delaware River, was the Military Road
built by Jonathan Hampton (1711–1777) in 1755–1756. This road, which crosses the Paulins Kill at present-day Baleville, in Hampton Township, was built to supply fortifications built in the Delaware valley at this time to protect New Jersey during the French and Indian War
. Very few passable, large roads were built in this section of New Jersey, then largely a sparsely populated wilderness, before the creation of turnpike companies in the early decades of the Nineteenth Century. During much of the mid-eighteenth century, trade in the northwestern reaches of New Jersey was conducted through Philadelphia by way of the Delaware River.
About the year 1760, Mark Thomson
(1739–1803) settled in Hardwick Township (now Frelinghuysen Township) and erected a gristmill and sawmill on the Paulins Kill. The settlement that arose was later named Marksboro in his honour. Thomson, who removed to Changewater in Hunterdon County
, became an officer in the Continental Army
during the American Revolution
, and served two terms in the House of Representatives.
From the standpoint of conservation
, the Paulins Kill has benefited from having remained chiefly a pastoral river in a largely undeveloped area of New Jersey. No significant industry had developed since the 1740s to cause irreversible damage to the flow of the river or to heavily pollute
its waters. During this time, the river was dammed to provide power to the only industries established in these small rural towns: grist
, saw
, oil
, and fulling mills. Many of the dams that once powered the mills, and the electrical power plant at Branchville
established in 1903, have been breached, or no longer impede the flow of the river.
Columbia, a hamlet near the mouth of the Paulins Kill in Knowlton Township
, was known for a large glass
manufacturing factory. Near Columbia, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
also constructed the Paulinskill Viaduct
(known also as the Hainesburg Viaduct), a bridge crossing the Paulins Kill along the Lackawanna Cut-Off rail corridor. Begun in 1908, this bridge was deemed an engineering
marvel for its use of reinforced concrete
. Spanning 1,100 feet (335 m) across the Paulins Kill Valley, the Viaduct rises 115 feet (35 m) above the valley floor, and opened for rail traffic in 1911. It was the largest such viaduct in the world until 1915, when the Lackawanna Railroad opened the Tunkhannock Viaduct
in Nicholson, Pennsylvania
spanning over twice the Paulinskill Viaduct's length. Currently abandoned, several plans are underway by New Jersey Transit
to open the route as a passenger line to Scranton
, Pennsylvania
. This site is commonly visited by adventure-seeking individuals
. Today Interstate 80
crosses the Paulins Kill near Columbia.
However, despite its rural character, the Paulins Kill is still impacted by pollution
, chiefly through nearby residential developments and farm run-off
(agricultural pesticide
s and fertilizer
s), known as "non-point pollution." Several farm
s are located along the banks of the Paulins Kill, raising crops including such grain-producing grasses as alfalfa
, wheat
, corn
, hay
(and historically barley
, buckwheat
and rye
). Fruit trees in orchard
s produce cherries, apple
, plum
, peach
and pear
, while native wild grape
vines, and blackberry
bushes are also found in the valley.
The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group
(NJPIRG) has ranked the Paulins Kill as the seventh in a collection of rivers and creeks in a Top 30 listing of New Jersey waterways to Save Also, New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection often brings civil actions against local firms that deliberately pollute in the Paulins Kill watershed, most recently levying a $121,500 fine against a Sussex County shopping mall owner who discharged pollutants from a sewage treatment facility into the main branch near Newton, New Jersey between 1996 and 1998.
Recent development, prompted by an enlarging New York City Metropolitan area, has led to development issues which could threaten the Paulins Kill's future. A public sewer and water project in Branchville, New Jersey was halted in the 2000 out of concern for a population of Dwarf wedgemussel
s (Alasmidonta heterodon), an endangered species. This project was reauthorized in 2002. The Paulins Kill is also home to a wide variety of amphibians, including the Spotted Salamander
, Red Spotted Newt, American Toad
, Fowler's Toad, American Bull Frog
and others.
, canoeing
, hiking
, hunting
and fishing
, and is considered to be one of the best trout
streams in New Jersey. As in the past, the Paulins Kill Valley remains rural, and the landscape is dotted with many horse and dairy farms
along its entire length.
, such as rainbow trout
, brown trout
and brook trout
, Trout are stocked each year during the spring fishing season by New Jersey's Division of Fish & Wildlife. Hardly any wild trout are found. This is due to the river getting shallow in summer and warm. The river owes its fly fishing
reputation largely to the prolific populations of various species of the mayfly
and caddisfly
. Historically, the Paulins Kill was known to be populated with American shad
, but with the construction of mill dams across the river in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the shad were unable to spawn in the river. Shad can still be found in the Delaware River.
Other fish in the river are Suckers and Blue Gills.
, established in 1914 as the first and oldest state park in New Jersey, is on 2272 acres (919.4 ha) just north of Paulins Kill Lake in Sussex County. Along Kittatinny Ridge in the northern part of the watershed are parts of Worthington State Forest
(west), Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
(central), and Stokes State Forest
s (east). In addition to these state forests, the Paulins Kill valley is host to a variety of common coniferous
and deciduous
trees, which have been harvested for lumber
in the past, including: White
and Black Oak, Buttonwood
, Eastern Red Cedar, Eastern Hemlock
, American Chestnut
, Black Walnut
, Tamarack Larch
, Spruce
, and Pine
. Trees that add to the beauty of the fall foliage include Maple
, Birch
, Hickory
, Elm
, and Crab Apple.
New Jersey's Green Acres program has targeted the Paulins Kill and its surrounding valley as an excellent natural resources for open space and farmland preservation and recreational opportunities. The state, working together with agricultural development boards in Sussex and Warren Counties, and with the Ridge and Valley Conservancy, a local nonprofit land trust, share land acquisition costs to enter tracts of real estate into the program. Since 1983, several farms across New Jersey have sold development rights to the county programs. Sussex County has permanently preserved 12242 acres (4,954.2 ha) of woodland and farmland. Likewise, Warren County has preserved 100 farm properties, comprising over 12200 acres (4,937.2 ha).
In addition, four Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are in the Paulins Kill valley area: Bear Swamp WMA, Trout Brook WMA, White Lake WMA, and Columbia Lake WMA. Together they comprise 6,564 acres (2656 ha) of protected lands, mostly acquired through "Green Acres" funds. Hunting and trapping are permitted in season in many of these protected areas. Common game animals include White-tailed Deer
, Eastern Coyote
, Red Fox
, Gray Fox
, Opossum, Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
, Raccoon
, Gray
and Red Squirrel
, Beaver
, Muskrat
, and Woodchuck or Groundhog. Common game birds include Ring-necked Pheasant, Eastern Wild Turkey, American Crow
, and Canada Goose
.
The Paulins Kill watershed is home to a variety of other animals. Other mammals include Eastern Chipmunk
, Porcupine
, Black Bear
, Striped Skunk
, River Otter
, and Bobcat
. Common northeastern American reptiles found there include snakes such as the American Copperhead
, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
, Northern Water Snake
, Common Garter Snake
and Milk Snake
, and turtles, including the Eastern Box Turtle, and Common Snapping Turtle.
—a network of trails along abandoned railroad beds of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad
—have been transformed and maintained for hiking
, horseback riding, and other recreational uses, stretches for 27 miles (43.5 km) from Sparta Junction
in Sussex County
to Columbia
in Warren County
, roughly following the entire length of the river. After the New York, Susquehanna and Western decommissioned the route in 1962, the right-of-way along this corridor was purchased by the City of Newark the following year. Newark hoped to use the bed for a water pipeline connecting to the proposed dam and reservoir project
on the Delaware River
. However, this project—controversial from the start because of environmental concerns and the federal government's abuse of eminent domain—was canceled during the 1970s. Newark sold their claim to the corridor in 1992 to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for $600,000, and the Paulinskill Valley Trail was created. The Appalachian Trail
follows the top of Kittatinny Ridge at the northern edge of the valley.
, Barn Swallow
, Field Sparrow
, Blue Jay
, Black-capped Chickadee
, Northern Cardinal
, Red-winged Blackbird
and the American Goldfinch
. Also sighted are several species of Woodpecker, including Red-headed
, Red-bellied
, and Downy
, and the endangered Pileated Woodpecker
, as well as the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
. Often sighted are water fowl such as the Mute Swan
, the Wood Duck
, and the Mallard
, wading birds such as the Killdeer
, and predators such as the Red-tailed Hawk
. More rare birds sighted in the Paulins Kill valley include: Purple martin
, Scarlet Tanager
, Indigo Bunting
, Baltimore Oriole
, Purple Finch
, and a variety of owls, notably the Barn
, Eastern Screech
, Great Horned
, Snowy
, Barred
, and Northern Saw-whet Owl
.
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
in northwestern New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in the United States. It is New Jersey's third largest contributor (behind the Musconetcong River
Musconetcong River
The Musconetcong River is a tributary of the Delaware River in northwestern New Jersey in the United States. It flows through the rural mountainous country of northwestern New Jersey. Part of it is a National Wild and Scenic River....
and Maurice River
Maurice River
The Maurice River is a river that empties into the Delaware Bay in southern New Jersey in the United States.The Maurice River, pronounced "Morris", is approximately long and is the second longest and largest tributary to Delaware Bay. Its watershed includes an extensive southern portion of the...
) to the Delaware River in terms of long-term median flow—flowing at a rate of 76 cubic feet of water per second (2.15 m³/s). The Paulins Kill drains an area of 176.85 square miles (458 km²) across portions of two counties (Sussex
Sussex County, New Jersey
The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...
and Warren
Warren County, New Jersey
Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...
) consisting of eleven municipalities. The Paulins Kill, which flows north from its source near Newton, New Jersey
Newton, New Jersey
Newton is a town in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 8,244. It is the county seat of Sussex County....
, and then turns southwest. The river is located in the Ridge and Valley geophysical province.
The Paulins Kill was a conduit for the emigration
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
of Palatine Germans
German Palatines
The German Palatines were natives of the Electoral Palatinate region of Germany, although a few had come to Germany from Switzerland, the Alsace, and probably other parts of Europe. Towards the end of the 17th century and into the 18th, the wealthy region was repeatedly invaded by French troops,...
who settled in northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
during the colonial period
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
and the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
. Remnants of their settlement are still found in local architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and cemeteries
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
. The results of these settlements were chiefly agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
, as evinced by surviving farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s and mills
Mill (grinding)
A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...
, and the area remains largely rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
to this day.
Flowing through rural sections of Sussex
Sussex County, New Jersey
The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...
and Warren
Warren County, New Jersey
Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...
counties, the Paulins Kill is regarded as an excellent venue for fly fishing
Fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...
. The surrounding area has hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
, other forms of recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
such as observation of a multitude of species of birds
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
and other wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
.
Rivers Course
The Paulins Kill, is a tributary of the Delaware RiverDelaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
, is fed by several mountain streams, many of which are unnamed. However, several larger named streams contribute their waters to the Paulinskill at various points along its 41.6 miles (66.9 km) length.
The river was formed after the Wisconsin Glacier melted 13,000 years ago. As the glacier melted due to climate change, a lake was formed just north of Newton. The lake drained by following the slope of the Martinsburg Shale. The river flows over the Martinsburg Shale formation. The hills in Newton prevented the lake from draining south, so the lake drained north and thus the Paulins Kill was born. Melt water from the glacier created other streams which flowed into the Paulins Kill.
The main branch of the Paulins Kill begins to form immediately north of Newton, New Jersey
Newton, New Jersey
Newton is a town in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 8,244. It is the county seat of Sussex County....
, in the marshes that straddle Newton. The headwaters start near Route 622 in Fredon Township
Fredon Township, New Jersey
Fredon Township is a Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 2,860....
. The headwaters are two very small brooks, west of Newton in Fredon Township. Moore's Brook is one of several small mountain streams, some beginning at small ponds, that enter the Paulins Kill near its source. The east branch of the Paulins Kill originates in Lafayette Township and flow northwest to meet the Paulins Kill river in Lafayette Township. The river flows northward into Lafayette Township
Lafayette Township, New Jersey
Lafayette Township is a Township located in the Skylands Region of Sussex County, New Jersey. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 2,300....
before curving west where it meets with Culver's Lake Creek in which is also fed by Dry Brook in Branchville. Culver's Lake Creek begins at Culver's Lake, which is fed by Lake Owassa
Lake Owassa
Lake Owassa is a lake in Sussex County, New Jersey, is fed by Bear Swamp, and feeds into Culver's Lake . It is at an elevation of...
, which is fed by the Bear Swamp, all in the western portion of Frankford Township. Culver's Lake Creek flows east through Branchville
Branchville, New Jersey
Branchville is a borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 841. The borough is located in the northernmost region of Sussex County....
before the creek merges with the Paulins Kill just southwest of the Augusta Hill Road bridge.
The reason why the Paulins Kill flows west after the town of Lafayette is because the Wisconsin Glacier left end moraines just south of Augusta which made the river flow west until it went around the end moraines.
The Paulins Kill then flows southwest for the rest of its journey, through Hampton
Hampton Township, New Jersey
Hampton Township is a Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 4,943....
and Stillwater
Stillwater Township, New Jersey
- History timeline :*1741, Casper Shafer built the Stillwater gristmill about half a mile from the present mill site.*1764, the Stillwater gristmill was moved to its present location and commercially operated there until 1955...
townships in Sussex County
Sussex County, New Jersey
The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...
. Trout Brook, which rises on Kittatinny Mountain, flows into the Paulins Kill near Middleville in Stillwater Township. Swartswood Lake
Swartswood State Park
Swartswood State Park, established in 1914, was the first State Park established by the state of New Jersey. In the center of the park are the Little Swartswood Lake and Swartswood Lake. Both have been the focus of water-quality improvement efforts by the state, including invasive aquatic-weed...
feeds Trout Brook through Keen's Mill Brook. The Paulins Kill continues its course southwest, entering Warren County
Warren County, New Jersey
Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...
, where it initially forms the border between Frelinghuysen
Frelinghuysen Township, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 2,083 people, 722 households, and 578 families residing in the township. The population density was 88.9 people per square mile . There were 755 housing units at an average density of 32.2 per square mile...
and Hardwick
Hardwick Township, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,464 people, 502 households, and 410 families residing in the township. The population density was 40.1 people per square mile . There were 530 housing units at an average density of 14.5 per square mile...
townships. It enters Blairstown immediately after, where it is joined by Blair Creek, named (as is the town) for John Insley Blair
John Insley Blair
John Insley Blair was an American entrepreneur, railroad magnate, philanthropist and one of the 19th century's wealthiest men.-Biography:...
(1802–1899), as well as Jacksonburg Creek, Susquehanna Creek, Dilts Creek and Walnut Creek. Yards Creek, which rises at the Yards Creek reservoir in Blairstown, enters the Paulins Kill near the hamlet of Hainesburg in Knowlton Township
Knowlton Township, New Jersey
- Local government :The Knowlton Township Committee consists of Mayor Frank Van Horn , Deputy Mayor Ronald Farber , Theresa Capriccio , René Mathez and Scott Odorizzi ....
. Finally, in Warren County its waters enter the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
just south of the Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap
The Delaware Water Gap is on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains...
at the hamlet of Columbia in Knowlton Township.
A dam was built in the 1920s across the Paulins Kill in Stillwater Township, to create Paulinskill Lake, a narrow, 3 miles (4.8 km) body of water that stretches back into Hampton Township to the north. It was constructed in response to the 1914 establishment of Swartswood State Park
Swartswood State Park
Swartswood State Park, established in 1914, was the first State Park established by the state of New Jersey. In the center of the park are the Little Swartswood Lake and Swartswood Lake. Both have been the focus of water-quality improvement efforts by the state, including invasive aquatic-weed...
, to provide seasonal (summer) housing and recreation for vacationers from the New York metropolitan area. At present, it is a year-round residential community managed by a homeowners association.
Today, several dams and mill race
Mill race
A mill race, raceway or mill lade is the current or channel of a stream, especially one for conducting water to or from a water wheel or other device for utilizing its energy...
s remain from the grist
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
, saw
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
, oil
Expeller
Expeller pressing is a mechanical method for extracting oil from raw materials. The raw materials are squeezed under high pressure in a single step. When used for the extraction of food oils, typical raw materials are nuts, seeds and algae, which are supplied to the press in a continuous feed....
and fulling mills built along the river's banks during the 18th and 19th century, and continue to alter the course and flow of the river.
Kittatinny Valley and Watershed
The Kittatinny Valley is drained by the Paulins Kill and other rivers such as the Wallkill River, and the Pequest River. To the west of this valley is the Kittatinny RidgeKittatinny Mountains
The Kittatinny Mountains are a long ridge traversing across northwestern New Jersey running in a northeast-southwest axis. It is the first major ridge in the far northeastern extension of the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian Mountains...
of the Appalachians. Kittatinny Mountain, which is a segment of the northeast extension of the Appalachians. Kittatinny Mountain was once known, historically as "Schawangunk Mountain" (as it is known north of the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
-New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
border), or "Pahaqualong Mountain". This ridge was largely formed by folding and faulting due to a continental strike of a long and thin continent that struck proto North America. 450 million years ago. To the east of Kittatinny Valley is the New York – New Jersey Highlands region, a geological formation composed primarily of Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
igneous and metamorphic rock—within New Jersey. Elevations within the Highlands region separate the Paulins Kill watershed from the watersheds of the Pequest River
Pequest River
The Pequest River is a tributary of the Delaware River in the Skylands Region in northwestern New Jersey in the United States.The Pequest, Native American for "open land", drains an area of across Sussex and Warren counties, consisting of ten municipalities....
and Musconetcong River
Musconetcong River
The Musconetcong River is a tributary of the Delaware River in northwestern New Jersey in the United States. It flows through the rural mountainous country of northwestern New Jersey. Part of it is a National Wild and Scenic River....
located a few miles to the east.
The Paulins Kill and its watershed share the Kittatinny Valley, once known as the Mamakating valley with Papakating Creek
Papakating Creek
Papakating Creek is a tributary of the Wallkill River in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States.The headwaters of this creek lie between Branchville and Wykertown, with the water running in a southeasterly direction to Plains and then turning northeast. The West Branch of Papakating Creek...
, which flows northward to the Wallkill River
Wallkill River
The Wallkill River, a tributary of the Hudson, drains Lake Mohawk in Sparta, New Jersey, flowing from there generally northeasterly to Rondout Creek in New York, near Rosendale, with the combined flows reaching the Hudson at Kingston....
and is a part of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
watershed. At their closest, the Papakating Creek and Paulins Kill flow within 1 miles (1.6 km) of each other, in Frankford Township
Frankford Township, New Jersey
Frankford Township is a Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 5,565....
in Sussex County
Sussex County, New Jersey
The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...
.
This is due to end moraines from the Wisconsin Glacier, which is a set of hills which prevent Papakating Creek from flowing into the Paulins Kill River.
Origins of the name
The U.S. Geological SurveyUnited States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...
Board of Geographic Names
United States Board on Geographic Names
The United States Board on Geographic Names is a United States federal body whose purpose is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the U.S. government.-Overview:...
decided that the official spelling of the name would be Paulins Kill in 1898. Other spellings (Pawlins Kill or Paulinskill) have remained in common use. The use of Paulinskill River, however—while often used—is redundant as Kill
Kill (body of water)
As a body of water, a kill is a creek. The word comes from the Middle Dutch kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel." The modern Dutch term is kil....
is a geographic designation for a small stream or creek, derived from Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
.
Local tradition says that the Paulins Kill was named for a girl named Pauline, the daughter of a Hessian
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
soldier. During the American Revolution
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, Hessian soldiers captured at the Battle of Trenton
Battle of Trenton
The Battle of Trenton took place on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The hazardous crossing in adverse weather made it possible for Washington to lead the main body of the...
and other skirmishes within New Jersey were held as prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
in the Stillwater area. Several of these Hessians are alleged to have deserted the British and taken up residence in Stillwater because of the village's predominantly German emigrant population. The assumption is that the name Paulins Kill was derived from "Pauline's Kill". However, the fact that the name Paulins Kill is present on maps and surveys dating from the 1740s and 1750s—two and three decades before the Revolution—negates the veracity of this tradition. Some local traditions state that the girl's name was Pauline Snover. However, extant genealogical records do not indicate that any person existed by that name at that time.
Two other possibilities for the naming of the Paulins Kill are more likely. First, that the wife of one of the area's first settler
Settler
A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads...
s, Johan Peter Bernhardt (died 1748), was named Maria Paulina and that she had died prior to the first settlement at Stillwater in 1742. However, very few records are extant detailing Bernhardt's family. The second and most likely etymological origin is that the Native American name given to the mountain on the valley's western flank, Pahaqualong (also spelled Pahaqualin, Pohoqualin and Pahaquarra) may have been corrupted and anglicized to a spelling such as "Paulins" by early white settlers or surveyors. Pahaqualong is roughly translated as “end of two mountains with stream between”, from a combination of the words pe’uck meaning “water hole,” qua meaning “boundary,” and the suffix -onk meaning “place.” This translation is thought to refer either to the valley of the Paulins Kill itself, or to the Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap
The Delaware Water Gap is on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains...
. Local tradition does place an Indian village named Pahaquarra near the mouth of the Paulinskill which is immediately south of the Delaware Water Gap. Likewise, the former Pahaquarry Township
Pahaquarry Township, New Jersey
Pahaquarry Township is a now-defunct Township that was located in Warren County, New Jersey.Pahaquarry Township was formed on December 27, 1824, from portions of Walpack Township in Sussex County and set off to Warren County....
in Warren County
Warren County, New Jersey
Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...
derived its name from this origin.
A village named Paulina located a short distance east of Blairstown on Route 94
Route 94 (New Jersey)
Route 94 is a state highway in the northwestern part of the New Jersey, United States. It runs from the Portland–Columbia Toll Bridge over the Delaware River in Knowlton Township, Warren County, where it connects to Pennsylvania Route 611 , northeast to the New York state line in Vernon Township,...
, is said to have been named "from the stream upon which it is located." William Armstrong, a local settler, built the first grist mill there along the river in 1768, and the village took root.
The Paulins Kill was originally known as the Tockhockonetcong by the local Native Americans, who were likely Munsee, a tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
or phratry
Phratry
In ancient Greece, a phratry ατρία, "brotherhood", "kinfolk", derived from φρατήρ meaning "brother") was a social division of the Greek tribe...
of the Lenni Lenape. The name Tockhockonetcong (or Tockhockonetcunk) roughly translates to "stream that comes from Tok-Hok-Nok"—Tok-hok-nok being an Indian village believed to been within the boundaries of present-day Newton, New Jersey
Newton, New Jersey
Newton is a town in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 8,244. It is the county seat of Sussex County....
, near which the eastern (main) branch of the Paulins Kill begins, and the Lenape
Lenape language
The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages, are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family...
roots hannek meaning "stream" and the suffix -ong denoting "place".
Early settlement
The first human settlement along the Paulins Kill was by early Native Americans circa 8,000–10,000 BC at the close of the last ice ageIce age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
(known as the Wisconsin glaciation
Wisconsin glaciation
The last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age occurring during the last years of the Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years ago....
). At the time of the first settlement by emigrating Europeans in this region, it was populated by the Munsee tribe of the Lenni Lenape (or Delaware) Indians. Artifacts (often of stone, clay or bone) of the Native American culture are often found in nearby farm fields and at the site of their ancient villages.
Typically, early European settlement along the Paulins Kill was by Palatine Germans who had emigrated to the New World via the port of Philadelphia from 1720 to 1800. Many had trekked north through the valley of the Delaware and settled along the Musconetcong
Musconetcong River
The Musconetcong River is a tributary of the Delaware River in northwestern New Jersey in the United States. It flows through the rural mountainous country of northwestern New Jersey. Part of it is a National Wild and Scenic River....
, Pequest
Pequest River
The Pequest River is a tributary of the Delaware River in the Skylands Region in northwestern New Jersey in the United States.The Pequest, Native American for "open land", drains an area of across Sussex and Warren counties, consisting of ten municipalities....
and Paulins Kill valleys in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and along the Lehigh River
Lehigh River
The Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, is a river located in eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. Part of the Lehigh, along with a number of its tributaries, is designated a Pennsylvania Scenic River by the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources...
valley in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Areas along the Paulins Kill generally were not settled until the 1740s and 1750s. Often villages established and settled by German emigrants remained culturally German well into the Nineteenth Century, with German Lutheran and Reformed churches (often as "Union" churches) established shortly after the first settlements (as was the case in Knowlton and in Stillwater). However, by the early Nineteenth Century, many descendants of these German settlers removed to newly opened lands in the West (i.e. Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
, the Southern Tier
Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographical term that refers to the counties of New York State west of the Catskill Mountains along the northern border of Pennsylvania. It is a loosely defined term that generally includes the counties that border Pennsylvania west of Delaware County inclusive...
of New York) and those that remained had assimilated into English-speaking culture, and the German Reformed or Lutheran Churches often became Presbyterian
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
. The German cultural impact of this community can still be seen in local architecture—most notably in barns and in stone houses—and in cemeteries
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
containing intricately carved gravestones
Headstone
A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. In most cases they have the deceased's name, date of birth, and date of death inscribed on them, along with a personal message, or prayer.- Use :...
often bearing archaic German text
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and funerary
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
symbols. English, Scottish, Welsh settlers located in the Paulins Kill valley throughout the latter half of the eighteenth century, often traveling north from Philadelphia, or west from Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, and Elizabethtown
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
(now Elizabeth).
The area around present-day Stillwater was first settled by the family of Casper Shafer (1712–1784), a Palatine German who had emigrated to Philadelphia a few years earlier. Shafer, with his father-in-law, Johan Peter Bernhardt (?–1748), and his brother-in-law Johann Georg Windemuth (or John George Wintermute) (1711–1782), settled at Stillwater in 1742. Both Shafer and Windemuth were married to Bernhardt's daughters. Shafer, who operated a grist mill at Stillwater starting in 1746, transported flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, and other products by flatboat
Flatboat
Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with Fil1800flatboat.jpgA flatboat is a rectangular flat-bottomed boat with (mostlyNOTE: "(parenthesized)" wordings in the quote below are notes added to...
down the Paulins Kill and the Delaware River to the market in Philadelphia. Most of the New Jersey shoreline and cities such as Elizabethtown and Newark were practically unknown to the German settlers along the Paulins Kill who learned of the existence of these cities only through trade with the local Lenni Lenape. Part of this was because of the incredible hardship of an overland journey east to these cities resulting from a lack of roads.
The first road connecting Elizabethtown, and Morristown
Morristown, New Jersey
Morristown is a town in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 18,411. It is the county seat of Morris County. Morristown became characterized as "the military capital of the American Revolution" because of its strategic role in the...
with settlements along the Delaware River, was the Military Road
Military Road (New Jersey)
The Military Road was a roadway built in the present-day U.S. state of New Jersey during the French and Indian War connecting Elizabethtown with a string of fortifications along the Delaware River in modern Sussex and Warren Counties in northwestern New Jersey...
built by Jonathan Hampton (1711–1777) in 1755–1756. This road, which crosses the Paulins Kill at present-day Baleville, in Hampton Township, was built to supply fortifications built in the Delaware valley at this time to protect New Jersey during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
. Very few passable, large roads were built in this section of New Jersey, then largely a sparsely populated wilderness, before the creation of turnpike companies in the early decades of the Nineteenth Century. During much of the mid-eighteenth century, trade in the northwestern reaches of New Jersey was conducted through Philadelphia by way of the Delaware River.
About the year 1760, Mark Thomson
Mark Thomson
Mark Thomson was a United States Representative from New Jersey. Born in Norriton Township , he engaged in milling, was justice of the peace of Sussex County, New Jersey in 1773, and was a member of the provincial convention in 1774 and of the Provincial Congress in 1775...
(1739–1803) settled in Hardwick Township (now Frelinghuysen Township) and erected a gristmill and sawmill on the Paulins Kill. The settlement that arose was later named Marksboro in his honour. Thomson, who removed to Changewater in Hunterdon County
Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Hunterdon County is a county located in the western section of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 128,349. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Flemington....
, became an officer in the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
during the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
, and served two terms in the House of Representatives.
Commercial and industrial impact
Habitat conservation
Habitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...
, the Paulins Kill has benefited from having remained chiefly a pastoral river in a largely undeveloped area of New Jersey. No significant industry had developed since the 1740s to cause irreversible damage to the flow of the river or to heavily pollute
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
its waters. During this time, the river was dammed to provide power to the only industries established in these small rural towns: grist
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
, saw
Sawmill
A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....
, oil
Expeller
Expeller pressing is a mechanical method for extracting oil from raw materials. The raw materials are squeezed under high pressure in a single step. When used for the extraction of food oils, typical raw materials are nuts, seeds and algae, which are supplied to the press in a continuous feed....
, and fulling mills. Many of the dams that once powered the mills, and the electrical power plant at Branchville
Branchville, New Jersey
Branchville is a borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 841. The borough is located in the northernmost region of Sussex County....
established in 1903, have been breached, or no longer impede the flow of the river.
Columbia, a hamlet near the mouth of the Paulins Kill in Knowlton Township
Knowlton Township, New Jersey
- Local government :The Knowlton Township Committee consists of Mayor Frank Van Horn , Deputy Mayor Ronald Farber , Theresa Capriccio , René Mathez and Scott Odorizzi ....
, was known for a large glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
manufacturing factory. Near Columbia, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company was a railroad connecting Pennsylvania's Lackawanna Valley, rich in anthracite coal, to Hoboken, New Jersey, , Buffalo and Oswego, New York...
also constructed the Paulinskill Viaduct
Paulinskill Viaduct
The Paulinskill Viaduct, also known as the Hainesburg Viaduct, is a railroad bridge which crosses the Paulins Kill in Knowlton Township, New Jersey....
(known also as the Hainesburg Viaduct), a bridge crossing the Paulins Kill along the Lackawanna Cut-Off rail corridor. Begun in 1908, this bridge was deemed an engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
marvel for its use of reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
. Spanning 1,100 feet (335 m) across the Paulins Kill Valley, the Viaduct rises 115 feet (35 m) above the valley floor, and opened for rail traffic in 1911. It was the largest such viaduct in the world until 1915, when the Lackawanna Railroad opened the Tunkhannock Viaduct
Tunkhannock Viaduct
Tunkhannock Viaduct is a concrete deck arch bridge that spans the Tunkhannock Creek in Nicholson, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It was the largest concrete bridge in the U.S. when it opened, and remained so even 50 years later.The bridge contains about of concrete and of steel...
in Nicholson, Pennsylvania
Nicholson, Pennsylvania
Nicholson is a borough in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 713 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Nicholson is located at ....
spanning over twice the Paulinskill Viaduct's length. Currently abandoned, several plans are underway by New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
to open the route as a passenger line to Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. This site is commonly visited by adventure-seeking individuals
Urban exploration
Urban exploration is the examination of the normally unseen or off-limits parts of urban areas or industrial facilities. Urban exploration is also commonly referred to as infiltration, although some people consider infiltration to be more closely associated with the exploration of active or...
. Today Interstate 80
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following Interstate 90. It is a transcontinental artery running from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey in the New York City Metropolitan Area...
crosses the Paulins Kill near Columbia.
However, despite its rural character, the Paulins Kill is still impacted by pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
, chiefly through nearby residential developments and farm run-off
Surface runoff
Surface runoff is the water flow that occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water from rain, meltwater, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the water cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint source...
(agricultural pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s and fertilizer
Fertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
s), known as "non-point pollution." Several farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s are located along the banks of the Paulins Kill, raising crops including such grain-producing grasses as alfalfa
Alfalfa
Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop in the US, Canada, Argentina, France, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, and many other countries. It is known as lucerne in the UK, France, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and known as...
, wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, hay
Hay
Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs...
(and historically barley
Barley
Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...
, buckwheat
Buckwheat
Buckwheat refers to a variety of plants in the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, the North American genus Eriogonum, and the Northern Hemisphere genus Fallopia. Either of the latter two may be referred to as "wild buckwheat"...
and rye
Rye
Rye is a grass grown extensively as a grain and as a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskeys, some vodkas, and animal fodder...
). Fruit trees in orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
s produce cherries, apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
, plum
Plum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
, peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
and pear
Pear
The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
, while native wild grape
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
vines, and blackberry
Blackberry
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by any of several species in the Rubus genus of the Rosaceae family. The fruit is not a true berry; botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. The plants typically have biennial canes and perennial roots. Blackberries and...
bushes are also found in the valley.
The New Jersey Public Interest Research Group
Pirg
Pirg is a municipality in the Korçë District, Korçë County, southeastern Albania. The municipality consists of the villages Pirg, Gurishtë, Zvirinë, Leminot, Qershizë, Kakaç, Shqitas, Veliternë, Sovjan, Novoselë and Bubuq....
(NJPIRG) has ranked the Paulins Kill as the seventh in a collection of rivers and creeks in a Top 30 listing of New Jersey waterways to Save Also, New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection often brings civil actions against local firms that deliberately pollute in the Paulins Kill watershed, most recently levying a $121,500 fine against a Sussex County shopping mall owner who discharged pollutants from a sewage treatment facility into the main branch near Newton, New Jersey between 1996 and 1998.
Recent development, prompted by an enlarging New York City Metropolitan area, has led to development issues which could threaten the Paulins Kill's future. A public sewer and water project in Branchville, New Jersey was halted in the 2000 out of concern for a population of Dwarf wedgemussel
Dwarf wedgemussel
The dwarf wedgemussel, scientific name Alasmidonta heterodon, is an endangered species of freshwater mussel, an aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Unionidae, the river mussels.- Distribution and conservation status :...
s (Alasmidonta heterodon), an endangered species. This project was reauthorized in 2002. The Paulins Kill is also home to a wide variety of amphibians, including the Spotted Salamander
Spotted Salamander
The Spotted Salamander or Yellow-spotted Salamander is a mole salamander common in the eastern United States and Canada. The Spotted Salamander is the State amphibian of South Carolina. It has recently been found that its embryos have algae living inside them in a mutualistic...
, Red Spotted Newt, American Toad
American toad
The American Toad is a common species of toad found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. It is divided into three subspecies—the Eastern American Toad , the Dwarf American Toad , and the rare Hudson Bay Toad...
, Fowler's Toad, American Bull Frog
Bullfrog
The American bullfrog , often simply known as the bullfrog in Canada and the United States, is an aquatic frog, a member of the family Ranidae, or “true frogs”, native to much of North America. This is a frog of larger, permanent water bodies, swamps, ponds, and lakes, where it is usually found...
and others.
Today
The Paulins Kill continues to maintain its rural character through both local concern and government policy. It is an excellent area for birdwatchingBirdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
, canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
, hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
, hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, and is considered to be one of the best trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
streams in New Jersey. As in the past, the Paulins Kill Valley remains rural, and the landscape is dotted with many horse and dairy farms
Dairy farming
Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or an animal husbandry, enterprise, for long-term production of milk, usually from dairy cows but also from goats and sheep, which may be either processed on-site or transported to a dairy factory for processing and eventual retail sale.Most dairy farms...
along its entire length.
Fishing
The Paulins Kill is a popular fishing destination for various species of troutTrout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
, such as rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
, brown trout
Brown trout
The brown trout and the sea trout are fish of the same species....
and brook trout
Brook trout
The brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis, is a species of fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it is known as the speckled trout or squaretail. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior are known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters...
, Trout are stocked each year during the spring fishing season by New Jersey's Division of Fish & Wildlife. Hardly any wild trout are found. This is due to the river getting shallow in summer and warm. The river owes its fly fishing
Fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...
reputation largely to the prolific populations of various species of the mayfly
Mayfly
Mayflies are insects which belong to the Order Ephemeroptera . They have been placed into an ancient group of insects termed the Palaeoptera, which also contains dragonflies and damselflies...
and caddisfly
Trichoptera
The caddisflies are an order, Trichoptera, of insects with approximately 12,000 described species. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, they are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous wings...
. Historically, the Paulins Kill was known to be populated with American shad
American shad
-Introduction:The American shad or Atlantic shad, Alosa sapidissima, is a species of anadromous fish in family Clupeidae of order Clupeiformes. It is not closely related to the other North American shads...
, but with the construction of mill dams across the river in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, the shad were unable to spawn in the river. Shad can still be found in the Delaware River.
Other fish in the river are Suckers and Blue Gills.
Protected areas
The Paulins Kill valley contains many protected areas. Swartswood State ParkSwartswood State Park
Swartswood State Park, established in 1914, was the first State Park established by the state of New Jersey. In the center of the park are the Little Swartswood Lake and Swartswood Lake. Both have been the focus of water-quality improvement efforts by the state, including invasive aquatic-weed...
, established in 1914 as the first and oldest state park in New Jersey, is on 2272 acres (919.4 ha) just north of Paulins Kill Lake in Sussex County. Along Kittatinny Ridge in the northern part of the watershed are parts of Worthington State Forest
Worthington State Forest
The 6,421 acre Worthington State Forest runs more than seven miles along the Kittatinny Ridge in Columbia, in Warren County, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, just north of the Delaware Water Gap in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The park offers hiking, camping and...
(west), Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, administered by the National Park Service, preserves almost of land along the Delaware River's New Jersey and Pennsylvania shores, stretching from the Delaware Water Gap northward almost to the New York state line...
(central), and Stokes State Forest
Stokes State Forest
Stokes State Forest is a state park located in Sandyston Township, Montague and Frankford Twp. in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. Stokes comprises of mountainous woods...
s (east). In addition to these state forests, the Paulins Kill valley is host to a variety of common coniferous
Pinophyta
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being...
and deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
trees, which have been harvested for lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
in the past, including: White
White Oak
White Oak may refer to:* Quercus alba, a species commonly known as the White Oak* any of various trees from the botanical section Quercus within the list of Quercus species* a 1921 silent western written/produced by and starring William S...
and Black Oak, Buttonwood
American sycamore
Platanus occidentalis, also known as American Sycamore, American plane, Occidental plane, and Buttonwood, is one of the species of Platanus native to North America...
, Eastern Red Cedar, Eastern Hemlock
Eastern Hemlock
Tsuga canadensis, also known as eastern or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as pruche du Canada, is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It ranges from northeastern Minnesota eastward through southern Quebec to Nova Scotia, and south in the Appalachian...
, American Chestnut
American Chestnut
The American Chestnut is a large, deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. Before the species was devastated by the chestnut blight, a fungal disease, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range...
, Black Walnut
Black Walnut
Juglans nigra, the Eastern Black walnut, is a species of flowering tree in the hickory family, Juglandaceae, that is native to eastern North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central...
, Tamarack Larch
Tamarack Larch
Tamarack Larch, or Tamarack, or Hackmatack, or American Larch is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and also south into the northeastern United States from Minnesota to Cranesville Swamp, West Virginia; there is also a...
, Spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
, and Pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
. Trees that add to the beauty of the fall foliage include Maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
, Birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
, Hickory
Hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as hickory, derived from the Powhatan language of Virginia. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and big nuts...
, Elm
Elm
Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The dozens of species are found in temperate and tropical-montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ranging southward into Indonesia. Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests...
, and Crab Apple.
New Jersey's Green Acres program has targeted the Paulins Kill and its surrounding valley as an excellent natural resources for open space and farmland preservation and recreational opportunities. The state, working together with agricultural development boards in Sussex and Warren Counties, and with the Ridge and Valley Conservancy, a local nonprofit land trust, share land acquisition costs to enter tracts of real estate into the program. Since 1983, several farms across New Jersey have sold development rights to the county programs. Sussex County has permanently preserved 12242 acres (4,954.2 ha) of woodland and farmland. Likewise, Warren County has preserved 100 farm properties, comprising over 12200 acres (4,937.2 ha).
In addition, four Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) are in the Paulins Kill valley area: Bear Swamp WMA, Trout Brook WMA, White Lake WMA, and Columbia Lake WMA. Together they comprise 6,564 acres (2656 ha) of protected lands, mostly acquired through "Green Acres" funds. Hunting and trapping are permitted in season in many of these protected areas. Common game animals include White-tailed Deer
White-tailed Deer
The white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States , Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru...
, Eastern Coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
, Red Fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
, Gray Fox
Gray Fox
The gray fox is a mammal of the order Carnivora ranging throughout most of the southern half of North America from southern Canada to the northern part of South America...
, Opossum, Eastern Cottontail Rabbit
Eastern Cottontail
The eastern cottontail is a New World cottontail rabbit, a member of the family Leporidae. It is one of the most common rabbit species in North America.-Distribution:...
, Raccoon
Raccoon
Procyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
, Gray
Eastern Gray Squirrel
The eastern gray squirrel is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada...
and Red Squirrel
Red Squirrel
The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Eurasia...
, Beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
, Muskrat
Muskrat
The muskrat , the only species in genus Ondatra, is a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent native to North America, and introduced in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands and is a very successful animal over a wide range of climates and habitats...
, and Woodchuck or Groundhog. Common game birds include Ring-necked Pheasant, Eastern Wild Turkey, American Crow
American Crow
The American Crow is a large passerine bird species of the family Corvidae. It is a common bird found throughout much of North America...
, and Canada Goose
Canada Goose
The Canada Goose is a wild goose belonging to the genus Branta, which is native to arctic and temperate regions of North America, having a black head and neck, white patches on the face, and a brownish-gray body....
.
The Paulins Kill watershed is home to a variety of other animals. Other mammals include Eastern Chipmunk
Eastern Chipmunk
The eastern chipmunk is a small squirrel-like rodent found in eastern North America, the sole living member of the chipmunk genus and subgenus Tamias....
, Porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
, Black Bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, Striped Skunk
Striped Skunk
The striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis, is an omnivorous mammal of the skunk family Mephitidae. Found over most of the North American continent north of Mexico, it is one of the best-known mammals in Canada and the United States.-Description:...
, River Otter
River Otter
Not to be confused with the animal Otter or the River Ottery in CornwallThe River Otter rises in the Blackdown Hills just inside the county of Somerset, near Otterford, then flows south for some 32 km through East Devon to the English Channel at the western end of Lyme Bay, part of...
, and Bobcat
Bobcat
The bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
. Common northeastern American reptiles found there include snakes such as the American Copperhead
Agkistrodon contortrix
Agkistrodon contortrix is a species of venomous snake found in North America, a member of the Crotalinae subfamily. The more common name for the species is "copperhead". The behavior of Agkistrodon contortrix may lead to accidental encounters with humans...
, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Crotalus adamanteus
Crotalus adamanteus is a venomous pit viper species found in the southeastern United States. It is the heaviest venomous snake in the Americas and the largest rattlesnake. It featured prominently in the American Revolution, specifically as the symbol of what many consider to be the first flag of...
, Northern Water Snake
Northern Water Snake
The Northern water snake is a large, nonvenomous, well-known snake in the Colubridae family that is native to North America.-Behavior:...
, Common Garter Snake
Common Garter Snake
The Common Garter Snake is a snake indigenous to North America. Most garter snakes have a pattern of yellow stripes on a brown or green background and their average length is about , maximum about .-Subspecies:...
and Milk Snake
Milk Snake
The milk snake or milksnake is a species of king snake. There are 25 subspecies among the milk snakes, including the commonly named scarlet kingsnake...
, and turtles, including the Eastern Box Turtle, and Common Snapping Turtle.
Hiking
The Paulinskill Valley TrailPaulinskill Trail
The Paulinskill Valley Trail is a rail trail along the Paulins Kill River in New Jersey. It is the sixth longest trail in the state at twenty-seven miles. It was originally a right-of-way of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway. Several parts of the railway remain including several...
—a network of trails along abandoned railroad beds of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad
New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway
The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway , also known as the Susie-Q, or simply the Susquehanna, is a Class II American freight railway operating over 500 miles of track in the northeastern states of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was formed in 1881 from the merger of several...
—have been transformed and maintained for hiking
Hiking
Hiking is an outdoor activity which consists of walking in natural environments, often in mountainous or other scenic terrain. People often hike on hiking trails. It is such a popular activity that there are numerous hiking organizations worldwide. The health benefits of different types of hiking...
, horseback riding, and other recreational uses, stretches for 27 miles (43.5 km) from Sparta Junction
Sparta Township, New Jersey
Sparta Township is a Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 19,722...
in Sussex County
Sussex County, New Jersey
The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...
to Columbia
Knowlton Township, New Jersey
- Local government :The Knowlton Township Committee consists of Mayor Frank Van Horn , Deputy Mayor Ronald Farber , Theresa Capriccio , René Mathez and Scott Odorizzi ....
in Warren County
Warren County, New Jersey
Warren County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 108,692. Its county seat is Belvidere...
, roughly following the entire length of the river. After the New York, Susquehanna and Western decommissioned the route in 1962, the right-of-way along this corridor was purchased by the City of Newark the following year. Newark hoped to use the bed for a water pipeline connecting to the proposed dam and reservoir project
Tocks Island
Tocks Island, located upstream from Delaware Water Gap in the Delaware River was the controversial site of a dam, proposed in the 1950s, which would have created a 37-mile long lake between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with depths of up to 140 feet...
on the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
. However, this project—controversial from the start because of environmental concerns and the federal government's abuse of eminent domain—was canceled during the 1970s. Newark sold their claim to the corridor in 1992 to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for $600,000, and the Paulinskill Valley Trail was created. The Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the AT, is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. It is approximately long...
follows the top of Kittatinny Ridge at the northern edge of the valley.
Birdwatching
Birdwatchers have sighted a variety of common and endangered species of birds that inhabit the Paulins Kill valley. More common species include: American RobinAmerican Robin
The American Robin or North American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family...
, Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
The Barn Swallow is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas...
, Field Sparrow
Field Sparrow
The Field Sparrow is a small sparrow.Adults have brown upperparts, a light brown breast, a white belly, wing bars and a forked tail. They have a grey face, a rusty crown, a white eye ring and a pink bill....
, Blue Jay
Blue Jay
The Blue Jay is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to North America. It is resident through most of eastern and central United States and southern Canada, although western populations may be migratory. It breeds in both deciduous and coniferous forests, and is common near and in...
, Black-capped Chickadee
Black-capped Chickadee
The Black-capped Chickadee is a small, North American songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae. It is the state bird of both Maine and Massachusetts in the United States, and the provincial bird of New Brunswick in Canada...
, Northern Cardinal
Northern Cardinal
The Northern Cardinal or Redbird or Common Cardinal is a North American bird in the genus Cardinalis. It can be found in southern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Texas and south through Mexico...
, Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird
The Red-winged Blackbird is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and...
and the American Goldfinch
American Goldfinch
The American Goldfinch , also known as the Eastern Goldfinch and Wild Canary, is a small North American bird in the finch family...
. Also sighted are several species of Woodpecker, including Red-headed
Red-headed Woodpecker
The Red-headed Woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus, is a small or medium-sized woodpecker from temperate North America. Their breeding habitat is open country across southern Canada and the eastern-central United States.-Taxonomy:...
, Red-bellied
Red-bellied Woodpecker
The Red-bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, is a medium-sized woodpecker of the Picidae family. It breeds in southern Canada and the northeastern United States, ranging as far south as Florida and as far west as Texas...
, and Downy
Downy Woodpecker
The Downy Woodpecker is a species of woodpecker, the smallest in North America.- Description :Adult Downy Woodpeckers are mainly black on the upperparts and wings, with a white back, throat and belly and white spotting on the wings. There is a white bar above the eye and one below. They have a...
, and the endangered Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
The Pileated Woodpecker is a very large North American woodpecker, almost crow-sized, inhabiting deciduous forests in eastern North America, the Great Lakes, the boreal forests of Canada, and parts of the Pacific coast. It is also the largest woodpecker in America.Adults are long, and weigh...
, as well as the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a medium-sized woodpecker found in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.-Taxonomy:...
. Often sighted are water fowl such as the Mute Swan
Mute Swan
The Mute Swan is a species of swan, and thus a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. It is native to much of Europe and Asia, and the far north of Africa. It is also an introduced species in North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The name 'mute' derives from it being less...
, the Wood Duck
Wood Duck
The Wood Duck or Carolina Duck is a species of duck found in North America. It is one of the most colourful of North American waterfowl.-Description:...
, and the Mallard
Mallard
The Mallard , or Wild Duck , is a dabbling duck which breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand and Australia....
, wading birds such as the Killdeer
Killdeer
The Killdeer is a medium-sized plover.Adults have a brown back and wings, a white belly, and a white breast with two black bands. The rump is tawny orange. The face and cap are brown with a white forehead. They have an orange-red eyering...
, and predators such as the Red-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
The Red-tailed Hawk is a bird of prey, one of three species colloquially known in the United States as the "chickenhawk," though it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. It breeds throughout most of North America, from western Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West...
. More rare birds sighted in the Paulins Kill valley include: Purple martin
Purple Martin
The Purple Martin is the largest North American swallow. These aerial acrobats have speed and agility in flight, and when approaching their housing, will dive from the sky at great speeds with their wings tucked.-Description and taxonomy:...
, Scarlet Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
The Scarlet Tanager is a medium-sized American songbird. Formerly placed in the tanager family , it and other members of its genus are now classified in the cardinal family . The species's plumage and vocalizations are similar to other members of the cardinal family.-Description:Adults have pale...
, Indigo Bunting
Indigo Bunting
The Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, is a small seed-eating bird in the family Cardinalidae. It is migratory, ranging from southern Canada to northern Florida during the breeding season, and from southern Florida to northern South America during the winter. It often migrates by night, using the...
, Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
The Baltimore Oriole is a small icterid blackbird that averages 18 cm long and weighs 34 g. This bird received its name from the fact that the male's colors resemble those on the coat-of-arms of Lord Baltimore...
, Purple Finch
Purple Finch
The Purple Finch, Carpodacus purpureus, is a bird in the finch family Fringillidae.-Taxonomy:The Purple Finch is one of 24 birds in the genus Carpodacus and is included in the finch...
, and a variety of owls, notably the Barn
Barn Owl
The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
, Eastern Screech
Eastern Screech Owl
The Eastern Screech Owl or Eastern Screech-Owl is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada.-Description:...
, Great Horned
Great Horned Owl
The Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:...
, Snowy
Snowy Owl
The Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great...
, Barred
Barred Owl
The Barred Owl is a large typical owl. It goes by many other names, including eight hooter, rain owl, wood owl, and striped owl, but is probably best known as the hoot owl.-Description:...
, and Northern Saw-whet Owl
Northern Saw-whet Owl
The Northern Saw-whet Owl is a small owl native to North America.-Description:The scientific description of one of the sub-species of this owl is attributed to the Rev. John Henry Keen who was a missionary in Canada in 1896. Adults are long with a wingspan. They can weigh from with an average...
.
In art, literature and popular culture
- Essayist, poet and children's author Aline Murray KilmerAline Murray KilmerAline Murray Kilmer , was an American poet, children's book author, and essayist, and the wife and widow of poet and journalist Joyce Kilmer .- Biography :...
(1886–1941), the widow of poet Joyce KilmerJoyce KilmerAlfred Joyce Kilmer was an American journalist, poet, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. Though a prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his religious faith, Kilmer is remembered most for a short poem entitled "Trees" , which was published in...
(1886–1918) resided in Stillwater, New Jersey for the last thirteen years of her life. Located along the Paulins Kill, her home, "Whitehall," was built in 1785 by Abraham Shafer (1754–1820), son of Casper Shafer. The setting of her children's book, A Buttonwood Summer (1929), was inspired by Stillwater and the Paulins Kill Valley. - The 1980 slasher filmSlasher filmA slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
Friday the 13th was filmed at Camp NoBeBosCo north of Blairstown, New Jersey in Hardwick TownshipHardwick Township, New Jersey-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 1,464 people, 502 households, and 410 families residing in the township. The population density was 40.1 people per square mile . There were 530 housing units at an average density of 14.5 per square mile...
. The camp's Sand Pond, which stood in for the movie's "Crystal Lake," feeds the Jacksonburg Creek, a tributary of the Paulins Kill. - ArtistArtistAn artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and Queens College professorProfessorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
Louis FinkelsteinLouis Finkelstein (artist)Louis Finkelstein was an American painter and professor at Queens College, City University of New York. Several of his works have been compared to those of French artist and Post-Impressionist painter Paul Cézanne .-Biography:...
(1923–2000) created a painting entitled Trees at Paulinskill (c.1991–97) that was among his later pastelPastelPastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are the same as those used to produce all colored art media, including oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation....
works and critically compared to works by French artist and Post-ImpressionistPost-ImpressionismPost-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
painter Paul CézannePaul CézannePaul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne can be said to form the bridge between late 19th...
(1839–1906).
See also
- Geography of New JerseyGeography of New JerseyNew Jersey is a state within the United States of America that lies on the eastern edge of the North American continent. It shares a land border with the state of State of New York along the north, ratified by both states after the New York – New Jersey Line War.Along the east, New Jersey is...
- History of New JerseyHistory of New JerseyThe history of New Jersey began at the end of the Younger Dryas climate, about 10 millennia ago. Native Americans moved into New Jersey soon after the reversal of the Younger Dryas, which had made the area uninhabitable and, during the preceding ice age, unreachable.European contact began with the...
- Kittatinny Valley State ParkKittatinny Valley State ParkKittatinny Valley State Park is located near Andover, New Jersey. Glacial lakes, limestone outcroppings, former railroads, and a small airport are just some of the features of the park. Lake Aeroflex and Gardner's Pond form part of the headwaters of the Pequest River and are excellent for fishing...
- List of New Jersey rivers
- New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
- Paulinskill ViaductPaulinskill ViaductThe Paulinskill Viaduct, also known as the Hainesburg Viaduct, is a railroad bridge which crosses the Paulins Kill in Knowlton Township, New Jersey....
- Swartswood State ParkSwartswood State ParkSwartswood State Park, established in 1914, was the first State Park established by the state of New Jersey. In the center of the park are the Little Swartswood Lake and Swartswood Lake. Both have been the focus of water-quality improvement efforts by the state, including invasive aquatic-weed...
Books and printed materials
- Armstrong, William C. Pioneer Families of Northwestern New Jersey (Lambertville, New Jersey: Hunterdon House, 1979). NO ISBN (Privately printed).
- Cawley, James S. and Cawley, Margaret. Exploring the Little Rivers of New Jersey (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1942, 1961, 1971, 1993). ISBN 0-8135-0684-0
- Chambers, Theodore Frelinghuysen. The early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches, and Genealogies (Dover, New Jersey, Dover Printing Company, 1895). NO ISBN (Pre-1964)
- Cummings, Warren D. Sussex County: A History (Newton, New Jersey: Newton Rotary Club, 1964). NO ISBN (Privately printed).
- Cunningham, John T. Railroad Wonder: The Lackawanna Cut-Off (Newark, New Jersey: Newark Sunday News, 1961). NO ISBN (Pre-1964).
- Documents Relating to the Colonial, Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey [Title Varies]. Archives of the State of New Jersey, 1st-2nd series. 47 volumes. (Newark, New Jersey: 1880–1949). NO ISBN (pre-1964)
- Gleason, June Benore. Historical Paulinskill Valley, New Jersey: Blairstown's neighbors. (Blairstown, New Jersey: Blairstown Press, 1949). NO ISBN (Pre0-1964)
- Honeyman, A. Van Doren (ed.). Northwestern New Jersey—A History of Somerset, Morris, Hunterdon, Warren, and Sussex Counties Volume 1. (Lewis Historical Publishing Co., New York, 1927). NO ISBN (pre-1964)
- Richman, Steven M. The Bridges Of New Jersey: Portraits Of Garden State Crossings. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2005). ISBN 0-8135-3510-7
- Schaeffer, Casper M.D. (and Johnson, William M.). Memoirs and Reminiscences: Together with Sketches of the Early History of Sussex County, New Jersey. (Hackensack, New Jersey: Privately Printed, 1907). NO ISBN (Pre-1964)
- Schrabisch, Max. Indian habitations in Sussex County, New Jersey Geological Survey of New Jersey, Bulletin No. 13. (Union Hill, New Jersey: Dispatch Printing Company, 1915). NO ISBN (Pre-1964)
- Schrabisch, Max. Archaeology of Warren and Hunterdon counties Geological Survey of New Jersey, Bulletin No. 18. (Trenton, N.J., MacCrellish and Quigley co., state printers, 1917). NO ISBN (Pre-1964)
- Snell, James P. History of Sussex and Warren Counties, New Jersey, With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers. (Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1881). NO ISBN (Pre-1964)
- Stickney, Charles E. Old Sussex County families of the Minisink Region from articles in the Wantage Recorder (compiled by Virginia Alleman Brown) (Washington, N.J. : Genealogical Researchers, 1988). NO ISBN (Privately printed).
- Viet, Richard F. "John Solomon Teetzel and the Anglo-German Gravestone Carving Tradition of 18th century Northwestern New Jersey" in Markers XVII (Richard E. Meyer, ed.), Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, XVII: 124–161 (2000).
- Wintermute, Jacob Perry. Wintermute Family History. (Columbus, Ohio: Champlin Press, 1900). NO ISBN. [Reprinted: Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, NO ISBN] (Pre-1964)
- Wintermute, Leonard. Windemuth Family Heritage. (Baltimore, Maryland: Gateway Press, 1996). NO ISBN (Privately printed).
Maps and atlases
- Map of Jonathan Hampton (1758) in the collection of the New Jersey Historical Society, Newark, New Jersey.
- Hopkins, Griffith Morgan. Map of Sussex County, New Jersey. (1860) [Reprinted by the Sussex County Historical Society: Netcong, New Jersey: Esposito (Jostens), 2004.]
- Beers, Frederick W. County Atlas of Warren, New Jersey: From actual surveys by and under the direction of F. W. Beers (New York: F.W. Beers & Co. 1874). [Reprinted by Warren County Historical Society: Harmony, New Jersey: Harmony Press, 1994].
- Hagstrom Morris/Sussex/Warren counties atlas (Maspeth, New York: Hagstrom Map Company, Inc. 2004).
- United States Geological Survey topographical map "Newton East" and "Newton West" (New Jersey).