Sussex County () is the northernmost

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Newton.New Jersey County Map

New Jersey Department of State The secretary of state of New Jersey oversees the Department of State, which is one of the original state offices. The Secretary is responsible for overseeing New Jersey State Council on the Arts, artistic, cultural, and New Jersey Historical Com ...

. Accessed July 10, 2017. It is part of the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

and is part of New Jersey's Skylands Region. As of the 2020 census, the county was the state's 17th-most-populous county,Table1. New Jersey Counties and Most Populous Cities and Townships: 2020 and 2010 Censuses

New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The New Jersey Civil Service Commission is an independent body within the New Jersey state government under the auspices of ...

. Accessed December 1, 2022. with a population of 144,221, a decrease of 5,044 (−3.4%) from the 2010 census count of 149,265, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,099 (+3.5%) over the 144,166 persons at the 2000 census. Based on 2020 census data, Vernon Township was the county's largest in both population and area, with a population of 22,358 and covering an area of . The county is part of the

North Jersey North Jersey, also known as Northern New Jersey, comprises the northern portions of the U.S. state of New Jersey between the upper Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean. As a distinct toponym, North Jersey is a colloquial one rather than an a ...

region of the state. In 2015, the county had a per capita personal income of $55,497, the ninth-highest in New Jersey and ranked 220th of 3,113 counties in the United States. The

Bureau of Economic Analysis The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the United States Department of Commerce is a U.S. government agency that provides official macroeconomic and industry statistics, most notably reports about the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United ...

ranked the county as having the 131st-highest

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

($49,207) of the 3,113 counties in the United States (and the ninth-highest in the state).250 Highest Per Capita Personal Incomes of the 3113 Counties in the United States, 2010
, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. Accessed July 16, 2012.

Etymology

The county was established in 1753 from portions of Morris County and named after the county of

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

in England.Hutchinson, Viola L
''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''
New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed October 11, 2015. Gannett, Henry
''The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States''
p. 294.

United States Government Printing Office The United States Government Publishing Office (USGPO or GPO), formerly the United States Government Printing Office, is an agency of the Legislature, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal gove ...

, 1905. Accessed October 11, 2015.

History

The area of Sussex County and its surrounding region was occupied for approximately 8,000-13,000 years by succeeding cultures of

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

. The Munsee Indians inhabited the region at the time of European encounter. The Munsee were a loosely organized division of the

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

(or Lenni Lenape), a Native American people also called "Delaware Indians" after their historic territory along the

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...

. The Lenape inhabited the Mid-Atlantic coastal areas and inland along the Hudson and Delaware rivers. The Munsee spoke a very distinct dialect of the Lenape and inhabited a region bounded by the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

, the headwaters of the Delaware River and the

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( ; Unami language, Lenape: ) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeastern United States, Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvani ...

, and south to the Lehigh River and Conewago Creek. As a result of disruption following the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

(1756–1763), the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

(1775–1783), and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, the main Lenape groups now live in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

in Canada, and in Wisconsin and Oklahoma in the United States. Westbrook-Bell House Sandyston NJ DWGNRA circa 1937 LOC Collection

As early as 1690, Dutch and French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

colonists from towns along the Hudson River Valley in New York began permanently settling in the Upper Delaware Valley (known as the " Minisink"). The route these Dutch settlers had taken was the path of an old Indian trail and became the route of the Old Mine Road and stretches of present-date U.S. Route 209. These Dutch settlers penetrated the Minisink Valley and settled as far south as the

Delaware Water Gap The Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains. The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Wa ...

, by 1731 this valley had been incorporated as Walpack Precinct. Throughout the 18th century, immigrants from the Rheinland Palatinate in Germany and Switzerland fled religious wars and poverty to arrive in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and New York City. Several German families began leaving Philadelphia to settle along river valleys in Northwestern New Jersey and Pennsylvania's

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley () is a geography, geographic and urban area, metropolitan region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a co ...

in the 1720s, spreading north into Sussex County in the 1740s and 1750s as additional German emigrants arrived.Armstrong, William C. Pioneer Families of Northwestern New Jersey (Lambertville, New Jersey: Hunterdon House, 1979). Also during this time, Scottish settlers from Elizabethtown and Perth Amboy, and English settlers from these cities,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, came to New Jersey and moved up the tributaries of the

Passaic Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 16th-most-populous municipality,Raritan rivers, settling in the eastern sections of present-day Sussex and Warren counties. By the 1750s, residents of this area began to petition colonial authorities for a new county to be formed; they complained of the inconvenience of long travel to conduct business with the government and the courts. By this time, four large townships had been created in this sparsely populated Northwestern region: Walpack Township (before 1731), Greenwich Township (before 1738), Hardwick Township (1750) and Newtown Township (1751). On June 8, 1753, Sussex County was created from these four municipalities, which had been part of Morris County when Morris stretched over all of northwestern New Jersey. Sussex County at this time encompassed present-day Sussex and Warren Counties and its boundaries were drawn by the New York-New Jersey border to the north, the Delaware River to the west, and the Musconetcong River to the south and east. After several decades of debate over where to hold the sessions of the county's courts, the state legislature eventually voted to divide Sussex County in two, using a line drawn from the juncture of the Flat Brook and Delaware River in a southeasterly direction to the Musconetcong River running through the Yellow Frame Presbyterian Church in present-day Fredon Township (then part of Hardwick).State of New Jersey. ''Acts of the Legislature of the State of New Jersey'', (1824), 146–147. The landmark used for drawing the boundary through Yellow Frame was the Presbyterian Church edifice torn down in 1898. On November 20, 1824, Warren County was created from the southern territory of the Sussex County. Paulinskill 1905 Baleville

Throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, Sussex County's economy was largely centered around agriculture and the mining of iron and zinc ores. Early settlers established farms whose operations were chiefly focused towards

subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occu ...

. Because of geological constraints, Sussex County's agricultural production was centered around

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for the long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for the eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a h ...

. Several farms had

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s—typically apples and peaches—and surplus fruit and grains were often distilled or brewed into alcoholic beverages (hard ciders, applejack and fruit brandies). This was the economic model until the mid-19th century when advances in

food preservation Food preservation includes processes that make food more resistant to microorganism growth and slow the redox, oxidation of fats. This slows down the decomposition and rancidification process. Food preservation may also include processes that in ...

and the introduction of

railroads Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

(e.g. the Sussex Railroad) into the area allowed Sussex County to transport farm products throughout the region. Railroads also promoted the building of factories as companies relocated to the area at the end of the 19th century—including that of the H.W. Merriam Shoe Company (1873) in Newton. The Highlands Region of Northwestern New Jersey has proven to possess rich deposits of

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the f ...

. In the mid 18th century, several

entrepreneurial Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

colonists began mining iron in area around Andover, Hamburg, and Franklin present-day Sussex County and establishing

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

s and

furnaces Furnace may refer to: Appliances Buildings * Furnace (central heating): a furnace, or a heater or boiler, used to generate heat for buildings * Boiler, used to heat water; also called a furnace in American English when used for heating and hot wat ...

to create

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate good used by the iron industry in the production of steel. It is developed by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with si ...

and bar iron. During the American Revolution, the

Quartermaster Quartermaster is a military term, the meaning of which depends on the country and service. In land army, armies, a quartermaster is an officer who supervises military logistics, logistics and requisitions, manages stores or barracks, and distri ...

Department of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

complained to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

of difficulties in acquiring iron to support the war effort and the Congress ordered two colonels, Benjamin Flower and Thomas Maybury to take possession of the iron works at Andover in order to equip General Washington's army. During the middle of the 19th century, under the management of Cooper and Hewitt, the Andover mine produced 50,000 tons of iron ore each year. The firm manufactured railroad

rails Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters * Railway track or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' (1967 fi ...

and the country's first

structural steel Structural steel is steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section (geometry), cross section. Structural steel sha ...

, which and led to the building of railroads and commercial development in the county. Iron from the Andover mines was fashioned into cable wire for the bridge built at

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

and for the beams used to rebuild

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Nassau Hall Nassau Hall, colloquially known as Old Nassau, is the oldest building at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. In 1783 it served as the United States Capitol building for four months. ...

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

after a fire undermined the structure in 1855. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, Andover iron found its way into rifle barrels and cannonballs just as it had during the Revolution years before. As deposits were depleted, the iron mining industry began to diminish by the mid-19th century. During the late 19th century, prolific American inventor

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

began to explore the commercial opportunities of processing poor-quality low-grade iron ore to combat the growing scarcity of iron deposits in the United States. He began to purchase mining companies in Sussex County in the 1880s and consolidating their assets. He developed a process of crushing and milling iron-bearing minerals and separating iron ore from the material through large

electromagnet An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire (likely copper) wound into a electromagnetic coil, coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic ...

s, and built one of the world's largest ore-crushing mills near Ogdensburg. Completed in 1889, the factory contained three giant electromagnets and was intended to process up to 1200 tons of iron ore every day. However, technical difficulties repeatedly thwarted production.Peterson, M. "Thomas Edison, Failure", in ''American Heritage of Invention & Technology'' (Winter 1991), 6(3):8-14."Edison and Ore Refining"
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Global History Network. August 3, 2009. Accessed September 24, 2011. However, in the 1890s, richer soft-grade iron ore deposits located in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

's Iron Range rendered Edison's Ogdensburg operation unprofitable and he closed the works in 1900. Edison adapted the process and machinery for the cement industry and invested in producing

Portland Cement Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar (masonry), mortar, stucco, and non-specialty grout. It was developed from other types of hydraulic lime in England in th ...

in other locations. Franklin NJ zinc mines

In the early 19th century, Samuel Fowler (1779–1844) settled in Franklin Furnace (now Franklin) to open up a medical practice, but is largely known for his interest in

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

which led to his developing commercial uses for

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

and for discovery of several rare minerals (chiefly various ores of zinc).United States Congress
FOWLER, Samuel, (1779–1844)
in ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774–present''. Accessed August 3, 2013.Dunn, Pete J. ''Mine Hill in Franklin, and Sterling Hill in Ogdensburg, Sussex County, New Jersey: Mining history, 1765–1900: Final Report.'' 4 volumes. (Alexandria, Virginia: Smithsonian Institution, 2002). Many of these zinc minerals are known for fluorescing in vivid colors when exposed to

ultraviolet light Ultraviolet radiation, also known as simply UV, is electromagnetic radiation of wavelengths of 10–400 nanometers, shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays. UV radiation is present in sunlight and constitutes about 10% of th ...

.Jones, Robert W. Jr. ''Nature's Hidden Rainbows : The Fluorescent Minerals of Franklin, New Jersey''. (San Gabriel, California: Ultra-Violet Products, Inc., 1964). Because of both the rich deposits and many of these minerals are not found anywhere else on earth, Franklin is known as the "Fluorescent Mineral Capitol of the World". Fowler, who later briefly served in elected political office, operated the local iron works and bought several abandoned zinc and iron mines in the area. Shortly after his death, two companies were created to exploit the iron and zinc deposits in this region; they acquired the rights to Fowler's holdings in Franklin and nearby Sterling Hill. These companies later merged to form the New Jersey Zinc Corporation (today known as ''Horsehead Industries''). At this time,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, Chilean,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

, Irish, Hungarian and Polish

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

came to Franklin to work in the mines, and the population of Franklin swelled from 500 (in 1897) to over 3,000 (in 1913). Declining deposits in the Franklin area, the expense of pumping

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

from mine shafts, tax disputes and misdirected investments by the company led to the abandonment of the mines.Squires, Patricia
"OGDENSBURG JOURNAL; Old Mine Transformed Into Museum"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', December 9, 1990. Accessed August 3, 2013. Today, both the Franklin and Sterling Hill mines are operated as museums. Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, construction or improvements of

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one of the ori ...

, Route 181 and Route 23 triggered rapid growth to Sussex County. Since 1950, the population nearly quadrupled from 34,423 people to 130,943 people in 1990. This has caused Sussex County to begin developing into a light suburban atmosphere, instead of the sparsely populated rural region it once was, especially in the eastern half of the county.

Geology

Around 450 million years ago, the Martinsburg Shale was uplifted when a chain of volcanic islands collided with proto North America. These islands slid over the North American plate, and deposited rock on top of the plate, forming the Highlands and Kittatinny Valley. At that time the western part of Sussex County was under a shallow inland sea. Fossils of sea shells and fish can be found west of the Kittatinny ridge. Then approximately 400 million years ago, a small, narrow continent collided with North America. Pressure from the collision, created heat in the bed rock which folded and faulted the Silurian Shawangunk Conglomerate that was under the shallow sea. The pressure created intense heat, melted the quartzite, and allowed it to bend, creating an uplift. as cooling occurred this cemented the quartz pebbles and conglomerate together. This is how the Kittatinny Ridge was created. The strike from this continent was from the south east, this is why the Kittatinny ridge is on a northeast–southwest axis. The Wisconsin glacier which covered the entire county from 23,000B.C to 13,000 B.C. created many lakes and streams. The glacier covered Kittatinny mountain. As climate warmed around 13,000 B.C., the area was first a tundra with lichens and mosses. After a few thousand years, coniferous forests began to grow. As climate grew warmer around 8000 B.C., deciduous forests began to grow with nut trees such as oak, and maple. Around 3000 B.C. other nut bearing trees began to grow such as hickory, butternut, walnut and beech. This allowed the Paleo Indian populations to increase. The county is drained by the Paulinskill River, the Flatbrook, which drain into the Delaware River, the Wallkill River which flows north to the Hudson River. There are many smaller creeks that drain into these water sheds.

Physiographic provinces

Sussex County is located within two of New Jersey's physiographic provinces: (1) The Ridge and Valley Appalachians, and (2) the New York-New Jersey Highlands regions.Lucey, Carol S.
Geology of Sussex County in Brief
'' (Trenton, New Jersey: New Jersey Geological Survey, November 1969), 21pp. Accessed August 28, 2012. The features of the Ridge and Valley province were created approximately 400 million years ago during the Ordovician period and

Appalachian orogeny Appalachian may refer to: * Appalachian Mountains, a major mountain range in eastern United States and Canada * Appalachian Trail, a hiking trail in the eastern United States * The people of Appalachia and their culture ** Appalachian Americans, e ...

— by a continent striking North America the creating Kittatinny Mountain, Blue Mountain, and the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

. This physiographic province occupies approximately two-thirds of the county's area (the county's western and central sections) dominated by Kittatinny Mountain and the Kittatinny Valley. This province's contour is characterized by long, even ridges with long, continuous valleys in between that generally run parallel from southwest to northeast. This region is largely formed by

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock (geology), rock formed by the cementation (geology), cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or de ...

.Dalton, Richard
New Jersey Geological Survey Information Circular: Physiographic Provinces of New Jersey
(Trenton, New Jersey: Department of Environmental Protection, State of New Jersey, 2003, 2006). Accessed August 28, 2012. The New York-New Jersey Highlands, or Highlands region, located in the county's eastern section is older. An extension of the Reading Prong formation stretching from Pennsylvania to Connecticut, the Highlands were created from geological forces created from when a small continent went over the North American plate. This rock created the highlands of Sussex County.

Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...

igneous Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...

and

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

approximately 500 million years ago. The watersheds within the Highlands provide fresh water resources for millions of residents in New Jersey and the New York City Metropolitan Area. Because of this, the region was protected by the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and ...

and Governor

Jim McGreevey James Edward McGreevey (born August 6, 1957) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 52nd governor of New Jersey from 2002 until his resignation in 2004 amidst a sex scandal. McGreevey served in the New Jersey Genera ...

under the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act enacted in 2004. This act sought to protect these water resources from development by promoting open space and farmland preservation, creating new recreational parks, and consolidating the regulatory authority over

land use planning Land use planning or ''Land-use regulation'' is the process of regulating the Land use, use of land by a central authority. Usually, this is done to promote more desirable social and environmental outcomes as well as a more efficient resource u ...

in a regional planning commission known as the Highlands Council.

Mountains and valleys

The

forms the western and northwestern boundary of Sussex County. This region is known as the Upper Delaware Valley and historically as the Minisink or Minisink Valley. Elevations in the regions along the river range from 300 to 500 feet. Kittatinny Mountain is the dominant geological feature in the western section of the county. It is part of the

, and part of a ridge that continues as the Blue Mountain in Eastern Pennsylvania, and as Shawangunk Ridge in New York to the north. It begins in New Jersey as the eastern half of the

, and runs northeast to southwest along the Delaware River. Elevations range from and attains a maximum elevation of at High Point, in Montague Township. Between Kittatinny Mountain and the Delaware River is the Wallpack Ridge, a smaller, narrow ridge spanning in length from the Walpack Bend near Flatbrookville north to Port Jervis, New York. Wallpack Ridge encloses the watershed of the

Flat Brook Flat Brook, also spelled as Flatbrook, is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in Sussex County, New Jersey in the United S ...

and its two main tributaries Little Flat Brook and Big Flat Brook, and ranges in elevation from and reaching its highest elevation at . Witte, Ron W., and Monteverde Don H. "Karst in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area" fro
Unearthing New Jersey
(Newsletter) Vol. 2 No. 1 Winter 2006. (Trenton: New Jersey Geological Survey, Department of Environmental Protection, 2006). The Kittatinny Valley lies to the east of Kittatinny Mountain and ends with the Highlands in the east. It is largely a region of rolling hills and flat valley floors. Elevations in this valley range from 400 to 1,000 feet. It is part of the

Great Appalachian Valley The Great Appalachian Valley, also called The Great Valley or Great Valley Region, is one of the major landform features of eastern North America. It is a gigantic trough, including a chain of valley lowlands, and the central feature of the Appal ...

running from eastern Canada to northern Alabama. This valley is shared by three major watersheds—the Wallkill River, with its tributaries Pochuck Creek and Papakating Creek flowing north; and the Paulins Kill watershed and Pequest River watershed flowing southwest. This valley floor consists of shale and slate (part of the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

Martinsburg Formation) and of limestone (part of the Jacksonburg Formation). Several parties have argued about the possibility of natural gas extraction in the region's Martinsburg and Utica shale formations, similar to the Marcellus Shale formations to the West in Pennsylvania and New York. Of special interest is Rutan Hill, a 440-million-year-old patch of igneous rock known as

nepheline syenite Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline Intrusion, plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varie ...

. This site, north of Beemerville in Wantage Township, was once an ancient

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

—the only extant dormant volcano site in the state. Dividing the Kittatinny Valley (and the Ridge and Valley Province) from the Highlands region is a narrow fault of Hardyston Quartzite. Many of the mountains in the Highlands are not part of a solid, linear ridge and tend to randomly rise from the surrounding land as the result of folds, faults and intrusions. Elevations in the Highlands region range from 1,000 to 1,500 feet. The more prominent mountains in this area are Hamburg Mountain (elevation: ), Wawayanda Mountain (elevation: ), Sparta Mountain (elevation: ) and Pochuck Mountain (elevation: ) which form a ridge along the county's eastern flank.

Rivers and watersheds

Sussex County's rivers and watersheds flow in three directions; north to the

, west and south to the Delaware River, and east toward

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jerse ...

. * Wallkill River is an river starting at its source at Lake Mohawk in Sparta Township drains north into Rondout Creek, a tributary of the Hudson River.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data (The National Map)
. Accessed June 27, 2012. The Wallkill River drains a watershed.Draft Wallkill Watershed Conservation and Management Plan
, 11. Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, 2005. Accessed June 27, 2012 * Pochuck Creek is an creek flowing north into the Wallkill River. * Papakating Creek is a creek in the north central region of the county beginning in Frankford Township also drains into the Wallkill. * Clove Creek is a creek that flows into the Papakating Creek near Lewisburg in Wantage Township. * The

is a creek flowing through Walpack and Sandyston Townships, joins the Delaware River at the Walpack Bend. It has two main tributaries: the Little Flat Brook whose length is and Big Flat Brook whose length is . * The Paulins Kill is a river with its two branches: the West Branch is fed by Bear Swamp, Lake Owassa, Culver's Lake, and the Dry Brook in Frankford Township, the Main or East Branch starting at Newton combining near Augusta to flow southwest through Hampton, Stillwater, Hardwick, Blairstown, and Knowlton townships to join the

near the

. The Paulins Kill drains a watershed. * The Pequest River is a beginning near Newton and Springdale and flowing through in Andover and Green Township, then through Warren County before joining the Delaware near Belvidere. * The

Musconetcong River The Musconetcong River is a tributary of the Delaware River in northwestern New Jersey in the United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 It flows throug ...

is a river beginning at

Lake Hopatcong Lake Hopatcong is the largest freshwater body in New Jersey, United States, about in area. Located from the Delaware River and from Manhattan, New York City, the lake forms part of the border between Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex and Morris ...

, forms the eastern border between Warren County and Morris and Hunterdon Counties. Its main tributaries are Lubbers Run and Punkhorn Creek. * Small sections of eastern Sussex County drain into the watersheds of the Pequannock River,

Passaic River The Passaic River ( or ) is a river, approximately long, in North Jersey, northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburb ...

, and

Rockaway River The Rockaway River is a tributary of the Passaic River, approximately 35 mi (56 km) long, in Morris County, New Jersey in the United States. The upper course of the river flows through a wooded mountainous valley, whereas the lower co ...

which end in

. Historically, these rivers and streams were used to power various types of mills (i.e. grist mills, fulling mills, etc.), transport goods to market, and later to generate electric power (after 1880). Today, these rivers are chiefly used in local recreational activities—including

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

. The Fish Culture Unit of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife stocks these waterways each year with various species of

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

. Some of these rivers—especially the Flat Brook, Paulins Kill and Pequest—have become well known as trout streams and for their suitability for fly-fishing. The Flat Brook and its tributary the Big Flat Brook are regarded as the state's premiere trout stream.

Soils

According to the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Sussex County soils are derived from parent materials that are largely

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

and

glaciofluvial deposits Fluvioglacial landforms or glaciofluvial landforms are those that result from the associated erosion and deposition of sediments caused by glacial meltwater. Glaciers contain suspended sediment loads, much of which is initially picked up from the ...

alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

, and

organic matter Organic matter, organic material or natural organic matter is the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have come fro ...

deposits A deposit account is a bank account maintained by a financial institution in which a customer can deposit and withdraw money. Deposit accounts can be savings accounts, current accounts or any of several other types of accounts explained below. ...

. Till is the rock of soil material transported or deposited by glacial ice. In this case, the most recent glaciation (i.e. the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

), the Wisconsinian continental glacier, deposited a

till plain Till plains are an extensive flat plain of glacial till that forms when a sheet of ice becomes detached from the main body of a glacier and melts in place, depositing the sediments it carried. Ground moraines are formed with melts out of the glac ...

composed of ground and recessional moraines. This glaciation reached its maximum extent roughly 22,000 years ago. Glaciofluvial deposits (or "outwash") are rock and soil materials that melting glaciers deposit as the glacier recedes. Alluvium is materials that are deposited by floodwaters from engorged bodies of water—chiefly streams and rivers. Organic deposits are largely the result of decomposing plant material.

Geography and climate

High Point Monument and Lake Marcia framed

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, as of the 2020 Census, the county had a total area of , of which was land (96.8%) and was water (3.2%).2020 Census Gazetteer File for Counties in New Jersey

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

. Accessed April 1, 2023. It is the fourth-largest of the state's 21 counties in terms of area. Sussex County lies within the Kittatinny Mountains of Northwestern New Jersey and the overall

range. High Point, located at the northernmost tip of New Jersey in Montague Township, is the highest natural elevation in the state at above sea level."Sussex County Facts & Figures at a Glance" (fact sheet)
Sussex County Clerk's Office. Accessed August 28, 2012. Nearby, Sunrise Mountain in Stokes State Forest has an elevation of . Many mountains in the Highlands region range from .U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service. Soil Survey of Sussex County, New Jersey (Washington, D.C.: 2009). Officially, the county's lowest elevation is approximately above sea level along the

near Flatbrookville. However, local authorities claim unofficially that the mine adit descending at the Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg is the lowest elevation in New Jersey. Because of its topography, Sussex County has remained a relatively rural and forested area. In the western half of the county, several

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

and federal parks have kept the large tracts of land undeveloped and in their natural states. The eastern half of the county has had more suburban development because of its proximity to more populated areas and commercial development zones. With its location at the top of New Jersey, Sussex County is the only county to neighbor both New York and Pennsylvania. Because it is shaped roughly like a

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

rhombus In plane Euclidean geometry, a rhombus (: rhombi or rhombuses) is a quadrilateral whose four sides all have the same length. Another name is equilateral quadrilateral, since equilateral means that all of its sides are equal in length. The rhom ...

with its point matching the cardinal points of the compass, its boundary lines are roughly oriented along the ordinal or intercardinal directions.

Climate

Because of its location in the higher elevations of northwestern New Jersey's Appalachian mountains, Sussex County has a cooler

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

or microthermal climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

Dfb) which indicates patterns of significant precipitation in all seasons and at least four months where the average temperature rises above Thornthwaite, Charles Warren. ''Atlas of Climatic Types in the United States 1900–1939: U.S. Department of Agriculture Miscellaneous Publication 421''. (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1941); and Thornthwaite. "The Climates of North America: According to a New Classification" in ''Geographical Review'' (October 1931), 21(4):633-655. This differs from the rest of the state which is generally a humid mesothermal climate, in which temperatures range between during the year's coldest month. Sussex County is part of USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 6. During winter and early spring, New Jersey in some years is subject to "

nor'easters A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low-p ...

"—significant storm systems that have proven capable of causing

blizzards A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...

throughout the northeastern United States.

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

and tropical storms,

tornadoes A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with the surface of Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, although the ...

, and

earthquakes An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they c ...

are relatively rare. The Kittatinny Valley to the north of Newton, part of the

, experiences a snowbelt phenomenon and has been categorized as a

microclimate A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often slightly but sometimes substantially. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square m ...

region known as the "Sussex County Snow Belt". This region receives approximately forty to fifty inches of snow per year and generally more snowfall that the rest of Northern New Jersey and the Northern Climate Zone. This phenomenon is attributed to the orographic lift of the Kittatinny Ridge which impacts local weather patterns by increasing

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

and

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...

, providing the ski resorts of Vernon Valley in the northeastern part of this region with increased snowfall. In recent years, average temperatures in the county seat of Newton have ranged from a low of in January to a high of in July. Average monthly precipitation ranged from in February to in June.Monthly Averages for Newton, New Jersey
The Weather Channel. Accessed October 13, 2013. According to the

USDA The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commerc ...

Natural Resource Conservation Service

soil survey Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of classifying soil types and other soil properties in a given area and geo-encoding such information. Background Soil surveys apply the principles of soil science and draw heavily from geomorpholog ...

, the area receives sunshine approximately 62% of the time in summer and 48% in winter. Prevailing winds are typically from the southwest for most of year; but in late winter and early spring come from the northwest. The lowest recorded temperature was −26 °F on January 21, 1994. The highest recorded temperature was on September 3, 1953. The heaviest one-day snowfall was recorded on January 8, 1996; combined with the next day, total snowfall was . The heaviest one-day rainfall - was recorded on August 19, 1955.

Demographics

2020 census

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 149,265 people, 54,752 households, and 40,626 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 287.6 per square mile (111.0/km²). There were 62,057 housing units at an average density of 119.6 per square mile (46.2/km²). The racial makeup was 93.46% (139,504)

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.79% (2,677) Black or African American, 0.16% (234) Native American, 1.77% (2,642) Asian, 0.02% (36)

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.19% (1,783) from other races, and 1.60% (2,389) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.44% (9,617) of the population. Of the 54,752 households, 33.5% had children under the age of 18; 61% were married couples living together; 9% had a female householder with no husband present and 25.8% were non-families. Of all households, 21% were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.14. 24% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 23.9% from 25 to 44, 32.6% from 45 to 64, and 12% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.8 years. For every 100 females, the population had 98.5 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 96.9 males.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States censusU.S. Census website

. Accessed September 4, 2014. there were 144,166 people, 50,831 households, and 38,784 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 56,528 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.70%

, 1.0%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.11% Native American, 1.20% Asian, 0.02%

, 0.74% from other races, and 1.14% from two or more races. 3.30% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race.DP-1 – Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000; Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data for Sussex County, New Jersey

. Accessed September 30, 2013.Tables DP-1 to DP-4 from Census 2000 for Somerset County, New Jersey

, backed up by the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

as of May 12, 2008. Accessed October 1, 2013. Among those residents listing their ancestry, 24.5% were of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, 22.9% German, 22.2% Irish, 10.7% English, 8.1% Polish and 5.2% Dutch ancestry according to Census 2000. In 2000 there were 50,831 households, out of which 39.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.0% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 18.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.80 and the average family size was 3.24. In the county, the age distribution of the population shows 27.9% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.

Affluence and poverty

Sussex County is considered an affluent area as many of its residents are college-educated, employed in professional or service jobs, and earn above the state's average per capita income and household income statistics. , the

ranked the county as having the 131st-highest

of all 3,113 counties in the United States (and the ninth-highest in New Jersey). Average per capita income was $49,207 and was 23.2% above the national average. As of the 2000 Census, the

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of und ...

was $65,266 and the median family income was $73,335. Males had a median income of $44,544 compared with $32,487 for females. The

for the county was $26,992. About 6.30% of families and 8.40% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 10.50% of those under age 18 and 8.00% of those age 65 or over. The median value of all homes in Sussex County as of Q4 2021 was $323,687, up 12.1% from the prior year. , there were a total of 54,881 households enumerated in the 2010 census, with a reported median household income of $84,115, or mean household income of $96,527. Males had a median income of $50,395 versus $33,750 for females. The

for the county was $26,992. About 2.8% of families and 4.0% of the population were below the

, including 4.1% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2006–2010 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 3.6% of county residents were living below the poverty line which the government defined as an annual household income under $22,350 for a family of four.Reyes, Jessica Masulli
"Study: There's Poverty Amid Affluence"
, '' New Jersey Herald'', July 16, 2012. Accessed October 31, 2017. However, recent surveys indicate that in the county's town centers, Sussex Borough (15.1%), Newton (12.8%) and Andover Borough (12.7%), poverty levels reach double-digits. Of these poverty-level residents, an estimated 44% are employed, many of them underemployed despite working multiple jobs.

Economy

The

calculated that the county's

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

was $4.6 billion in 2021, which was ranked 20th in the state and was a 3.9% increase from the prior year.

Employment and labor force

As of the 2010 Census, the county's unemployment rate was 11.0%. The Census Bureau reported a population of 118,420 persons (above age 16) available for the labor force of which 82,449 (69.6%) were actively employed in civilian labor, and 35,971 (30.4%) were not in the labor force. Early industry and commerce chiefly centered on

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, milling, and iron mining. As iron deposits were exhausted, mining shifted toward

deposits near Franklin and Ogdensburg during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The local economy expanded due to the introduction of railroads and shortly after the Civil War, the town centers hosted factories. However, the factories, railroads and mining declined by the late 1960s. Today, Sussex County features a mix of

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

forests A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological functio ...

and suburban development. Because agriculture (chiefly

) has decreased and that the county hosts little industry, Sussex County is considered a "

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

" as most residents commute to neighboring counties (

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and Morris counties) or to New York City for work.

Agricultural production

Although Sussex County's dairy farming industry has declined significantly in the last 50 years it is still the majority of agricultural production in the region.Sussex County Comprehensive Farmland Preservation Plan Update (May 2008)
Chapter II. Accessed July 10, 2012. Trucking has replaced railroads in the transportation of milk products to regional production facilities and markets. Rising taxes, regulation and decreasing profitability in dairy farming have forced farmers to adapt by growing other products or converting their farms to other uses. Many farmers have sold their properties to real estate developers who have built residential housing. Many Sussex County farms are nursery farms producing

ornamental trees Ornamental plants or ''garden plants'' are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars th ...

plants Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars f ...

and

flowers Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

used in

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

floristry Floristry is the production, commerce, and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design, floral design and arrangement, merchandising, production, display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers ...

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...

. Christmas trees and nursery and greenhouse plants contribute to 51% of the county's annual crop revenues but account for 30% of crop production. Despite the decline of dairy farming, it is still the largest contributor to the county's annual agricultural revenues. According to the ''Sussex County Comprehensive Farmland Preservation Plan'' (2008): According to county agricultural statistics, 17.3% of all crop sales ($1.4 million in 2002) were in hay. Nearly 80% of tilled farmland, or , on 43% of the farms in the county is dedicated to hay production. Much of hay is grown for feed on livestock farms — especially dairy farms — and never makes it to market and is therefore not included in federal agricultural census data. In 2002, were dedicated to corn cultivation, the majority of it used for feed on the same farms. According to the 2007 Census of Agriculture compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's

National Agricultural Statistics Service The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is the statistical branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. NASS has 12 regional offices throughout the United States and P ...

, Sussex County has 1,060 farms totaling out of New Jersey's total 10,327 farms managing . This is up from 1,029 farms in the 2002 Census estimate. However, acreage dedicated to agriculture declined by 13.6% from in 2002.2007 USDA-NASS Census of Agriculture – New Jersey County Level Data
,

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

. Accessed July 8, 2012. Note though that 102,547 acres—roughly 30% of the county's land area—are under farmland assessment for the purpose of calculating property tax levies. This decrease is total acreage is due, in large part, to " suburban sprawl" as farmers capitalized by converting to commercial and residential development. The average size of a farm in 2007 was acres, down from . The 2007 acreage dedicated to agriculture is roughly 19.6% of the county's land area. The county-wide total agricultural product sales in 2007 was $21,242,000, up from $14,756,000 in 2002. Total county market value of land and buildings in 2007 was $888,955,000, an increase from $520,997,000 in 2002. The average market value per farm was $838,636 (2007), up from $505,823 (2002). This results in a per acre price of $13,625 (2007), up from $7,136 (2002). With the repeal of several prohibition-era alcohol laws in 1981, 43 wineries have become licensed and are operating in the state. New Jersey wines have grown in stature due to increased marketing and quality, recent successes and awards in competitions, and appreciation by critics. Sussex County is home to three established and operating wineries and three more are in development.Directory
Garden State Wine Growers Association. Accessed October 23, 2017.

Industry and manufacturing

Sussex County's industrial and manufacturing base is no longer towards heavy industry and mining. Today, companies like Thorlabs, are located here.

Municipalities

The 24 municipalities in Sussex County (with 2010 Census data for population, housing units and area) are:

Government

County government

Sussex County is governed by the Sussex County Board of County Commissioners whose five members are elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

in partisan elections on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year. At an annual reorganization meeting held in the beginning of January, the board selects a Commissioner Director and Deputy Director from among its members, with day-to-day supervision of the operation of the county delegated to a County Administrator. , Sussex County's Commissioners are (with terms for director and deputy director ending every December 31): The commissioners appoint a County Administrator to oversee the day-to-day management of the county. The Administrator is Ron Tappan, whose three-year appointment expires December 31, 2025. Many services overseen by the county government overlap with those provided at the municipal level. The County government oversees and administers the following areas of responsibility: Before 1911, two commissioners from each township were elected annually to serve on the board. However, as this became unwieldy in the late 19th century during the era of

Boroughitis Boroughitis (also borough fever or borough mania) was the creation in the 1890s, usually by referendum, of large numbers of small boroughs in the U.S. state of New Jersey, particularly in Bergen County. Attempts by the New Jersey Legislature to ...

and the creation of hundreds of new municipalities, the State Legislature chose to reorganize the size of county freeholder boards to an odd number between three and nine members. The size of the board was a reflection of the county's population. As Sussex County was rural and among the least populated counties in the state, for the next 80 years, Sussex County's Board of Chosen Freeholders consisted of three elected members. The board increased from three to five members as of January 1, 1990, based on the results of a referendum. No Democrat has been elected to countywide office since 1999. In May 2022, Jill Space was appointed to fill the seat expiring in December 2022 that had been held by Sylvia Petillo until she resigned from office. Sussex County Administration Building Newton New Jersey

Sussex County Administration Building Newton New Jersey

Pursuant to Article VII Section II of the New Jersey State Constitution, each county in New Jersey is required to have three elected administrative officials known as "constitutional officers". These officers are the

County Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keepin ...

and County Surrogate (both elected for five-year terms of office) and the

County Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is commonly ...

(elected for a three-year term). Sussex County's constitutional officers are: The Sussex County Prosecutor is Francis A. Koch of Hardyston Township, who was nominated to the position by

Governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician and former United States Attorney, federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party (United States) ...

in June 2014. Sussex County is a part of Vicinage 10 of the

New Jersey Superior Court The Superior Court is the state court in the U.S. state of New Jersey, with statewide trial and appellate jurisdiction. The New Jersey Constitution of 1947 establishes the power of the New Jersey courts: under Article Six of the State Consti ...

(along with Morris County), which is seated at the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown; the Assignment Judge for Vicinage 10 is Stuart A. Minkowitz. Cases venued in Sussex County are heard at the Sussex County Judicial Center in Newton.

Federal representatives

Two congressional districts cover Sussex County, with the northern part of the county in the 5th congressional district and the southern part in the 7th congressional district.

State represenatatives

All of Sussex County is located in one legislative district.

Politics

Sussex County is the second-most Republican county in New Jersey, behind only

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the southernmost county in the New York metropolitan area. The county borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east and in terms of total area is the state's largest county. Its co ...

. Among registered voters, affiliations with the Republican Party outpace those of the Democratic Party by a ratio of about five to two.Voter Registration Summary – Sussex

Division of Elections, March 23, 2011. Accessed February 27, 2013. All five members of the board of county commissioners, all three county-wide constitutional officers, and all three state legislators are Republicans. The Republican presidential candidate has carried the county in all but one election since

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

. The lone exception is

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, when

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

won 44 states and carried every county in New Jersey. Republican

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

carried the county in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, though it was the best Democratic performance since 1964. As of October 1, 2021, there were a total of 117,681 registered voters in Sussex County, of whom 49,184 (41.8%) were registered as Republicans, 26,800 (22.8%) were registered as Democrats and 39,878 (33.9%) were registered as unaffiliated. There were 1,819 voters (1.5%) registered to other parties. Among the county's 2010 Census population, 65.8% were registered to vote, including 86.5% of those ages 18 and over.

Law enforcement

New Sussex County Courthouse County Jail Newton NJ

Municipalities that do not have their own police departments have services provided by the

New Jersey State Police The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) is the official state police force of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with statewide jurisdiction, designated by troop sectors. History The legislation for the creation o ...

. One of the primary responsibilities of the New Jersey State Police is to provide police services to these rural towns, for which the municipality is assessed an annual fee paid to the state government Troop B of the

operates a Sussex station located on Route 206 in Augusta. Fewer than half of the county's municipalities have a local police department. Police Departments are located in the municipalities of Vernon, Hardyston, Sparta, Byram, Hopatcong, Stanhope, Andover, Newton, Ogdensburg, Franklin, and Hamburg. The other 13 municipalities are rural and rely on State Police coverage. Stillwater Township disbanded its police department in December 2009, estimating a savings of $482,000 by having State Police coverage. The New Jersey State Park Police has jurisdiction throughout the state, but patrol primarily in Stokes State Forest and other local state parks. The duties of the Sussex County Sheriff's Office include overseeing security at the county's courthouse facilities, operating the county jail, and civil processes. The current sheriff is Michael F. Strada, a former officer with the Mount Olive Township police department.

Crime

Crime is relatively low in Sussex County. In the 2012 New Jersey Uniform Crime Report, Sussex County reported the following arrests: * Murder: 1 * Rape: 1 * Robbery: 16 * Aggravated Assault: 50 * Burglary: 115 * Larceny – Theft: 348 * Motor Vehicle Theft: 5 * Total: 536 The above arrest data includes both minor and adult arrests.

Media

Newspapers

Sussex County has one daily newspaper, the '' New Jersey Herald'', which is published six days each week (Sunday through Friday). Established in 1829 by Grant Fitch, the Herald is one of the oldest continuing newspapers in the state with distribution throughout Sussex County and into neighboring Morris and Warren counties in New Jersey,

Orange County, New York Orange County is a List of counties in New York, county located in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen (village), New York, Goshen. This count ...

and

Pike County, Pennsylvania Pike County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 58,535. Its county seat is Milford, Pennsylvania ...

. Its headquarters, and production facilities are located in Newton, New Jersey. Its printing facilities were located in Newton, as well, but in 2012 the newspaper's printing was outsourced to North Jersey Media Group, located in

Rockaway, New Jersey Rockaway is a borough in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 6,598, an increase of 160 (+2.5%) from the 2010 census count of 6,438, which in turn reflected a decl ...

. It was for most of its existence published once per week. It's Sunday edition, the ''New Jersey Sunday Herald'', was first published on June 11, 1962, and for the next few years it was published twice weekly. In 1969, after a sale to American Newspapers, Inc., a daily edition was planned which began publication on March 16, 1970. American Newspapers, Inc. sold it to Quincy Newspapers in March 1980. Quincy later sold the newspaper to

GateHouse Media GateHouse Media Inc. was an American publisher of locally based print and digital media. It published 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states. Its parent company, New Media Investment Group ...

in May 2019, and later that year, acquired

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

and assumed its name in a merger. Today, its content includes coverage of local news and sporting events (chiefly those in Sussex County) and printing selected articles from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

covering state, national and international events.

Television

Sussex County is served by

Optimum Mathematical optimization (alternatively spelled ''optimisation'') or mathematical programming is the selection of a best element, with regard to some criteria, from some set of available alternatives. It is generally divided into two subfiel ...

, a division of

Altice USA Altice USA, Inc., commonly known as Altice, is an American telecommunications provider with headquarters in New York City, owned by the Franco-Israeli businessman Patrick Drahi. The company delivers pay television, Internet access, telephone se ...

, in Sparta, New Jersey. Optimum has offered channels for local access programming (channel 10) and for "community bulletin boards". It offers two free Public Service Announcements or event advertisements for free to non-profit organizations in Sussex and Warren Counties.

WMBC-TV WMBC-TV (channel 63) is a television station licensed to Newton, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York metropolitan area as an affiliate of Merit TV. The station is owned by the Mountain Broadcasting Corporation, and maintains studi ...

an independent television station owned by Mountain Broadcasting Corporation, is licensed to operate in Newton. It is recognized for providing

Korean language Korean is the first language, native language for about 81 million people, mostly of Koreans, Korean descent. It is the national language of both South Korea and North Korea. In the south, the language is known as () and in the north, it is kn ...

programming in the New York metropolitan area but also offers English-language programs. Its studios are located in West Caldwell, New Jersey and its transmitter near

. Before 2009, it operated an

analog transmission Analog transmission is a transmission method of conveying information using a continuous signal which varies in amplitude, phase, or some other property in proportion to that information. It could be the transfer of an analog signal, using an an ...

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...

63 (UHF-63) but has converted to broadcasting its signal on

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

channel 18. The New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority maintains the license to operate a low-power translator (W36AZ) in Sussex Borough to broadcast the state's public television station, NJTV. This station, which used to be the New Jersey Network (NJN), is operated by WNET.org, the parent company of New York City's flagship public television stations,

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

and WLIW, through a subsidiary nonprofit organization, Public Media NJ.

Radio

Sussex County is served largely by radio stations in the New York City metropolitan area. Stations from

in Pennsylvania;

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...

in New York; can also be heard including CHR's Z100 100.3 FM (Eastern Sussex), B104 104.1 FM (Western Sussex), K104 104.7 FM (Northern Sussex) , and 98.5 KRZ 107.9 FM (Southwestern Sussex) and

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

owns a cluster of three stations in the county, including: 102.3 FM WSUS in Franklin (Format: Adult contemporary), 103.7 FM WNNJ in Newton (Format: Classic rock), and 106.3 FM WHCY in Franklin (Format: Country). Centro Biblico of NJ also owns a

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

station, 1360 AM WTOC in Newton. Stations nearby include 91.9 FM WXPJ broadcast from Centenary College in Hackettstown (Warren County) with a public radio and progressive music format and 1110 AM WTBQ in Warwick, New York with a NewsTalk and Sports format. New Jersey Public Radio (NJN), affiliated with

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

, operates two stations in the region: 88.5 FM WNJP in Sussex, and 89.3 FM WNJY in Netcong.

Transportation

Roads and highways

Sussex County is served by a number of roads connecting it to the rest of the state and to both

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. According to the county government, "a vast majority of residents who use single occupant vehicles to travel outside the county for employment. Thus, the demand for public transportation in the county is minimal."Urbitran Associates
Chapter 2: Existing Transportation Services
i
Sussex County Ten-Year Mobility Study
(2002). Accessed July 10, 2013.

passes through the extreme southern tip of Sussex County solely in Byram. Interstate 84 passes just yards north of Sussex County, but never enters New Jersey. New Jersey's Route 15, Route 23, Route 94, Route 181, Route 183, and Route 284 pass through the county, as does U.S. Route 206. , the county had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the local municipality, by Sussex County and by the

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transport ...

and by the

Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission The Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission (DRJTBC) is a bistate, public agency that maintains and operates river crossings connecting the U.S. states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The agency's jurisdiction stretches roughly along the D ...

Bridges

Sussex County has two toll-bridge crossings over the Delaware River. Operated by the

, the Milford-Montague Toll Bridge (also known as the US 206 Toll Bridge) carries U.S. Route 206 over the Delaware connecting Montague Township and

Milford, Pennsylvania Milford is a borough that is located in Pike County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat. Its population was 1,103 at the time of the 2020 census. Situated near the upper Delaware River, Milford is part of the New York metropo ...

. The current bridge was opened in 1954, replacing a series of bridges located here beginning in 1826.Dale, Frank T. ''Bridges over the Delaware River: A History of Crossings''. (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2003). Route 206 merges with U.S. Route 209 a mile south of the village center. Tolls are collected only from motorists traveling westbound, into Pennsylvania, with cars paying a $1 toll; a total of $1.7 million was generated from 1.3 million vehicles in 2016. The Dingman's Ferry Bridge is the last privately owned toll bridge on the Delaware River and one of the last few in the United States."A Toll Bridge with Character" in ''Spanning the Gap: The newsletter of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area'' Vol. 15, No. 2. (Summer 1993).
Accessed August 28, 2012. It is owned and operated by the Dingmans Choice and Delaware Bridge Company which has operated bridges at the site since 1836. The bridge connects the village of Dingmans in Delaware Township in

and State Route 2019 with County Route 560 and the Old Mine Road in Sandyston Township.

Commuter rail service

RDG 2102 east of Roseville Tunnel - Jun 1973

, Sussex County's sole operating railroad line is dedicated to freight service in Sparta, Vernon and Hardyston townships. It is operated by the New York, Susquehanna & Western railroad and

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

. Commuter rail service has not been offered in the county since the 1960s. However, commuter rail service is available from nearby stations along NJ Transit's Morris and Essex Lines in Hackettstown, Mount Olive, Netcong,

, Mount Arlington and

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, which are easily accessible to Sussex County residents by driving or through bus services contracted by

NJ Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania. I ...

.Morris & Essex Morristown Line/Gladstone Branch Rail Schedule
,

effective April 1, 2012. Accessed August 28, 2012. This line was part of the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad system. Service is available directly to Hoboken Terminal or via the Kearny Connection (opened in 1996) to

Secaucus Junction Secaucus Junction (signed as Secaucus) is an intermodal transit hub served by New Jersey Transit Rail Operations, New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) and Metro-North Railroad in Secaucus, New Jersey, Secaucus, New Jersey. It is one of the List of b ...

and Pennsylvania Station in

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

. Passengers can transfer at Newark Broad Street Station or

Summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

to reach either New York or Hoboken. NJ Transit is planning to re-open commuter service through the Lackawanna Cut-Off Restoration Project will allow train transport through Andover and Green Townships in the southern part of the county. Service from a planned station in Andover into New York City and Hoboken is scheduled to begin in 2019,Capital Improvement Program: System Expansion Projects: Lackawanna Cutoff

. Accessed August 28, 2012. marking the first time Sussex County has seen passenger trains since 1970. The portion of the Cut-Off route west of Andover heading toward

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the ...

has not been funded or scheduled, however

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

has announced plans for its restoration.

Bus service

in partnership with the county government offers bus service in Sussex County, limited to Monday-Saturday service on the "Skylands Connect" route between the Sussex-Wantage Library and Hampton Plaza in Newton, NJ. The county government's Office of Transit also operates a ParaTransit bus service on weekdays to local senior citizens, veterans, people with disabilities, and the general public. It offers service within the county for local errands (nutrition, medical appointments, shopping, hairdresser appointments, banking, community services, education/training, and employment) and outside the county for non-emergency medical appointments (dialysis, therapy, radiation treatment, mental health, specialized hospitals, and Veterans facilities). NJ Transit also offers weekday service between New York City's Midtown

Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus station, bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving ab ...

and Stockholm, and seasonal service to Vernon. Lakeland Bus Lines, a privately operated commuter bus company based in

, in Morris County offers service under contract with NJ Transit between Newton and Sparta to New York City's Midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Airports

There are four

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

public-use airports in Sussex County that cater to recreational pilots. They include: * Aeroflex-Andover Airport ( FAA LID 12N) also in Andover Township. This airport is located in Kittatinny Valley State Park and is owned and operated by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. It has one runway designated 3/21 and is located at and elevation of above

mean sea level A mean is a quantity representing the "center" of a collection of numbers and is intermediate to the extreme values of the set of numbers. There are several kinds of means (or "measures of central tendency") in mathematics, especially in statist ...

. Accessed July 10, 2012. * Newton Airport ( FAA LID 3N5) located in Andover Township and is privately owned. It has one runway with a 6/24 designation and is located at an elevation of above mean sea level. Accessed July 10, 2012. The Airport closed in 2013. * Sussex Airport ( FAA LID FWN) located in Wantage Township and is privately owned. It has a runway with a 3/21 designation and is located at an elevation of above mean sea level. Accessed July 10, 2012. * Trinca Airport ( FAA LID 13N) located in and owned by Green Township, which has a grass runway with a 6/24 designation and located at an elevation of above mean sea level. Accessed July 10, 2012.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Fredon Elementary School Fredon Township NJ 2013

Before 1942, Sussex County had over 100

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

s. Most of these districts were in rural townships that each had several districts—each district operating a

one-room school One-room schoolhouses, or One-room schools, have been commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, and Spa ...

house that served their small neighborhoods. During the forty-year tenure (1903–1942) of County School Superintendent Ralph Decker, the local government began to consolidate these small districts into larger municipality-wide or regional school districts. The public school system in Sussex County offers a "thorough and efficient" education for children between the ages of five and eighteen years (grades K–12), as required by state constitution, through nine local and regional public high school districts, and twenty public primary or elementary school districts. Because of its distance from other county high schools and the higher costs of busing students one of those locations, Montague Township (the northernmost municipality in the state) sends most of its middle school (grades 7–8) and high school students (grades 9–12) to Port Jervis, New York for schooling. However, in 2013, Montague began exploring alternatives that would involve keeping their students in-state by sending them to High Point Regional High School in neighboring Wantage Township. Several of the county's schools are highly ranked by both

and federal education departments; some of which have achieved the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School Award. The county's Board of County Commissioners oversees the Sussex County Technical School (formerly the Sussex County Vocational-Technical School), a county-wide technical

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

in Sparta Township. Pope John XXIII Regional High School in Sparta operates under the auspices of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson The Diocese of Paterson () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or diocese, of the Catholic Church in North Jersey, northern New Jersey. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese ...

Higher education

Sussex County Community College Newton NJ Main Building 2013

Sussex County Community College (commonly referred to as ''SCCC''), which opened in 1982, is an

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

co-ed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

ucational, two-year,

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

located on a campus in Newton.Our History
Sussex County Community College. Accessed October 31, 2017. "Sussex County Community College was authorized as a College Commission by the New Jersey State Board of Higher Education in 1981, and we opened our doors in 1982." The SCCC campus was the site of Don Bosco College, a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

operated by the Salesian Order from 1928 until it was closed in the early 1980s and its campus sold to the Sussex County government on June 22, 1989, for US$4,209,800. SCCC was authorized as a "college commission" in 1981 and began operations the following year. It became fully accredited in 1993 by the Commission on Higher Education of the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, also referred to as the Middle States Association or MSA, is an accreditor in the United States. Historically, it has accredited schools in the Mid-Atlantic states region of the northeas ...

.Institution Directory: Sussex County Community College
Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Accessed July 18, 2012. SCCC offers 40

associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

and 16 post-secondary

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

and

health science The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences – those sciences that focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple ...

certificate programs available both at traditional classes at its campus, through hybrid and online classes, and through distance learning."Degrees, Programs and Certificates"
Sussex County Community College. Accessed August 2, 2013. Many students who attend SCCC transfer to pursue the completion of their undergraduate college education at a four-year college or university. The college also offers programs for advanced high school students, community education courses, and programs in cooperation with the

. , SCCC reported an enrollment of 2,738 students of which 55% attend full-time and 45% attended part-time. Before it closed in 1995, Upsala College, a Lutheran-affiliated college in

East Orange, New Jersey East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

, operated a satellite campus in Wantage Township which it named the "Wirth Campus". In 1978, the land known as "Twin Ponds Farm" had been donated by Wallace "Wally" Wirths (1921–2002), a former Westinghouse Corporation executive, author, local newspaper columnist and radio commentator.Sussex County Clerk's Office
(Newton, New Jersey), Register of Deeds. ''Deed between the Wallace R. Wirths, and Upsala College, a corporation of the State of New Jersey'' (dated November 6, 1978, filed November 8, 1978) in Deed Book 1018, page 770, et seq. (Instrument No. 36176).Swenson Center Archives
Wirths Campus in Sussex County records – Series XIV, Boxes 1-6, folders 1-55
. Augustana College (Rock Island, Illinois). Accessed May 22, 2013.Strunksy, Steve

in ''The New York Times'' (August 2, 1998). Accessed July 10, 2012. The school had considered moving to Sussex County as East Orange's crime problem and social conditions deteriorated in the 1970s. However, declining enrollment and financial difficulties forced the school to close. The Wirths family bought back the farm for $75,000.Sussex County Clerk's Office
(Newton, New Jersey), Register of Deeds. ''Deed between the Charles M. Forman, Trustee for Upsala College and Wallace Wirths, Harold Wirths and Deborah Wirths'' (dated July 30, 1998, filed August 11, 1998) in Deed Book 2308, page 328, et seq. (Instrument No. 98-16434).

Recreation

Sussex County is part of the Skylands Region, a term promoted by the New Jersey Commerce, Economic Growth, & Tourism Commission to encourage regional

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. New Jersey ranks fifth in the nation in revenues generated from tourism.

Agritourism

Local dairy farmers have had to adapt to a declining milk and dairy industry and reacclimate to changing economic conditions by seeking new sources of revenue. Combining their agricultural production while promoting tourism, "Agritourism" has created opportunities for farmers. Many Sussex County farms offer corn field mazes, "u-pick" or "pick your own" fruits and vegetables—especially for

apples An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

pumpkin A pumpkin is a cultivar, cultivated winter squash in the genus ''Cucurbita''. The term is most commonly applied to round, orange-colored squash varieties, but does not possess a scientific definition. It may be used in reference to many dif ...

s and

Christmas tree A Christmas tree is a decorated tree, usually an evergreen pinophyta, conifer, such as a spruce, pine or fir, associated with the celebration of Christmas. It may also consist of an artificial tree of similar appearance. The custom was deve ...

s during their respective harvest seasons. New Jersey's wine industry has benefited from the recent easing of state alcohol licensing laws and from new promotional and marketing programs offered by the state's

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

. Of the state's 46 licensed wineries, Sussex County is home to three: Cava Winery & Vineyard in Hamburg, Ventimiglia Vineyard in Wantage Township, and Westfall Winery in Montague Township.

State and federal protected areas

A large percentage of Sussex County is undeveloped because it has been reserved as one of 11 federal or state parks or as part of several wildlife management areas. ;Under the National Park Service * Appalachian National Scenic Trail (shared by 14 states) * Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (shared with Pennsylvania) * Middle Delaware National Scenic River (shared with Pennsylvania) ;Under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service * Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge (shared with New York) ;Under the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry * Allamuchy Mountain State Park * High Point State Park * Hopatcong State Park * Kittatinny Valley State Park * Stokes State Forest * Swartswood State Park * Wawayanda State Park ; New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife * Bear Swamp Wildlife Management Area * Culvers Brook Access Wildlife Management Area * Flatbrook-Roy Wildlife Management Area * Hainesville Wildlife Management Area * Hamburg Mountain (North) Wildlife Management Area * Hamburg Mountain (South) Wildlife Management Area * Little Flatbrook Access Wildlife Management Area * Paulinskill River Wildlife Management Area * Sparta Mountain (North) Wildlife Management Area * Sparta Mountain (South) Wildlife Management Area * Trout Brook Wildlife Management Area * Walpack Wildlife Management Area * Weldon Brook Wildlife Management Area * Whittingham Wildlife Management Area

Libraries

The basement of the Sussex County Hall of Records was the home to the first official Sussex County Library when it opened its doors on May 15, 1942. A 1936 International book truck was used to mobilize the more than 8,000 books the library had amassed by the end of their first year. Today, the Sussex Library County System (SLCS) circulates over 600,000 items through its six branches. The Main Library is located in Newton and is where all new materials are procured and then distributed to the five branch libraries. The five branch libraries are the Dennis Memorial Branch, named for Mr. Alfred L. Dennis who gifted a sum of $25,000 to build the first library (the Dennis Library) in the county in 1872. The Dorothy Henry Branch, located in Vernon, was renamed in 1981 after the passing of the county's first librarian. The Franklin Branch, which opened in 1964, was the first official branch of the Sussex County Library System. The Louise Childs branch, located in Stanhope, opened in 1981 and was named in memory of Edith Louise Childs, who served for twenty-one years as Sussex County Clerk of the Board. Finally, the Sussex-Wantage branch which was formerly known as the Sussex Public Library, is located in Wantage. The county's six libraries supply residents with e-books, audiobooks, downloadable audio books, magazines and newspapers, DVDs, videogames, CDs and databases that cover subjects from alchemy to zoology. All six locations have computers with high-speed internet access, Wi-Fi, and meeting rooms available for use by the public. To check out the SCLS website, go to http://www.sussexcountylibrary.org

Skiing and winter sports

In the 1960s, Vernon Township became a location for

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

and winter sports. * Mountain Creek * Hidden Valley - Since January 2016, the area has been repurposed as the National Winter Activity Center, which provides education and ski / snowboard instruction to groups that might not have access to winter sports.

Sports franchises

Sussex County has one large venue for professional sports, Skylands Stadium, a 4,200-seat baseball stadium located in the Augusta section of Frankford Township near the intersection of U.S. Route 206, New Jersey Route 15, and County Route 565.Moszczynski, Joe
"With deal closed, new Skylands Park owner exploring all possibilities"
in ''The Star-Ledger'' (April 7, 2013). Accessed August 2, 2013. In 2013, Skylands Park was acquired by investor Mark Roscioli Jr., of 17 Mile, LLC for $950,000. Roscioli, who admitted a lack of experience in sports management, then sold the facility to Al Dorso, who operates the annual State Fair Meadowlands.,Moszczynski, Joe
"Skylands Park gets new owners with hopes of baseball returning in 2015"
in ''The Star-Ledger'' (October 10, 2013). Accessed July 25, 2022. Dorso bought the facility with the intention of bringing baseball and other activities back to the stadium, which he achieved in late 2014 with the announcement of the Sussex County Miners, who began playing the following year.Westhoven, William
"Miners to fill major baseball void in Sussex"
in ''The Daily Record'' (December 10, 2014). Accessed July 25, 2022. With the rise of professional

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

in the 1990s, Sussex County became the home to the New Jersey Cardinals, a Class A-Short Season affiliate of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

franchise in 1994. The Cardinals, previously the Glens Falls Redbirds (1981–93) from upstate New York, won the New York–Penn League's championship in their 1994 inaugural season. They had one other winning season (in 2002) and in 2005 the owners sold the team—which was then moved to University Park, Pennsylvania and renamed the State College Spikes. They are now affiliated with MLB's

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

franchise. In 2006, Skylands Park became the home of the Sussex Skyhawks an affiliate of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball (or Can-Am League). The team were League Champions during the 2008 season. The team ceased operations after the 2010 season. Sussex was re-introduced to the Can-Am League in 2015, when the Miners began play that season. After experiencing growing pains their first three seasons, the Miners broke through in 2018 when they posted a 63–38 record and won the league championship in 2018. They appeared in the following championship the following season, but fell to the New Jersey Jackals, also owned by Dorso. After the 2019 season, the Miners, along with four other Can-Am teams, joined the

Frontier League The Frontier League (FL; French: ''Ligue Frontière'', LF) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 18 teams – 15 in the United States and 3 in Canada. The FL is one of the eight independent baseball leagues in North Ame ...

after the two independent leagues merged. The Miners began Frontier League play in 2021 after the league canceled its 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Sussex County Fairgrounds

The Sussex County Farm and Horse Show in the Augusta of Frankford Township, which has operated since 1940, has been known as the New Jersey State Fair since 1999. The fair grounds is also host to the Sussex County Poultry Fanciers Spring and Fall shows. In 2019 the Serama Council of North America (SCNA) will hold Jersey's first ever SCNA Serama Table Top show

Outdoor recreation

There are 12 wildlife management areas located in Sussex County for hunting, fishing, trapping, hiking, snowshoeing and cross country skiing, covering more than .Wildlife Management Areas

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staf ...

Division of Fish and Wildlife. Accessed October 23, 2017. There are also several state forests and state parks.

References

Endnotes

External links

*
Sussex County
(official webpage)
Sussex County Community College

Sussex County Technical School

Sussex County Historical Society

Detailed 1860 map of Sussex County, showing resident's names, churches, schoolhouses and businesses such as mines, grist mills, saw mills, wheel wright shops, blacksmith shops, paint shops, and lime kilns. From the collections of the Morristown & Morris Township Library, North Jersey History & Genealogy Center.
{{Authority control 1753 establishments in New Jersey Counties in the New York metropolitan area New Jersey counties North Jersey Populated places established in 1753

Etymology

History

Geology

Physiographic provinces

Mountains and valleys

Rivers and watersheds

Soils

Geography and climate

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

2010 census

2000 census

Affluence and poverty

Economy

Employment and labor force

Agricultural production

Industry and manufacturing

Municipalities

Government

County government

Federal representatives

State represenatatives

Politics

Law enforcement

Crime

Media

Newspapers

Television

Radio

Transportation

Roads and highways

Bridges

Commuter rail service

Bus service

Airports

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Higher education

Recreation

Agritourism

State and federal protected areas

Libraries

Skiing and winter sports

Sports franchises

Sussex County Fairgrounds

Outdoor recreation

See also

References

Endnotes

Further reading

External links