Views Of Blairstown, Hardwick And Hope.

Warren County
Cultural & Heritage Commission

Historic Views Of Blairstown, Hardwick
And Hope.
Blairstown Region
The township of Blairstown was incorporated on February 20, 1845, and was taken from Knowlton Township. It was named for its most important citizen, John I. Blair. John I. Blair was a local native who became a railroad magnate and philanthropist. Much of the advancement of the community must be credited to John Blair. He had such an impact on the community that they began to call it Blair's Town, and in 1839, officially changed the name to Blairstown. John I. Blair established Blair Academy in 1848, originally as a co-educational school for children of Presbyterian ministers.
Communities within the township are: Blairstown, Paulina, Cedar Lake, Jacksonburg, Walnut Valley and Vail.

Blairstown.
This region was first settled by John Hyndshaw around 1729. Others came to live on his property and in 1760 the village had two houses, a grist mill and a saw mill. It was now called Smith's Mill. By 1795, a road extended as far as the community, and early in the nineteenth century Jacob Butts built a bridge across the Paulins Kill River. The community was now called Butt's Bridge. However the Butts family fell out of favor and the community was named Gravel Hill, in 1825. Then, as previously stated, the name Blairstown was adopted in 1845.

Paulina.
Paulina was an important community in the region during the eighteenth century. However, following the Revolutionary Was, it war surpassed in importance by Blairstown. In 1874, it contained about a dozen houses, post office, school and Presbyterian Church.

Cedar Lake.
Located near Blairstown, this area was once known as Buttermilk Pond, and a boarding house was located there by 1874. It was a fashionable resort community during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A fiew houses remain around the lake.

Jacksonburg.
Jacksonburg is a small crossroads community of about twenty houses west of Blairstown. Jacksonburg was settled around 1800 by Joseph and Zebedee Stout. In 1881, it was described as containing a schoolhouse, several smithies, a store, a grist mill owned by Samuel McConachy, a distillery operated by I. F. Read and about twenty dwellings.

Walnut Valley.
Walnut Valley is a dispersed community west of Jacksonburg. It was named after the walnut trees that once dominated the region. Settlers moved into the area in the early nineteenth century to utilize the valuable wood, which was notably used for the production of gun stocks during the War Of 1812. By 1874, there were a fiew houses, a hotel and smithy shops in the community, surrounded by farms.

Vail.
Presently a small, dispersed community of about twenty houses, the village of Vail was established in 1888 by I. W. Smith, who built a store and post office next to his creamery. Smith was hoping to have a town grow around his settlement, although it never materialized.
Blair Academy.
Blair Academy was founded by John I. Blair in 1848.
In the 1850's he added three buildings:
Blair Hall, Locke Hall and Insley Hall,
named for himself, his wife and his mother.

Blair Homestead.
The homestead of John I. Blair.
It was built near Blair Lake in 1833.
The homestead was torn down in the late 1970's.

Blacksmith Shop.
No information was found as to the location or proprietor..
This picture was taken from a postcard dated 1912.

Blairstown School.
This one story school was built in 1896.
The school burned in 1928.

Hardwick Region
The township of Hardwick was incorporated on January 22, 1750, which then included the areas of Frelinghuysen and Allamuchy townships, Hackettstown and Green Township of Sussex County. In 1782 these areas were removed from Hardwick Township leaving the present boundaries.
John Peter Bernhardt and Casper Shaffer were Germans who settled at Stillwater in 1742, and were among the earliest settlers in the township. Like the other mountanious regions within Warren County, the township has experienced little settlement during its history, being mainly comprised of large farmsteads. One of the fiew remaining stone farmhouses in the township, the Philip Wildrich House located on Stillwater Road route 521, was built around 1790. It was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 because it retains evidence of the high level of skill of the early master builders and artisans.
Townships within the township include: Hardwick, Squires Corner and Franklin Grove.

Hardwick.
The village of Hardwick arose during the mid-nineteenth century as a saw and grist mill location. As late as 1874, it contained fiew houses around the milling complex. Although the village remains in existence, it is marked by only a fiew scattered houses of recent origin.

Squires Corner.
Squires Corner is located at an outlet of White Lake, near the center of the township. A minor crossroads community, it was the location of the residence and blacksmith shop of P. W. Squire in 1874, and dispersed surrounding farms.

Franklin Grove.
Franklin Grove is located near the western edge of the township. Never more than a dispersed settlement, in 1874 there were in the vicinity residences of the Harris and other families. The area retains the name, although only a fiew houses are located in the vicinity.
Bridge Over The Paulins Kill.
This bridge was located at the Hardwick-Frelinghuysen township line.
The old mill can be seen in the upper left.

Spring Valley School.
This school was built in the early 1900's.
It is the only remaining one in the township,
but has not been used as a school since 1945.

Squire Homestead.
The original homestead of Samuel and Catherine Wildrick Squire.
It was built about 1791.
The home is still located on Stillwater road at the crossroads named for the family.

Hope Region
The township of Hope, taken from parts of Knowlton and Oxford townships, was incorporated on February 15, 1839. The earliest settlers of present Hope township were Samuel Green Jr. who arrived in the 1750's and Sampson Howell who settled near Jenny Jump Mountain around 1767 and established a saw mill. The village was settled in 1769 by a group of Moravian farmers, of which most of the history of the township was found. Communities developed around important crossroads and industrial sites.
Following the abandonment of Hope by the Moravians, the township was mainly devoted to agriculture, with the main center of trade and social activities continuing in Hope. During the mid-nineteenth century, the Delaware Branch of the New Jersey Midland Railroad was constructed through the southern portion of the township. As late as 1874, most of the township consisted of widely scattered farmsteads.
Other smaller communities included: Swayze's Mill, Mount Hermon, Feebleville.

Hope.
The origins of the village of Hope are founded in the friendship and eventual conversion in 1749 of local resident John Samuel Green, Jr. to the religious belief of Moravianism. Green offered to the church a gift of a thousand acre tract, but the leaders of the church declined the gift, purchasing the land from Green instead. The first Moravian to settle on Green's land was Peter Worbass, who arrived in 1769 and was followed by many others.
The emerging settlement was called Greenland, but during its first five years was not an officially sanctioned community. In 1774, the Moravian leadership in Germany decided to have Greenland established as a permanent community. Early in 1775, the village was renamed Hope, and many buildings constructed. The moravian community of Hope operated successfully for almost forty years.
Several factors contributed to the abandonment of the community by the Moravians. During the first decade of the nineteenth century, a smallpox epidemic killed many of the town's inhabitants. Financial troubled of the church in Germany resulted in a need for money, and the church leadership decided to sell the community. In 1808, the Moravian church sold the entire village. The remaining Moravians relocated to Bethlehem, PA.

Mount Hermon.
The village was known originally as Green's Chapel, after Thomas Green located a Methodist Episcopal Church on his farm in 1798. The village name was changed in 1849 by the students of Honeywell Academy in the village to Mount Hermon.

Swayze's Mill.
Swayze's Millwas located on Muddy Brook in 1787 by Joseph Swayze Jr. He constructed a mill which competed with the Moravian Mill at Hope. In 1874, there was a grist and saw mill complex as well as various residences. Today a fiew scattered farms remain.

Feebleville.
This crossroads community was known as Feebleville during the nineteenth century, because of Dr. Gibbs who lived here, and cared for the elderly. A grist mill and school were located here, and dispersed farming settlement.

Toll Collectors Home.
This small building near a bridge over Beaver Brook is believed
to have been built as a home for the toll collector.
A Mrs. Arch lived here in 1874.

Moravian Inn.
The Moravians built this structure in 1781 to hold religious observances.
In 1828, the building was converted to a hotel.
In 1911 it became the First National Bank Of Hope.

Grist Mill.
The grist mill was the first building constructed in Hope in 1769.
The mill was gutted by fire in 1808 and 1856.

It was rebuilt and operated until 1951. It is now a restaurant.

Store.
The general store was built by the Moravians in 1776.
The building is now home to a real estate agency..