Cultural Landscape Report for Old Mine Road North, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

WLA Studio

This Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) is for Old Mine Road North, located in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DEWA). DEWA is in northwestern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania straddling the Delaware River, which creates the border between these states. The 7.55-mile section referred to as Old Mine Road North is situated south of Montague, New Jersey, on the east side of the Delaware River. The study area for the project is coterminous with the polygon enclosing the northern section of the Old Mine Road National Register District. The entire Old Mine Road National Register District consists of approximately 26 miles of road corridor, beginning at Montague Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, south to Hardwick Township, Warren County, New Jersey. Old Mine Road North has a cultural and environmental history dating back millennia, which includes the time in which pre-contact Native Americans and the ancestors of the present-day Lenape people were living along the Delaware and Hudson River valleys in the physiographic province at the north end of the Appalachian Mountains. Beginning in the late-1600s, encroachment by European frontiers people and homesteaders forced the Lenape into a series of treaties that gradually eroded their territory. By the end of the eighteenth century, various homesteaders had established farms in the area, and a scattered populace of European Americans inhabited the present-day Montague and Sandyston townships in Sussex County, New Jersey. As the local population increased around 1800, villages began to emerge throughout the Delaware River Valley. By the early twentieth century, farming was in decline in the Delaware River Valley and vacationers began to frequent the area for its scenery and recreational opportunities. Some struggling farmers sold their properties to outside buyers, and at least one farmstead in the study area was converted into a seasonal vacation home and vacation cottages appeared along Old Mine Road North. Around the same time, Old Mine Road was improved with county and state funds, modifying the road’s vertical and horizontal alignments and introducing new paving and drainage features. In 1962, the U.S. Congress authorized the Tocks Island Dam project, which would flood a large portion of the Upper Delaware Valley, including the area containing Old Mine Road North. In 1965, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area was authorized to manage recreational lands surrounding the proposed reservoir. In 1967, the federal government began acquiring land for the dam project, including parcels along Old Mine Road North. After years of opposition and logistical setbacks, the Tocks Island Dam project was eventually deauthorized. In 1980, a twenty-six-mile portion of Old Mine Road was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district (NRIS ID 80000410). Since that time, this section of Old Mine Road has been maintained as a historical and recreational asset, with minimal interventions to the road itself by the NPS beyond routine maintenance, emergency repairs, and compliance documentation. The CLR is the primary tool to inform long-term management decisions regarding a cultural landscape in the national park system. This project consists of an updated CLR Part I, according to the format and contents outlined in A Guide to Cultural Landscape Reports: Contents, Process and Techniques (1998). This CLR will (1) describe the historical development of the areas; (2) document the existing site conditions; (3) provide analysis of the landscape’s potential National Register significance; and (4) identify and assess integrity of character defining features.

Cultural Landscape Report for Old Mine Road North, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

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