Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area

The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Sussex County’s Backyard Wilderness

Here’s the strange truth about this place: it exists because of a dam that was never built. In the 1960s the federal government bought up the farms and villages of the Minisink Valley for the Tocks Island reservoir project. The dam died, the land stayed public, and today the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area protects some 70,000 acres along 40 miles of the Delaware River. The famous gap itself sits down in Warren County, but the largest New Jersey share of the park runs right up the western edge of Sussex County, through Montague, Sandyston, and Walpack townships. For locals, this is the quiet side of the park, and the better one.

What to See on the Sussex County Side

Buttermilk Falls

Tucked at the end of Mountain Road in Walpack, Buttermilk Falls drops about 85 feet, making it the tallest waterfall in New Jersey. You can admire it from the base a few steps from your car, or climb the stairs beside it and connect to trails leading toward the Appalachian Trail and Stokes State Forest.

Old Mine Road and the Historic Valley

Old Mine Road has carried travelers along the Delaware for over 300 years. Drive it slowly through the Flatbrook Valley and you’ll pass the colonial-era Van Campen Inn, the preserved crossroads village of Walpack Center, and farm fields that look much as they did a century ago. Dinner with a view of grazing deer at the Walpack Inn is a Sussex County ritual. In Sandyston, the artists’ village of Bevans is home to Peters Valley School of Craft, with studios and a gallery inside the park’s borders.

Planning Your Visit

There is no entrance fee, and the grounds are open every day of the year. Amenity fees apply seasonally at a handful of swim and boat-launch sites. Anglers work the Big Flat Brook for trout, paddlers float the Middle Delaware, and leashed dogs are welcome in most areas. Fall is the showstopper, when the whole valley from Montague to Walpack turns gold and traffic still barely exists. Cell service is spotty out here, which is exactly the point.

The Sussex County side of the park stretches along Old Mine Road through Montague, Sandyston, and Walpack, with Buttermilk Falls at the end of Mountain Road in Walpack Township. The grounds are open every day of the year, sunrise to sunset for day-use areas, and current conditions, road closures, and seasonal fees are posted at nps.gov/dewa or by calling (570) 426-2451.