Sussex County Historical Society Museum and Library will be CLOSED this Friday, December 23rd and next Friday, December 30th.
Check this website for an update on new days and times for museum and library openings during the 2017 centennial year.

The next Sussex County History Alliance meeting will be 7PM on Tuesday August 30th at the Crescent Theatre, 74 Fountain Square, Sussex Borough.  This is shaping up to be a great meeting.  We will have 2 presenters.  Our first presenter will be Tim Sohn.  Tim Sohn is founder of Sohn Social Media Solutions, a social media education and marketing company focused on small businesses and nonprofit organizations. He specializes in working with organizations to make social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and more) work for them to meet their unique goals. He is not unfamiliar to Sussex County, New Jersey. He previously worked at The New Jersey Herald as copy editor and copy desk chief and lived in both Newton and Montague. For more information, visit http://www.sohnsocialmediasolutions.com, and like his Facebook page, where he provides offers, social media news, tips, and more: http://www.facebook.com/SohnSocialMediaSolutions.  It should be mentioned that Tim usually charges a fee to speak to organizations.  However he most graciously decided to waive that fee for me.  If you haven’t already, it is time to give your organizations the tools of the 21^st century and promote, promote, promote.  We all need to recruit new, younger members and the young people today live on social media.  There is no longer any excuse not to use this to its fullest potential.  We will be live streaming this meeting so that if officers or other members of your organizations cannot make the live meeting they can watch it from home.  Just go to our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sussexcountyhistory/ and click on the live stream at about 7PM on August 30^th.  Be sure to LIKE the page so that you will get updates in your Facebook newsfeed.  

Another extremely important topic to all of us is what is involved to try to get your building on the National and New Jersey register of Historic Places.  So our second speaker will be Kat Cannelongo.  Kat Cannelongo is the assistant to the National Register Coordinator at the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office, as well as a National Register nomination reviewer for Hunterdon, Sussex, and Warren Counties.  In her spare time, she is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the historic Brook Theater in Bound Brook.  She wrote the National Register nomination for the theater, which was ultimately listed in the National Register in May, 2014. Ms. Cannelongo has also been involved in historic preservation on the municipal level for numerous years as the chairperson of the Historic Preservation Committee, as well as a co-founder of the East Amwell Historical Society and co-author of a pictorial history of East Amwell.  She has degrees in Display, Exhibit, and Museum Design from FIT in New York City, in Interior Design from the State University College at Buffalo, and a Masters in Historic Preservation from Savannah College of Art and Design.  Among other things, she can speak about:

Information session with DEP HPO to address pending applications in your municipality for the NJ and National Registers; Who is on the list as eligible now; How to begin new applications for COE’s, and then move them on to NR nominations; National Register Photo requirements; Benefits for homeowners/ historic sites; For realtors- Historic Districts and historic structures- impacts to ownership and sale; Tax Incentive programs.

Get your questions ready for these 2 fine speakers!  I hope to see you all there!!

The Sussex County History Alliance has put together a very interesting meeting for later this month.  The speaker will be Marjorie L. Strohsahl and she will be speaking about fundraising within non-profit organizations.  Pop over to our events calendar for the details.

The Sussex County Historical Society held its  annual meeting, last evening, Tuesday,  April 6th and announced plans for the 100th anniversary of the Hill Memorial Building during 1917.  The society will hold several exhibits and programs focusing on mining, farming and creameries, and the history of lake communities.

The society elected Myra Snook, Ed Fritsch, Nancy Madacsi, Mario Poggi and Tammy Satter as trustees.  The officers elected for the upcoming year are Wayne McCabe as President,  Jay Docherty as Vice President,  Tammy Satter as Treasurer,  Lisa Holder as Secretary and Peter Chletsos as Corresponding Secretary.

We’ve have finalized the details of our 4/9 annual luncheon.

Please visit our calendar for all the specifics.

Welcome to the new website for the Sussex County Historical Society. This new site will enable us to better keep you informed as to the happenings of the society and other organizations throughout the county. We now have a new online store and plan to add many more items to it in the near future. Another big change is our new event calendar. With this new calendar we can provide all information regarding an event in a standard easy to follow format. We have a lot more planned for the new site so please, stay tuned!

Headliner: Hair Metal Time Machine

Opening: Hot Flashes

Don miss the Save Horton Mansion Table– Stop by and chat with us about the plans to save a Sussex County Landmark

Thursday, July 30

Vendors open at 6:00 pm

Concert begins at 6:30 pm

Admission: FREE

Hair Metal Time Machine

Hair Metal Time Machine is the brain child of lead singer Dave E. Lister, a former member of the band Pretty Boy Floyd who had such hits on MTV as “Rock and Roll (Is Gonna Set the Night on Fire)” and “I Wanna Be With You.” Together with Zeke E. Lee, (lead guitar, vocals), Kriss Kaboom (bass, vocals), Tony Baptist (drums, vocals), and Amanda Tucci (backing vocals), they make up the tribute band which is the dirty love letter to the era when rock was one big party – the 1980’s.

The band has one mission and one mission only – and that is to bring you back to the glory days of 80’s rock. From the colorful glam of bands such as Poison and Van Halen, the legendary anthems of Bon Jovi and Motley Crue, the grinding rock of Ratt and Skid Row, the girl power of Lita Ford and Joan Jett, and even the raw metal of Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne, Hair Metal Time Machine wants you to remember the days you used to bang your head to the music on the radio and live out your fantasies through MTV music videos.

One may go hiking or visit the Van Kirk Homestead in Sparta this weekend. The Delaware National Recreation Area is looking for your input.
Sparta Historical Society Van Kirk Homestead

336 Main Street Sparta, NJ (Route 517, Use the middle school driveway).

Phone: 973-726-0883 Email: SpartaHistoricalSoc@gmail.com

Welcome to Spring and the Van Kirk Homestead. After a long difficult winter we will be hosting our first open house on Sunday, April 12th from 1:00-4:00. This event is free and the public is welcomed.

Walpack Spring Hike
Sunday April 12 2015 11:00 pm Phone: 973-948-4903
Join the Walpack Historical Society as it enjoys a 2 ½ mile hike, with historical commentary, to the John P. House farm, which straddles Mountain Road, Walpack Township. The complex consists of a mid 19th century house, a late 19th century barn, now collapsed, and a shed and wagon house from the early 20th century.
Where: Car pool from the Rosenkrans Museum, Main Street, Walpack Center, within the Delaware Water Gap NRA, Sussex County, NJ
This event is free and the public is welcomed.
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
Please! We ask that anyone who has an interest in the history within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area [ DEWA ], to reflect via their own comments that they desire a greater focus on the valley’s heritage – both for visitors, and for past families’ descendants for whom their own heritage remains important

We need people to state that they want the NPS to give greater attention to the heritage of this river valley – long vacated for the since de-authorized Tocks Island Dam project.

The Park Service needs to hear that individuals want to retain the significant structures and sites and see them better preserved for the current and future generations to be able to visit and tour.

NPS/DEWA has posted that comments are now being taken and initial meetings have been scheduled:
https://www.facebook.com/DelWaterGapNPS/posts/804688696277199