Two Warren County history museums, both located at sites on the route of the old Morris Canal, are open and staffed by volunteers on the second Sunday of each month, 1-4pm.
At the Jim and Mary Lee Museum at Plane 9 West in the Port Warren Heritage Area, Stewartsville, learn how the canal boats moved up and down the hills of northern New Jersey as they traversed the state from from Port Delaware – AKA Phillipsburg – to Jersey City. Spend an hour or two visiting this place that is arguably one of the premier locations on the entire canal corridor. This unique museum is located in a former Morris Canal plane tender's house and is named for the noted canal historian and his wife, who lived there and restored the site. Visitors can walk the inclined plane, view the remains of the powerhouse and turbine chamber; see artifacts in the museum; and walk the towpath trail along the Lopatcong Creek.
Located just over three miles away, Morris Canal Bread Lock Park is open daily until dusk, with the Warren County History Museum open the second Sunday of the month year-round. Lock 7 West near New Village was known as "Bread Lock" because the store at the end of the lock sold goods to the boatmen, including homemade bread and pies. In the museum, one of Warren County's hidden gems, the displays encompass a wide range of Warren County’s history, from the Native Indians who lived here before white men arrived, to the Colonial-era iron industry, to the building of the Morris Canal, to the time when a trolley ran through the valley, to the days when Thomas Edison was busy inventing and experimenting nearby.
Warren County History Museum at Bread Lock Park (located behind OK 4-Wheel Drive at Mile Marker 4)
2627 New Jersey 57
Stewartsville, NJ 08886
Open 1-4pm, second Sunday of month, year-round.
Jim and Mary Lee Museum at Port Warren Heritage Area (located 1/2 mile south of Rt. 57 intersection)
477 County Route 519
Open 1-4pm, second Sunday of month, April-October.