Swartswood Lake

Swartswood State Park is a 3,460-acre (14.0 km2) protected area located in the Swartswood section of Stillwater and Hampton townships in Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. Established in 1915 by the state's Forest Park Reservation Commission, it was the first state park established by the state of New Jersey for the purposes of recreation at the state's third-largest freshwater lake. Today, Swartswood State Park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry. The park's main feature is Swartswood Lake, a 502-acre (2.03 km2) glacial lake located in northwestern New Jersey's Kittatinny Valley—part of New Jersey's Ridge and Valley physiographic province. Both Swartswood Lake and the smaller Little Swartswood Lake are remnants of the retreat glaciers from the Wisconsin glaciation which began roughly 20,000 years ago. Both lakes have been the focus of water-quality improvement efforts by the state, including invasive aquatic-weed control and watershed protection in association with a local non-profit organization. The park is open all year, with many recreational activities available, including hiking, birdwatching, cross-country skiing, swimming, boating, and camping. Fishing and hunting are also permitted within the park.

Swartswood is an unincorporated community located on the border of Hampton and Stillwater townships in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Swartswood is 4.4 miles (7.1 km) west-northwest of Newton. Swartswood has a post office with ZIP Code 07877.

Middleville is an unincorporated community located within Stillwater Township, in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Middleville is 5.8 miles (9.3 km) west of Newton. Middleville has a post office with ZIP Code 07855.

Stillwater Township is a township located in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated in the Kittatinny Valley, Stillwater is a rural farming community with a long history of dairy farming. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 4,004, a decrease of 95 (−2.3%) from the 2010 census count of 4,099, which in turn reflected a decrease of 168 (−3.9%) from the 4,267 counted in the 2000 census.Stillwater was settled in the eighteenth century by Palatine German immigrants who entered through the port of Philadelphia. In 1741, Casper Shafer, John George Wintermute (Windemuth), and their father-in-law Johan Peter Bernhardt settled along the Paulins Kill. For the next 50 years, the village of Stillwater was essentially German, centered on a union church shared by Lutheran and German Reformed (Calvinist) congregations. The German population assimilated by the early nineteenth century, but evidence of their settlement remains in the architecture of the grist mills, lime kilns, and stone houses located throughout the valley. Stillwater was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on December 27, 1824, from portions of Hardwick Township when Sussex County was divided in half by the legislature a few weeks earlier to create Warren County. Portions of the township were taken to form Fredon Township on February 24, 1904.In 2008, New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Stillwater Township as its 40th best place to live in its annual rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.

The Coursen House is a historic mansion in Fredon Township, New Jersey. Built in 1805 by the Coursen Family, the building is now owned by the town.

Fredon Township School District (FTSD) is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade from Fredon Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States.As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 178 students and 21.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.2:1.The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "GH", the third-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.Students in seventh through twelfth grade for public school attend Kittatinny Regional High School located in Hampton Township, which serves students who reside in Fredon Township, Hampton Township, Sandyston Township, Stillwater Township and Walpack Township. The high school is located on a 96-acre (39 ha) campus in Hampton Township, about seven minutes outside of the county seat of Newton. As of the 2020–21 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 843 students and 91.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.2:1. Kittatinny Regional High School was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1997-98.In the wake of protests by parents about the exposure of students to electromagnetic fields and threats by the district to close the school, PSE&G agreed in 2011 to contribute $950,000 towards a construction project that would relocate a playground that had been situated near high voltage lines that pass by the school.

Fredon Township ( FREE-dən) is a township in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 3,235, a decrease of 202 (−5.9%) from the 2010 census count of 3,437, which in turn reflected an increase of 577 (+20.2%) from the 2,860 counted in the 2000 census.In 1800, Isaac V. Coursen named the Stillwater Township area "Coursen's Corners" after establishing a post office in his store, the Coursen House, but changed the name to Fredon Village before his death in 1855. Stillwater Township's Bicentennial Committee obtained information from the Postmaster General which "states that 'Fredon' is derived from the German word 'fredonia,' meaning place of freedom." Fredon Township was incorporated on February 24, 1904, from portions of Andover Township, Green Township, Hampton Township and Stillwater Township.

Hampton Township is a township in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 4,893, a decrease of 303 (−5.8%) from the 2010 census count of 5,196, which in turn reflected an increase of 253 (+5.1%) from the 4,943 counted in the 2000 census.Hampton Township was formed from portions of Sussex County by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 11, 1864. The township was named for Jonathan Hampton, who donated land in 1769 to the Episcopal Church of Newton. State legislator Robert Hamilton, an Episcopalian, appreciated Hampton's generosity, and gave the township its name. Portions of the township were taken on February 24, 1904, to form Fredon Township.

Harmony Hill Methodist Church is a Methodist Episcopal house of worship affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located about one mile north of the village of Stillwater in Stillwater Township, in the Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. One of the earliest Methodist congregations organized in both New Jersey and the United States, Harmony Hill Methodist Church was established in 1802 along the Flanders Circuit, a large, nearly 400-mile circuit of several churches in northwestern New Jersey, Southern New York and Pennsylvania that was served by travelling ministers. The congregation met in its early members' barns and homes until the current structure, a wood-frame building, was erected in 1832–1833. Its founders were either previously members (including original founders) of the Stillwater Presbyterian Church when that church was affiliated as a joint Lutheran and German Reformed congregation (before 1822), or from descendants of those founders, as the population of Stillwater assimilated from its Palatine German roots to English-oriented American culture. Harmony Hill Methodist Church was listed on both the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

Casper and Abraham Shafer Grist Mill Complex is located in Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. The mill was built in 1764 and rebuilt after an 1844 fire and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 10, 2009.

The Stillwater Presbyterian Church (also known as the First Presbyterian Church of Stillwater) is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) located in the village of Stillwater in Stillwater Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, in the United States. It is one of fifty-nine churches that constitute the Presbytery of Newton. Founded in 1769 as a union church shared by members of the Reformed and Lutheran faiths, the parish, now Presbyterian, boasts a small congregation of roughly 100–120 active parishioners.

The Stillwater Township School District is a community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade from Stillwater Township, in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 254 students and 29.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 8.7:1.The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "FG", the fourth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.Students in seventh through twelfth grade for public school attend Kittatinny Regional High School located in Hampton Township, which serves students who reside in Fredon Township, Hampton Township, Sandyston Township and Walpack Township. The high school is located on a 96-acre (39 ha) campus in Hampton Township, about seven minutes outside of the county seat of Newton. As of the 2018–19 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 941 students and 97.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 9.7:1. Kittatinny Regional High School was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence in 1997–98.