The Musconetcong River is a tributary of the Delaware River, approximately 44 mi (71 km) long, in northwestern New Jersey in the United States. It flows through the rural mountainous country of northwestern New Jersey and is considered one of the most unspoiled waterways in the region.
It rises out of Lake Hopatcong, on the border between Sussex and Morris counties. It flows through Lake Musconetcong, then flows southwest, past Stephensburg and New Hampton, passing south of Washington then along the southeastern side of the Pohatcong Mountain ridge. It joins the Delaware at Riegelsville, approximately 10 mi (16 km) south of Phillipsburg.
The river does not flow through any large population center and has been the site of relatively little industrial development throughout its history. In the 18th century, the surrounding hills were largely deforested as a source of charcoal for the iron industry in the surrounding region. The local industry declined by the middle of the 19th century after the building of the former Morris Canal, the course of which ran along the upper river, to bring coal from Pennsylvania to northern New Jersey. After the demise of the canal from the introduction of railroads in the late 19th century, the dam pools along the river that supplied the canal became the site of a popular summer cottage industry. Silted remnants of the pools, as well as the remnants of the canal itself, can still be seen along the river.
Human habitation in the Musconetcong Valley can be traced back approximately 12,000 years to the end of the last ice age. The Plenge Site along the lower river in Warren County, New Jersey was the first of only two major Paleo-Indianarchaeological site excavations in New Jersey, and is considered one of the most significant in the northeastern United States.
The MusconetcongRiver is located in the northwestern Highlands region of New Jersey.
The river flows 42 miles southwesterly, from Lake Hopatcong to the Delaware River, and is just 50 miles from the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas.
There are 5,045 acres of parks in the watershed, with hundreds of acres of park land along the MusconetcongRiver itself.
Finally, and maybe from the very beginning, we loved the MusconetcongRiver because it was, and is, beautiful, and so is the valley it flows through, from Lake Musconetcong on the north to Rieglesville at the confluence with the Delaware River.
The river runs through Allamuchy Mountain State Park, and its smaller cousin, Stephens State Park which means that much of the land immediately adjacent to the river, especially on the Morris County side, is protected.
As he drives along the river, he points approvingly to farms whose owners have left a green buffer between themselves and the river, and scowls at those whose crops grow within a few feet of its bank.
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