Did You Know?
The Big Turn
The turn on Schooley’s Mountain Rd. was also known as Big Turn at the Big Rock… and the Jersey Terror.
Scenes from “The Miracle Worker” movie were filmed here in Long Valley on Gilbert Hemmings farm on East Mill Road and the cast ate at the Long Valley Inn.
The chalybeate water on Schooley’s Mountain was known as some of the purest in the world and its healing powers led to Schooley’s Mountain being one of the first and finest resort areas in America.
The Raritan Inn was once the home of Lawrence Hager Trimmer who built his lovely Victorian home over the foundation of the original Schwachhamer homestead.
The Glen Tea Room on Schooley’s Mountain was known for its waffles and had such dedicated patrons as Thomas Edison and Rudy Vallee.
The spooky house on West Mill Road was once a humane institute for the mentally insane run by Dr. Ebenezer K. Sherwood.
In 1932, the New Jersey Senate made a proposal to form a reservoir between Schooley’s Mountain and Fox Hill which would have flooded virtually the entire valley.
Celeste Holm lived in the area of Pleasant Grove and was the Grand Marshall of the 1988 Washington Township 250th celebratory parade.
Lake George in Schooley’s Mountain Park was once called Electric Light Pond and the water from the lake produced electricity for German Valley/Long Valley until the early 1920s.
Naughright Road and Naughtrightville were named for William Naughright who settled in that area in 1793 – and that his direct descendants still live there.
Did you know that the Rockport Train Wreck, one of the worst train disasters in U.S. history, occurred on June 16, 1925, in Mansfield Township?
The Schooley’s Mountain General Store is one of the oldest continuously run general stores in America and was started by Joseph Heath.
The Obadiah Latourette Grist and Saw Mill was built c 1750 and also housed the offices of Dr. Eugene Blass of the Eastern American Oxygen Therapy Association after WWII.
Our township was started in the Middle Valley area in 1732 by Samuel Schwachhamer.
The Old Stone Union Church was built in 1774 and was the site of the pastorate of Henry M. Muhlenburg DD – known as the Father of Lutheranism in America.
President US Grant stayed at a hotel that once existed on Schooley’s Mountain
The Lenni Lenape referred to this area as Long Valley. It has been known through its history as Budd Valley, Dutch Valley and German Valley. During WWI the residents chose to change the name to Long Valley.
The brick and stone chimney on West Mill Road is all that remains of what was once John Miller’s Blacksmith shop.
The Neighbour House B & B on West Mill Road was most likely built by Jacob Weisse Neighbour, a direct descendant of Leanhart Nachbar, one of the founding fathers who arrived in 1738.
During WWII a bomb plant disguised as the United Wallpaper Company was located on Parker Road and that the bombs were shipped out of Long Valley at night on the Central Railroad.
The Washington Twp. Municipal Building was built in 1886 as the second school in German Valley.
Louis Richard Schoenheit lived in the Old Fort was part of the honor guard at President Lincoln’s funeral.
Long Valley was actually first called German Valley, when it was settled in the 1700s by immigrants from Saxony, Germany. It was renamed Long Valley during World War I.
The Washington Township Historical Society Museum was built in 1830 and is the oldest surviving school in Long Valley.
The Long Valley Inn at the intersection of East and West Mill Roads was certainly in existence during the Revolutionary War – and that Albert Einstein used to come to the inn for Sunday chicken dinners.
Henry Muhlenberg (1711-1787), founder of Lutheranism in America, established a congregation in German Valley, which met at the Old Stone Church.
The Schooley’s Mountain resort area of Schooley’s Mountain rivaled Newport, RI and Saratoga Springs, NY and laid claim to such distinguished visitors as the Roosevelts, Astors and Ulysses S. Grant.
The Central Railroad of NJ – High Bridge Branch ran through Washington Township from 1876 to 1976 and there were three main stations:
Naughright, Long Valley, Middle Valley and Crestmoor (flag stop only).