Waterloo Village

Waterloo Village, originally called Andover Forge Farm, was established in 1760 with the Musconetcong River supplying the water power needed to run the forge and make pig iron. In the early 1800s the property was bought by John Smith to take advantage of all the good farm land that had been created when the trees were cut down to make charcoal for the forge.. Smith realized that the proposed Morris Canal would run through his land and continued buying until he had over 2000 acres. Three generations of the Smith family owned and developed the town property which included a church, school house, store, hotel, tenant housing, apple orchards, crop land, an ice company, and grist, plaster, and saw mills.

 

When the canal closed in 1920 the Smiths abandoned the town. Eventually the property went into foreclosure and was sold in 1945. The land and buildings sat empty for three decades until Percival Leach and  Louis Gualandi, business partners and history lovers, bought the property and restored the buildings. The two men created a very successful non-profit living history village with working blacksmiths, potters, candle dippers and weavers. Due to Guanlandi's death and possible shady financial deals by Leach, the non-profit went bankrupt and the state took over. Unfortunately the state has not provided adequate funding to staff the park so now it's a ghost town with beautiful old houses The visitor center, museum, and some of the other buildings are open on the weekends and for special programs.

We did not visit on the weekend so the sawmill was the only open building. It's still an interesting place to roam around. Almost two dozen original buildings are still standing and there are a few interpretive signs, although they are faded and hard to read. One of the buildings, possibility the museum, has walking tour maps in a box outside.

The village is not accessible but the paths can be managed with assistance. I did not notice any ramps.

The parking lot is large enough for any vehicle.  Village  40.9146, -74.75913