New Jersey - Walpack

Walpack, NJ




It's hard to tell what used to be here on the west side of Walpack-Flatbrook Road (National Park Service Route 615, the only through road in NJ's Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Was it a shelter, a garage, a basement? Now it's a room of junk. Walpack used to be a livelier town, until the Federal government bought most of it to build Tocks Island Dam on the Delaware. "But wait," you say, "I've rafted, hiked, hang glided, swam, or otherwise toured the Delaware River, and there was nary a dam to view." Congratulations on your accomplishment and simultaneous attentiveness, because you're right. No such dam was ever created, but the government got close enough to have made the entire area fit for flooding. Instead, a few holdouts remain scattered throughout the township, and everything that wasn't demolished remains as it was abandoned in the 1950s. The old village of Wallpack seen here is uninhabitated, but is owned by the NPS and, in essence, an outdoor museum.


Walk scenic Main Street! See the old church! See the 1930's-era garage stuck in time! You could also drive on Main Street, or bike, or hang glide, or swim (if muddy), because there's really nothing going on here.


The former school building is now the town hall and the only non-NPS building in Wallpack. The remaining dozen or so residents congregate here every so often just to reaffirm that there is, in fact, a township of Walpack.


Some sort of fire or ranger tower.

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