The County of Sussex (also known as Sussex County) is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. The county was founded on 8 June 1753, by an order of Jonathan Belcher (1689-1757), Royal Governor of New Jersey (1747-1757) and his council, from portions of Morris County. It originally contained all the land north and west of the Musconetcong River, including the area of the present-day Warren County (created from the southwestern half of Sussex County on November 20, 1824). At present, it is the fourth largest county in New Jersey by area. The county seat of Sussex County is the Town of Newton. Though lacking much historical evidence, local tradition asserts that in the 1650s, Dutch adventurers from New Amsterdam started mines in the now-defunct Pahaquarry Township, building the Old Mine Road to transport copper ore to Esopus on the Hudson River.[2] Sources indicate that first settlement by European colonists began circa 1690-1710, by Dutch settlers from New York along the Delaware River, and in the decades subsequent, Palatine Germans via Philadelphia, and English colonists from New England, Long Island, Newark, and Salem County, New Jersey. Early industry and commerce chiefly centered around agriculture, iron mining, shifting during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to focus on several factories and the mining of zinc. Today, Sussex County features a mix of rural farmland, forests and suburban development at the western extent of the New York metropolitan area. Though agriculture (chiefly dairy farming) is on the decline and because the county hosts little light industry, Sussex County is considered a "bedroom community" as most residents commute to neighboring counties (Bergen, Essex and Morris Counties) or to New York City for work. As of the 2000 Federal decennial census, 144,166 persons resided in Sussex County of which nearly 95% were white. Sussex County is the 91st richest county in the United States with its per capita income being $26,992.
History
Origin of the county's name Sussex County was named by Royal Governor Jonathan Belcher (1689-1757) for Sussex in England which was the ancestral seat of His Grace, Thomas Pelham-Holles, first Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and first Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne (1693-1768), who at the time was the Secretary of State for the Northern Department, and later the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1754-1756, 1757-1762). Pelham-Holles, whose office oversaw British affairs in North America, was Governor Belcher's political superior. During his term as Governor of New Jersey (1747-1757), Belcher named many municipalities in honor of important British political figures, most of whom were superior to him in rank or precedence. It is believed that he did so in order to curry political favor and regain a level of standing that was diminished from his scandal which precipitated his removal from the Governorship of Massachusetts in 1741. Sussex, in England, was notable historically as one of the seven kingdoms of the Heptarchy (A.D. 500-850), which were later unified under Egbert of Wessex (c. 770-839) into the Kingdom of England.
Municipalities
Andover Township (township)
Andover (borough)
Branchville (borough)
Byram Township (township)
Frankford Township (township)
Franklin (borough)
Fredon Township (township)
Green Township (township)
Hamburg (borough)
Hampton Township (township)
Hardyston Township (township)
Hopatcong (borough)
Lafayette Township (township)
Montague Township (township)
Newton (town)
Ogdensburg (borough)
Sandyston Township (township)
Sparta Township (township)
Stanhope (borough)
Stillwater Township (township)
Sussex (borough)
Vernon Township (township)
Walpack Township (township)
Wantage Township (township)
