Stillwater was settled in the eighteenth century by German immigrants who entered through the port of Philadelphia. In 1741, Casper Shafer, John George Wintermute /Windemuth, and their father-in-law, Johan Peter Bernhardt, settled along the Paulins Kill.
For the next 50 years, the village of Stillwater was mostly German. The community was mostly centered on a union church shared by Lutheran and German Reformed congregations.
The German population began to change by the early nineteenth century, but evidence of their settlement remains in the architecture of the grist mills, lime kilns, and stone houses located throughout the valley.
Stillwater was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on December 27th, 1824, from parts of Hardwick Township, when Sussex County was divided in half by the legislature a few weeks prior to create Warren County. Parts of the township were taken to form Fredon Township on February 24, 1904.
Fun Fact: In 2008, New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Stillwater Township as its 40th best place to live in its annual rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.
For the next 50 years, the village of Stillwater was mostly German. The community was mostly centered on a union church shared by Lutheran and German Reformed congregations.
The German population began to change by the early nineteenth century, but evidence of their settlement remains in the architecture of the grist mills, lime kilns, and stone houses located throughout the valley.
Stillwater was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on December 27th, 1824, from parts of Hardwick Township, when Sussex County was divided in half by the legislature a few weeks prior to create Warren County. Parts of the township were taken to form Fredon Township on February 24, 1904.
Fun Fact: In 2008, New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Stillwater Township as its 40th best place to live in its annual rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.
