Waterloo Canal Heritage Days to be Held on Saturdays through the Summer at 19th Century Morris Canal Town

The Canal Society of New Jersey, in concert with the New Jersey DEP, will offer Morris County visitors to nearby Waterloo Village in Sussex County a glimpse of the region’s early days on mostly every other Saturday this summer and early fall, during the Waterloo Canal Heritage Days series.

Waterloo Village

The programs, which are altered a bit on each of the Heritage Days Saturdays, include hands-on history programs, a taste of original music, plus a narrated boat ride on the historic Morris Canal.



On this Saturday, July 25, eight of the village’s historic buildings will be open, and historic trades will be demonstrated at the gristmill, and carpentry, seamstress and blacksmith shops.

  The following is a look at this Saturday’s planned events:

 HISTORIC TRADES:  – Earle Post, woodworker, has set up a carpentry shop in the Peter D. Smith Carriage
House, where he will be working on projects of all kinds. 

– Richard & Richard Brusco, metallurgist and blacksmiths from Brookside (Mendham), will be working in the blacksmith’s shop. They will alternate between hammering red-hot metal and interpreting the process. 

– Sharon Kuechelmann will demonstrate her skills in a 19th century seamstress shop using a vintage
treadle sewing machine to create authentic period garments. 

LIVE MUSIC

– The Long Hill String Band is back at Waterloo this season with their own special brand of traditional music.

Long Hill String Band

THE VILLAGE:  A narrated boat ride on the Morris Canal will be offered continuously in the late mornings and the afternoon. Other buildings open are: Smith’s Store (fully stocked general store), Smith Brothers Gristmill milling by water-power, the Rutan Cabin, the Canal Museum of New Jersey, and other exhibits.


The 90-mile-long Morris Canal was an option to roads for transporting commercial goods in the early to mid-1800s.

It left the Delaware River at Phillipsburg and made its way upwards until reaching its zenith at Lake Hopatcong, where it gradually dropped down to tidal level at its terminus in Newark. It passed through what is now Waterloo Village, which was a 19th-century canal town.

Waterloo Village Heritage Days run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. They are scheduled for Saturdays July 25, Aug. 8, Aug. 29, Sept. 12, Sept. 26, Oct. 10, and Sunday Oct. 25. For more information, visit: 

For GPS: Waterloo Village is located on Waterloo Road, Stanhope, N.J. 07874. Use Exit 25 on Interstate 80.

For more information on the county’s heritage, please visit: http://www.morriscountynj.gov/mchc/

For more information on the Morris Canal, visit: http://www.nj.gov/state/archives/pdf/morrisCanalSale.pdf