Old Mine Road: The NJ drive I almost missed — and you should take

UPDATE — May 2026: Heads up before you go. A 3.5-mile stretch of Old Mine Road on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is currently closed to all traffic between Jager Road and Route 206. The closure began April 6th to allow contractors to rehabilitate the road — funded through the Great American Outdoors Act. Good news: the work should be completed by end of summer. Check NPS conditions before you head out. More info from the National Park Service at the bottom of this article. 

Earlier this year I was writing almost exclusively about South Jersey. The Pine Barrens. The shore. Atlantic County roads I've known since childhood. It's my home territory and I know every mile of it.

Then something shifted. The past few weeks my attention has turned northwest — to Warren County, Sussex County, the Delaware Water Gap, the wild upper corner of New Jersey that most people drive past on Route 80 without stopping. I wrote about the hike at the Water Gap with Wayne. I mentioned the canoe trip on the Delaware back in the 1990s — a trip that took us right past the abandoned village of Walpack and, I now realize, right alongside one of the most historically significant roads in the entire United States.

I paddled right past it and didn't know what I was looking at.

Then a listener set me straight.

After my North Jersey drives piece published Tuesday, I received an email that stopped me cold: "If you find yourself up north again, you have to check out the Old Mine Road that starts right at the Delaware Water Gap. The history along this road is fascinating."

Listener and reader Matt in Califon was right! And I should have included it in that piece. But this road deserves something better than a paragraph. It deserves its own article.

The oldest road in America

Old Mine Road stretches 104 miles from the Delaware Water Gap all the way to the vicinity of Kingston, New York. It is widely considered one of the oldest continuously used roads in the United States. The popular legend holds that Dutch miners built it in the 17th century to haul copper ore from the Pahaquarry mines along the Delaware River to port cities on the Hudson. Historians now debate that origin story, but the road itself is real and it is remarkable. 

The road follows the course of the Delaware River through the western edge of Sussex County, and while much of its length in New York has been modernized and widened, its length in New Jersey through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area remains largely undeveloped. The road forces you to slow down. That is not a complaint. That is the whole point. 

Closure this season for much-needed repairs

Unfortunately, if you were looking to explore the whole length this summer, you'll have to wait. A 3.5-mile section of road at the northern end of the park from Route 560 to Route 206 will be under construction starting in April. The route from Jager Road and Route 206 will be closed until the end of summer.

So check before you go!

SEE ALSO: Four scenic North Jersey drives worth taking this summer

What you'll find along the way

The Old Mine Road Historic District spans 26 miles through Sussex and Warren Counties, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980, running through Montague, Sandyston, Walpack and Pahaquarry Townships. There are 24 historic buildings along the route — Dutch colonial farmhouses, stone churches, Revolutionary War sites — all of it tucked between the Kittatinny Ridge and the Delaware River. 

The centerpiece is the Van Campen Inn. The three-story stone house dates to around 1755 and was used as a safe house for settlers during the French and Indian War, when its thick walls sheltered people from attack. John Adams is said to have rested there while traveling from Massachusetts to Philadelphia for the Continental Congress. In December 1776, several regiments under General Horatio Gates marched south via Old Mine Road and camped overnight on the flats directly in front of the inn. 

Think about that. The road outside the inn saw Revolutionary War soldiers marching through in a December snowstorm on their way to help turn the tide of the war. New Jersey history doesn't get more specific than that.

The Van Campen Inn opens for public tours on select Sundays starting after Memorial Day through October. If you're heading up this summer that's worth timing around. 

Walpack — the ghost town I paddled past

The canoe trip on the Delaware in the 1990s took us right through this stretch of river. We passed Walpack Bend without knowing what we were floating past. Walpack Center became a ghost town in 1965 when residents were forcibly displaced by the Tocks Island Dam Project through eminent domain. Eleven historic 19th-century buildings still stand — a post office, a church, houses — frozen in time and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The dam was never built. The people were gone anyway. The village stayed empty.

I'm planning to go back this summer with Wayne Cabot and actually stop this time. Walk the ground. See what we paddled past thirty years ago without understanding. That piece is coming — but you need to drive Old Mine Road first.

How to do it

Access Old Mine Road via Route 80 West. Shortly after the rock cliffs of the Water Gap come into view, take the last exit in New Jersey and turn right onto River Road following signs to Worthington State Forest. The first mile is a single lane with a traffic light — wait for green, they mean it. From there the road follows the river north through some of the most quietly beautiful terrain in the state. 

Take your time. Bring water. Stop at the Van Campen Inn if it's open. Walk the unpaved section of the old road if you can. The history presses in from every direction out there and it rewards the kind of driving where you're not trying to get somewhere — you're already there.

My list of North Jersey places to drive and hike this spring and summer keeps getting longer. I love it.

👇And below is an adventure for our South Jersey explorers! 👇