Home is special to everyone, of course, no matter where you’re from. But calling our community, Delaware Township, here in the rolling hills of Hunterdon County, calling this place home, well, it seems like a privilege.
Like so many of us here in New Jersey, I literally drive across the state everyday and I see hints and shades of what once was a garden state, but which now seems more like the three car garage state. Here in Delaware Township, though, we can look out across vistas (yes, vistas!) of beautiful farms, fields and forests and know that the “Garden State” tag wasn’t an irony or mockery; we know that it was true, and here, in this corner at least, it still is.
Here we can wander down unpaved roads, passing centuries-old houses and barns and stone walls running through forests where once, long ago, someone had cleared a field and where now nature has again gained control. We cross wooden and iron-truss bridges over creeks named in a language more forgotten than Latin, knowing that we’re treading over the last remaining works from a time when a simple elegance of design was important – even for a single span crossing a remote creek. With the harvest season now nearly over, a few crops remain but nature is telling us to prepare for the cold. Soon the leaves will fall from trees and views of the land that had been obscured from sight by the dense shrowd of summer foliage will open and spread out before us in winter, reminding us that this is a truly beautiful and rare place in New Jersey.
Our home may be steeped in nature and history, but it’s not immune to the pressures of modernization and development that every township in the state feels. Maybe we’ve just lucked out geographically, being a little too inconvenient to everything. But highways have a way of changing that and Route 78 and a willingness on the part of people to drive an hour plus to get to work have conspired to make this place convenient. Development is the most substantive issue we are faced with now as a community. And depending on the gradual outcome of a thousand interrelated decisions, small and large, over time, we will either lose or maintain the heritage and quality of life that make Delaware Township dear to us, our privileged home.
About The Delaware Township Post
It’s important that decisions impacting our future be made by and with the consent of an informed community. As a publication, the fundamental intent of The Delaware Township Post is to do two things: to inform the community and to generate commentary from the community. The Delaware Township Post is non-partisan and our strongest desire is to ensure that the information posted on this site by our contributing writers is accurate and unbiased. At the same time, we reserve the right to publish opinions and editorials that take stands on local issues, and the Opinion and Editorial section of this site is for just that purpose.
The real power of The Delaware Township Post is not that it gives any one of the contributing writers a stronger voice or a stage for their opinions – the real value is that it gives everyone in the community a stronger voice, a platform from which you can speak and be heard.
Unlike a printed newspaper, The Delaware Township Post is taking advantage of the immediate and collaborative nature of the Web to create a place where information can be published and public commentary can commence instantly. If you have an opinion, a correction, a thought, or a follow-up comment on an article posted to this site, you have the ability here and now to make your feelings known to the broader community by adding comments directly to the article.
Ultimately, I believe that this very democratic forum will serve to provide a balance of opinions and a broader understanding of issues across the Township.
Beyond the Issues
Of course, life isn’t just about “issues”. It’s also about school, gardens, sports, raising families, raising animals, restaurants, garage sales, business, growing corn, and the ten million other things that happen everyday to each of us that keep us busy and connected to our community. You’ll note that the site has sections for many of these aspects of the daily life of our community. We hope to become a resource for Delaware Township, an event calendar, a trading post, a sports page, a history channel, a center of debate and discussion – a gathering place, really.
To do all this, we need your help. We invite you to participate in this site by contacting us to contribute articles and information, by posting comments and telling your friends about us. Let us know what interests you and we will work together to find a place for it on The Delaware Township Post.
I thank you for visiting this site. I look forward to The Delaware Township Post becoming part of the fabric of life here in Delaware Township, something that will help us keep this a beautiful and rare place.
Ed McLaughlin
Editor