Sourland Mountain Music Festival to hit high notes July 16

About Sourland Planning Council

The Sourland Planning Council, founded in 1986, is a non-profit organization working to protect the ecological integrity, historical resources and special character of the Sourland Mountain region. Over the past two decades the trustees and members have built a coalition that unites local residents, businesses, all levels of government and other conservation organizations for the purpose of maintaining the environmental quality and the rural nature of the Sourland Mountain. For more info, go to www.sourland.org.

The Sourland region includes the mountain proper and the surrounding rolling hills and valleys within East and West Amwell, Hillsborough, Hopewell, and Montgomery Townships in the three counties of Hunterdon, Somerset, and Mercer. The Sourland Mountain is geologically unique, contrasting with central New Jersey’s predominant lowlands.

Running northwest from the Delaware River, four miles wide and seventeen miles long, its ancient traprock and argillite have allowed one of Central NJ’s largest contiguous forested areas to remain. The Sourland Mountain provides important wildlife habitat and is a critical stop-over point for migratory birds along the Atlantic flyway. As far back as the arrival of the Lenni Lenape, the Mountain has been populated by people, but never in high density.

Historically significant from the colonial period, it includes (John) Hart’s Cave, the hiding place of the signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Hunt House, where George Washington headquartered, and the former Charles Lindbergh Estate “Highfields”. But while some portions are protected , some portions of this greenway are today vulnerable to inappropriate over-development and pollution.

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