page_title: Hope Township, New Jersey
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Hope Township, New Jersey / History
caption_attribution_description: English: INN AT MILL RACE POND WAS ORIGINALLY A GRIST MILL BUILT CIRCA 1769. IT HAS A 1000 FOOT LONG MILL RACE CARVED FROM SOLID SLATE.
context_page_description: Hope Township is a township in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 1,952, reflecting an increase of 61 from the 1,891 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 172 from the 1,719 counted in the 1990 Census. The 2010 Census population marked the first decennial census in which the township's population exceeded the 1,903 recorded in the 1840 Census, the first recorded population after the township was formed.
  Hope Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1839, from portions of Knowlton Township and Oxford Township, based on the results of a referendum held that day. Liberty Township was created on March 25, 1926, from portions of the township.
context_section_description: Hope Township is one of the earliest planned communities in the United States, having been established by German Moravians in 1769. They knew what they wanted to achieve, which is shown on several early planning maps, which detail streets, homes, wells, businesses, farms, a school, tavern and church.
  Prior to the arrival of the Moravians, there was no distinct town, but several families farmed on Jenny Jump Mountain, to the south of Hope, in surrounding area and on John Samuel Green Jr.'s farm in the center of what is now the Village. Throughout the 1760s, Moravians from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania traveled through this area on their way to New England to establish new communities. They lodged overnight with the Green Family who were impressed with their religion and way of life.
  The Moravians were a religious group whose formal name was the "Unitas Fratrum" or Unity of the Brethren. They were followers of Jan Hus, the reformer from Prague who protested against the Roman Catholic Church in 1415 and was finally burned at the stake for his rebellion. These followers continued to practice his views in Moravia and Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic, hence the common name "The Moravians". In the late 17th century this group began to be persecuted and sought shelter away from Bohemia. Count Nicolas Ludwig von Zinzendorf offered them refuge on his lands east of Dresden, Germany, and provided a base for them to regroup and pursue their religion. That settlement which remains as the center of the worldwide Moravian religion is called Herrnhut or "The Lord's Watch" inhabitants were not only "under the Lord's watchful care" but were also to be "on watch for the Lord". With the support of Count von Zinzendorf, the Church established over 200 missionary settlements.
  After a formal survey of the Village completed on November 26, 1774, the community was officially accepted by The Moravian Church and the name was changed by drawing lots on February 8, 1775, from Greenland to Hope. The name derives from the "hope of immortality" of the early Moravian settlers.
  After almost 40 years of the Moravian "experiment" in Hope, the community was sold and almost all of the Moravians returned to Bethlehem or Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The basic reason for closing the community was that it was never self-supporting and had declined from its height of population of 147 to under 100 people by the early 19th century. The Church in Germany could no longer subsidize such a small village. Moravians worldwide were selling possessions and even some other entire communities to pay off debts incurred years earlier by Count von Zinzendorf, who heavily mortgaged his lands to give them opportunity back in Germany. Disease and a competitive gristmill also contributed to Moravian Hope's decline.
caption: Old gristmill in Hope
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.2.00", "Image DateTime": "2007:07:11 16:34:20", "Image Artist": "", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "348", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "30724", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "30852", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8871", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1000", "EXIF FNumber": "16", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1250", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:07:11 16:34:20", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:07:11 16:34:20", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "19/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "22", "EXIF SubSecTime": "07", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "07", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "07", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2784", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1848", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "30692", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "153/100", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "33", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}