White Deer Plaza and Boardwalk District

About this property

Lake Mohawk is an unincorporated residential development and census-designated place (CDP) split between Byram Township and Sparta Township, in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 census, Lake Mohawk had a population of 9,759. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP had a total area of 6.172 square miles (15.987 km2), including 5.005 square miles (12.964 km2) of land and 1.167 square miles (3.023 km2) of water (18.91%). The community is located largely within the township of Sparta, with a portion located in Byram Township. In 1924 tributary streams and natural springs of the Wallkill River were impounded at the northern end of Brogden Meadow in Sussex County. The Arthur D. Crane Company, a real estate development venture in partnership with Herbert Closs, acquired 2,600 ha (6,400 acres) of farmland. In 1926, Brogden Meadow was cleared and work started on a dam that would create Lake Mohawk. The dam was completed August 1926. It took until 1928 for water to fill the lake which now drains into the Wallkill River. The community is located around Lake Mohawk, the largest artificial body of water in the state of New Jersey that is a private lake. There is the main lake in the mountains of the community and the Alpine Pool, both of which are spring fed. The water for the Alpine Pool cascades down gracefully from a spring that rises from an even higher peak in the mountains. An alpine motif was used throughout the community. The buildings in the tiny town center resemble little castles, or reflect an alpine architectural style. This distinctive architecture in the town center and of many homes was a major aspect of the listing of Lake Mohawk on the National Register of Historic Places. The town center has restaurants, a post office, and limited shop, service, or professional space. This area is called White Deer Plaza after a Native American who lent her name to the center. A tiered boardwalk was constructed along the northern edge of the lake where the town center exists. A country club dominates the boardwalk near the dam. In the 1950s a movie theater, a stone's throw beyond the main entrance to the lake, called Winona Parkway, was built along the adjacent county roadway, route 15, which leads to the Dutch colonial and revolutionary era mining town of Sparta. Except for the Alpine Pool and the main lake areas that are accessible from an entrance high in the mountains, all of the community is reached by descending from the surrounding mountains of Sussex County. Homes have been built up each face of the enclosing mountains, but the roads to them are accessed only from the main road around the lake. From the Alpine Pool, a panoramic view of the county is possible. On one side almost the entire stretch of the main lake is visible and on the other, the mountains that reach into the states of Pennsylvania and New York.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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