Branchville offers a small-town atmosphere and low taxes
Branchville is a small borough with about 800 people. Located in Frankford Township, the borough is one of New Jersey’s 21 “doughnut towns.” The borough is a unique space in a largely rural county. “You can walk to the post office, you can walk to the pharmacy, you can walk to the coffee shop. So that’s the draw of Branchville,” says Marjorie Morville, a Realtor sales associate with Coldwell Banker Realty who has sold homes in the area for over 20 years. “Because it’s rural Sussex County, not too many places have sidewalks and a little town you can walk through.”
Branchville’s small size also allows neighbors to know and see one another around town. “I just think it’s a great family-oriented small-town atmosphere,” Morville says. “And so if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s a great place.” Morville says low taxes are another longstanding draw to Branchville. “It’s just like Frankford Township and Hampton and Stillwater,” Morville says. “They have some of the lowest taxes in the county.”
A walkable downtown with most essentials, local shopping and dining
Branchville’s walkable downtown is home to most essentials, from major employers like Selective Insurance and Franklin Mutual Insurance Company, to services like the post office and vet clinic. Local businesses like Broad Street Books and Orr’s Clothes for Country Living are downtown, and there’s a healthy collection of restaurants. “The great little Victoria Diner is right on the outskirts of Branchville, it looks like a little train,” Morville says. “And it’s the best diner to go to — that’s an amazing place to go for breakfast. It’s hard to get in there on the weekends, too.” AG Pizza and Restaurant is a popular spot in the little downtown, and Morville says several new restaurants are in the works. Milk Street Distillery is the go-to spot for drinks and live music on the weekend. The closest grocery shop is Dale’s Market, about 2 miles away. “And another 20 minutes up the road is Milford, Pennsylvania, and you can go to all their shops and restaurants and art galleries,” Morville says.
Houses have public sewage, water and gas
Farmhouse-style colonials with large front porches are particularly common in Branchville, but there are also other colonial styles, Stick Victorians, new traditionals and ranch-style houses. While houses in many parts of Sussex County are on septic tanks and well water, Morville says Branchville’s homes have access to public sewage, water and natural gas — another feature that many people find attractive. Houses that need updates start around $300,000, but large, updated homes can climb to about $700,000. Although Branchville itself is a quiet little town, its housing market doesn't carry that same quiet energy. It's a desirable place to live and homes don’t often come on the market. So when homes are put up for sale, there’s often competition. One of Morville’s recent open houses in Branchville illustrates the interest nicely. “We had 85 people through and multiple offers by Wednesday,” Morville says.
Halloween is full of pumpkin-headed scarecrows and trick-or-treaters
Halloween is a big deal in Branchville, and residents have a blast with their decorations. They have so much fun that they’ve started holding the locally famous Scarecrow Competition, where residents craft creative and often funny Halloween displays featuring scarecrows. There’s just one rule: At least one of the figures in a given display needs to have a pumpkin head. “This last year someone did all the Hocus Pocus witches, it was hilarious. The woman that won — she did a scarecrow of Amelia Earhart, and she called it Amilia Scarehart,” Morville says, recalling that the display was complete with a red replica of the famous aviator’s plane. “One year when the new sewers were going in, one family dug holes in their yard and had workers with pumpkin heads and hard hats and bright yellow suits on in the ground, it was so funny. People get so creative with them, it’s amazing. I just can’t believe how creative people are.” A panel of judges picks the winner on Oct. 29, but there’s also a people’s choice award that everyone votes on.
On Halloween, people from surrounding areas take their kids trick-or-treating in the borough. It’s such a popular place to trick-or-treat that the borough calls in reinforcements to make sure homeowners have enough candy. “They have a donation day where all of Frankford Township can drop off bags of candy to either the fire department or the town hall, and then the town people that live in Branchville borough could go pick up candy, because they will use 30 to 40 bags per house on Halloween,” Morville says. Other celebrations mark the rest of the year, including the state fair, which is held less than 3 miles away.
Fishing and athletic spaces in Branchville, nearby state forest
Branchville has a little park with baseball fields and tennis courts, and people often fish in Culvers Creek, which passes through the borough. Just outside Branchville, there are thousands of acres of protected land. About 6 miles away, Stokes State Forest is a favorite destination. The park stretches over 16,000 acres and offers fishing, kayaking, camping and more than 63 miles of hiking trails. “Sunrise Mountain is a nice little quick hike that people take,” Morville says. “You get up to the top of the pavilion on Sunrise Mountain and you can see the whole town from up there, so that’s really cool.”
Children attend the same schools as kids in Frankford Township
The Frankford Township School District contains just one school: Frankford Township School. It teaches pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, and Niche gives the school a B and lists it among the top 10 best public middle schools in Sussex County. After eighth grade, children move on to High Point Regional High School, which has a B-minus. The school offers extracurriculars like newspaper, mock trial and science research clubs.
Branchville has rural surroundings but easy access to Route 206
State Route 206 runs along Branchville’s southern edge, but it’s the only nearby major road. The rest of Branchville’s streets are relatively small and very walkable, and beyond town, much of Frankford Township is rural. This means that it’s a bit of a drive to get to most hotspots. Sparta is about 10 miles away, a drive that takes just under 20 minutes. Newton Medical Center is the nearest hospital, located about 8 miles away.
Occasional hurricanes or tropical storms
Just like the rest of New Jersey, hurricanes and tropical storms can occasionally pass over Branchville. First Street, a climate risk data organization, says the community has a moderate risk of high winds and a moderate risk of flooding. This risk of flooding is largely due to Culver Creek and Dry Brook, which both run through the community and can overflow from heavy rainfall.
