Wantage Township (pronounced WHAN-tij) is a township in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 10,811,

Wantage Township was formed as a precinct on May 30, 1754, from portions of Newton Township. It was incorporated as a township on February 21, 1798, as part of the state's initial group of 104 townships. Boundary exchanges were made with Frankford Township in both 1826 and 1834. Portions of the township were taken on October 14, 1891, to form the Borough of Deckertown (renamed Sussex borough in 1902). The township was named for Wantage, England.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 67.48 square miles (174.78&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), including 66.76 square miles (172.91&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of land and 0.72 square miles (1.87&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of water (1.07%).

Rutan Hill, also called Volcanic Hill, located near the Beemerville section of Wantage Township, is New Jersey's only volcanic site that was last active over 440 million years ago.

Rivers and streams in Wantage are tributaries in the Wallkill River watershed, and include:

  • Papakating Creek
  • West Branch Papakating Creek
  • Neepaulakating Creek, dammed to create Lake Neepaulin.
  • Clove Brook, dammed to create Clove Acres Lake

The township completely surrounds Sussex borough, making it part of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds another. Wantage borders the municipalities of Frankford Township, Hardyston Township, Lafayette Township, Montague Township, Sandyston Township and Vernon Township in Sussex County; and both Greenville and Minisink in Orange County, New York.

Demographics