Clinton’s location in beautiful rural Hunterdon County and the wonderfully rich historical and cultural heritage it shares with neighboring hamlets have earned the town the description as the quintessential American small town. With extraordinary scenery and outdoor recreational opportunities and a close-knit, safe, and friendly community, Clinton’s 2,600 residents enjoy a quality of life that has become rare in modern America, and yet they live not much more than an hour from all that the urban areas of New York and Philadelphia have to offer.
Location
The Town of Clinton is located in central Hunterdon County, in northwest New Jersey. Clinton is not to be confused with the Township of Clinton, which is a separate municipality on its boundary. Both share easy access to major highways including U.S. Routes 78 and 22, and also State Highway Route 31.
Geography/Terrain
Clinton is set in rolling woodland and farming country with numerous streams and wetlands.
Jobs
Living within easy commuting distance from New York City, Philadelphia and Allentown, Pennsylvania, many Clinton residents take advantage of the almost limitless opportunities in these urban areas while enjoying the delightful quality of life that the town and surrounding Hunterdon County affords. However many businesses are also attracted by the combination of beauty and accessibility and numerous international corporations have established themselves in Hunterdon County, creating local employment for Clinton residents. Educational, health and social services, and manufacturing are major employers, and tourism is a vibrant local industry.
Housing
Much of historic Clinton’s housing is comprised of colonial, Victorian-style single-family detached homes, but small numbers of condos and townhomes are also available. Many homes have large lots with lovely rural views, and prices range from around $250,000 to over $1 million.
Parks and Recreation
Clinton’s residents have easy access to several beautiful parks, including Round Valley Reservoir and the popular Spruce Run Recreation Area, both of which offer excellent trout fishing, camping and picnic spots, hiking, swimming and boating. Spruce Run and the extensive South Branch Reservation also offer superb sledding and cross-country skiing in winter. Voorhees State Park is home to an observatory belonging to the New Jersey Astronomical Association, and its 26-inch Newtonian reflector telescope is one of the largest privately-owned telescopes in New Jersey.
The beautiful rural character of the area has resulted in the development of some of New Jersey’s most attractive and challenging golf courses. With superb views and amenities, Beaver Brook Country Club at Annandale is one of the premier golf and function facilities in the state. High Bridge Hills Golf Club offers golfers an authentic championship links course in the British-Irish tradition, with spectacular views and challenging holes, including the dramatic Par 3, 8th hole with a tee-to-green drop of nearly 100 feet over a natural gorge. Highly praised by both golfers and the media High Bridge Hills is recognized as Northern New Jersey's best true links course.
Special Attractions
Clinton’s rich links to the past are celebrated in some beautiful old buildings in the town. The Hunterdon Historical Museum is the home of Clinton's landmark Red Mill, built in 1810, and its 40,000-plus artifacts chronicle more than 180 years of Hunterdon County's rural, agricultural, and commercial heritage. On the Museum grounds is a one-room school house built in 1860 and a reproduction 18th century log cabin, with a delightful herb garden.
Clinton’s annual Shakespeare Summer Fest is held in July. Beginning with a midsummer night Ball, the weekend features a major production by the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey as well as all manner of festival events, including jugglers, magicians, fortune tellers, live music, wagon rides, and lots of activities for children. The Fest is held in the Hunterdon Museum of Art, a beautiful four-story former grist mill built of stone in 1836.
Interesting Facts
The town of Clinton’s history began in the early 1700’s, when German and English settlers- Lutherans, Reformed Churchers, and Quakers- began to enter the area using the ancient trails of the indigenous people who had inhabited the area for millennia. Its citizens were very much involved in the War of Independence. Numerous skirmishes occurred in the area and as the Americans began to gain the upper hand British sympathizers were driven out by patriotic rebels, and their lands and property confiscated.
Although Clinton developed considerably during the mid-19th Century, the town’s appearance was dramatically altered by a great fire in 1891, when most of its buildings were destroyed. The result was the construction of many larger buildings in totally new end-of-century styles which, along with those stone buildings that survived the fire, still serve the local businesses and residents today and attract large numbers of admiring visitors.
- NUMBER1EXPERT™ 
