WATCH: Dozens congress at David’s Country to celebrate Warren County’s 200th year

Dozens gathered inside David’s Country Inn in Hackettstown to break bread and celebrate a once in a lifetime event Tuesday night.
They clinked glasses to welcome Warren County across the threshold into its 200th year. Some attendees chose to dress the part for the occasion and donned bonnets, top hats, bustles and tails.
“When I found out about this event, you wouldn’t believe how quickly I sent in my $25,” said Doreen Gramling, a Phillipsburg resident. The event coincided with her 70th birthday. She made her outfit especially for the event.
The Warren County Cultural and Heritage Advisory Board announced in September that the event was sold out. The party featured roaming minstrel performances by the Muskrat Ramblers, a classical dance routine performed by Classic Ballroom Dance Studio in Hackettstown; and attendees were gifted specialty blue and yellow M&Ms from Mars Company to take home.
“The county’s bicentennial is a special time to be around,” said state Sen. Doug Steinhardt, R-Warren. Steinhardt was born and raised in Warren County. His grandparents immigrated to the area from Hungary, he said.
“The county is in wonderful hands,” he added.
The Bicentennial Gala was organized by the Warren County Bicentennial Cultural & Heritage Advisory Board. The new board was created in May 2019 by the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders, now Board of County Commissioners.
The bicentennial board was given the mission to develop programs that promote public interest in local and county history in the arts and in the cultural values, goals and traditions of the community, New Jersey and the nation.
The group also undertakes the maintenance and preservation of museums and some county properties, and performing historical research. The original commission was established in 1972. The commission maintains two National Register Historic Sites: Shippen Manor, built circa 1754, and Oxford Furnace, circa 1741.
The county Cultural and Heritage Advisory Board will host several events in 2025, said County Commissioner Lori Ciesla. The celebrations will coincide with the nation’s quincentennial. “It’s going to be a fun year,” she said.
Warren County was incorporated from portions of Sussex County by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on November 20, 1824. The freeholders held their first meeting in May 2025, Ciesla said.
At its start, the county consisted of townships: Greenwich, Hardwick, Independence, Knowlton, Mansfield, Oxford, and the now defunct Pahaquarry, dissolved in 1997.
The home where the gala was hosted was built of logs in 1787 and reframed in 1840. It served as an inn for 152 years while it was known as The Warren House, named for American founding father Joseph Warren.
In its earliest days, the inn was a stagecoach stop; there were twenty-four guest rooms, two parlors, a bar and dining room.
David’s Country Inn was purchased and renovated in 1978 by Louis and Theodora J. Falzarano Jr. The property has been managed by their son, Christopher, and his sister since 2009 and operates as a wedding and event space.
Warren Count was named after American physician Joseph Warren, a soldier during the American Revolution who died in battle at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, leaving behind four children and a fiancee. All were refugees.
Before his death he wrote and published ‘Free America,’ a battle hymn for the Revolution. In the hymn, he warns patriots not to let their country meet the sad fate of too-proud civilizations from the past.
“Guard your rights, Americans / Nor stoop to lawless sway / Oppose, oppose, oppose, oppose / For North America,” the lyrics say.
His death is said to have encouraged the revolutionary cause because it was viewed as an act of martyrdom. He is the namesake of fourteen counties across the country in Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, Missouri, Virginia, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Connecticut; and 30 Warren Townships.
Glenn Epps can be reached at [email protected] or glenn_epps_on X (formerly known as Twitter.com), Facebook and Threads.
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe to lehighvalleylive.com today.