Asbury, NJ

Asbury is a Warren County census-designated place within Franklin Township, where the 2020 census counted 270 residents. The settlement was first known as Hall's Mill and took the Asbury name in 1800 to honor Francis Asbury, the first American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The Musconetcong River runs through its history. The Hoffman Grist Mill was built in the 1860s, converted to graphite processing in 1895, and operated until 1970. The Asbury Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1993, covers 288 acres and includes the mill, church, homes, and former commercial sites.

The Musconetcong Watershed Association now uses the mill for heritage programs and is restoring it for offices, meeting, and exhibit space. The river also links Asbury to agricultural, industrial, and recreational histories that are visible in the district's roads and buildings. With a post office, old church, mill, and river corridor within a small area, Asbury remains a place shaped by water power and Methodist settlement, with the restored mill carrying that story into present community programs.