Two Warren County museums that focus on the historic Morris Canal are open to the public this Sunday and the first Sunday of every month from 1-4 p.m.

Freeholder Director Richard D. Gardner, liaison to the Warren County Morris Canal Committee, noted the County “places a high priority” on the canal’s history.

Artifacts in the Jim and Mary Lee Museum include the “Boatman’s Cook,” a small cast iron stove used on canal boats. Also pictured are paintings of canal scenes and people, and canal documents.

“It’s important to understand the history of your locality,” Gardner remarked, explaining, “It gives you pride, and an understanding of what life was like in those days.”

The Morris Canal, which opened in 1831 and operated nearly 100 years, used locks and inclined planes to conquer changes of elevation as the mule-drawn canal boats traveled across northern New Jersey. One of the museums is at a former lock, while the other is at a plane.

The Jim and Mary Lee Museum is located at the site of Morris Canal Plane 9 West, the highest and longest inclined plane on the canal that ran from Phillipsburg on the Delaware River to the Jersey City on the Hudson. It is the former home of the late James S. Lee, Sr., a noted Morris Canal historian and author who excavated the remains of the inclined plane there.

The Jim and Mary Lee Museum in Greenwich Township is located in the “plane tender’s house” for Morris Canal Inclined Plane 9 West. The late James S. Lee, Sr., a noted Morris Canal historian, later lived in the house with his family, and excavated remains of the plane there.

Interpretative tours are available and visitors can walk the inclined plane; tour the remains of the powerhouse, turbine chamber and tailrace; and visit a museum of canal artifacts, many of which were collected by Lee during his lifetime.

Bread Lock Park is the location of a former Morris Canal lock known for the fresh bread that was sold there to the passing canal boatmen. Remnants of the lock and part of the canal are still visible.

The museum address is 477 County Route 519, Stewartsville, and it is located between Routes 22 and 57 in Greenwich Township. More information is available online at www.morriscanal.org.

The Warren County Historical Learning Center at Bread Lock Park includes a model of a Morris Canal lock and other displays.

The Warren County Historical Learning Center at Morris Canal Bread Lock Park features models and displays of Warren County history with an emphasis on the Morris Canal, Oxford’s Shippen Manor and Oxford Furnace, and the Lenape Indians.

The park takes its name from a Morris Canal lock where a store selling fresh bread to passing canal boats was located.

The Warren County Historical Learning Center is located at Mile Marker 4 of Route 57 in New Village. More information is available at www.highlandsproject.org.

“The museum at Bread Lock Park is loaded with many artifacts from that bygone era, which should provide a great source of education and inspiration to young kids who are learning the history of their county, and the significant role Warren County played in transporting goods to various parts of the state,” Gardner remarked.