To know its exact beginning would be to guess what was farm and what was horse show.

Several summer weekends about 1923 a large group of friends assembled in Branchville and went on horseback rides to various destinations within riding distance.

These same horses ridden by members of farm families usually did double duty as draft horses at other times.

This was the beginning of the Branchville Riding Club. What a popular pasttime it was because young people did not yet own cars.

Walter R. Wright had a riding academy at Culver Lake in 1924, but was not the one responsible for starting the club. At one time his horses were stabled on North Shore behind the Hamm house and later very near Culvermere.

The same summer of 1924, the riding group prepared grounds at Ross' Corner in the vicinity where the Skylands Ball Park has been built, for a horse show which was then held again the next year.

In the meantime Mr. William L. Bass had arrived in Branchville and purchased the Isaiah Hornbeck property of 143 acres on Route #519 located on the outskirts of town which would have been behind the Catholic Church between the brook and Route #519. While digging earth for the construction of a horse track, a Gustin Cemetary was disturbed and several stones were removed. For two years the horse shows were held on this Bass property.

Mr. Dick McDanolds, who related these facts, said that Mr. Bass went to the trouble of constructing a grandstand eight feet off the ground, but with no way to climb up on it. It was never completed.

By 1933 the members then formed the Sussex County Horse Show Association and they were invited by D.L.B. Smith to hold their shows at his field. Cars were parked outside and encircling the fence of the horse show ring.

During this time in the early 1920's, a farm fair was held in a triangular open tract behind the houses on Broad Street and Wantage Avenue with the Railroad yard on the third side. For years the primary entrance was near the Grange Hall. The hall was used for exhibits of fruits, vegetables and handiwork etc. Later the entrance was below what is now FMI Insurance, between the Manse (now moved) and an empty lot. Mr. Boyd Ely, a well-known attorney in the town, was very instrumental in organizing this fair. Not only were there poultry exhibits and dairy cows, but other entertainment as well. Included in the festivities were games of chance, a silo structure where motorcycles circled the vertical wall, occasional girly shows and a high diving act from the top of a ladder about 80ft. high into a net.

On April 26th, 1940 the non-profit Sussex County Horse show combined with the agricultural organizations in the County to form the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show. From the beginning, the organization was run by volunteers with all benefits going to charities in the County.

Incorporated as a non-profit organization, the objectives were:

1. To conduct the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show.
2. To bring Sussex County to the attention of the eastern part of our country.
3. To encourage the leadership, sportsmanship, and development of the youth of our country.
4. To develop agriculture in all its branches.

After a lapse of five years during the war the Show was again received in ernest in 1946 when it then became a three-day affair. The Branchville School rooms and basement were used for art, craft and flower exhibits. Fruit, poultry, and vegetable exhibits were sometimes a part of the Grange displays. A large tent with industrial exhibits was added, then dealers in farmintg equipment, machinery and automobiles. A carnival was also added.

This setting was almost perfect with a tree in the middle of the horse ring, a hillside overlooking the grounds and the picturesque brook with a walk-over bridge to the school.

Due to its phenomenal growth, the home town of Branchville lost the fair to a much larger location when in 1976, the nation's bicentennial year, it moved to Frankford Township. The farm on Frankford Plains Road had been purchased from the McDanolds family in 1964 and offered room for expansion as well as room for parking.

Opening day in 1976 when all the community floats for the parade and all the people in the county turned out for the bicentennial celebration of the country, the fair suffered from a tremendous traffic jam. At the opening ceremonies the following resolution was passed by the Board of Directors and Members of the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show Association, Inc.:

"That our home land site be dedicated as the Sussex County Cultural Center, that the Center shall be made available, besides our Annual Fair, to other exhibits, shows, displays, concerts, etc. and that these activities will further commensurate rural traditions in order to perpetuate the American ideals of rural family for generations to come and never be lost."

Now owning over 150 acres of land, the Farm and Horse Show has grown each year with more buildings, expanded parking, better horse show grounds and facilities, a huge area with bleachers for professional entertainment, good access egress roads and space for its carnival.

After the new road system broke ground through to Route #565 traffic was alleviated and helped immensely in taking care of the crowds.