Family planning to sell iconic N.J. restaurant after 75 years in business

One of New Jersey’s most scenic and remote restaurants, the Walpack Inn in Sussex County, may soon be on the market.

Four members of the family that has owned the iconic restaurant for 75 years, in a famously isolated Sussex County town with less than a dozen residents, have announced plans to seek a buyer.

“We are taking our first steps toward retirement and plan to sell the restaurant. We hope you will join us for some great food, drinks and brown bread as we embark on our farewell tour,” they posted to Facebook on July 12.

Lara Darco, the Walpack Inn’s manager since 2016, said Monday that the property had not yet been listed and there is no timeframe for making a sale. It is located on 37 acres off National Park Service Road 615.

She said she did not know whether a future buyer would seek to continue the restaurant.

“We came to the collective decision that this was the direction we wanted to go in. We do plan to stay open until the sale is finalized,” said Darco, who lives in Milford, Pennsylvania.

The Walpack Inn’s owner, Jim Heigis, is her father.

Heigis, 86, was a grade schooler in Rutherford when his parents bought the restaurant in 1949. He and his wife, Lee, live in a house on the same lot.

Heigis greeted NJ Advance Media during a visit in 2019. He took a seat in the dining area and pointed toward the Kittatinny Mountain Ridge, a view that has attracted customers for seven decades.

“Look at this. Pristine. Where do you see this in New Jersey,” he said at that time.

The impending departure of Heigis and his wife would further reduce the tiny population of Walpack, a municipality that covers nearly 25 square miles. Walpack endures more than a half-century after the federal government sought to build a dam that would have buried much of it under a lake and bought up much of the land before giving up on the project.

Walpack had only nine residents as of 2019, down from 384 in 1970.

The Walpack Inn is open for dinner on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and for brunch on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Offerings include a 14-ounce prime rib dinner, discounted to $37 on Fridays, that includes the salad bar, choice of one side and homemade brown bread.

“It really is just a piece of history. When you walk through the doors, it’s like walking back into an older time,” Darco said.