The only municipality in our state that borders both New York and Pennsylvania is finally starting to feel a little bit more like New Jersey.

Residents of rural Montague Township, population 3,753, no longer have a New York mailing address. High school students are no longer being bused across the border to Port Jervis.

Mayor Richard Innella said girls interested in softball used to play on a team in Pennsylvania, but not anymore.

Now, that’s not to say that Montague is the typical New Jersey town. It covers more than 45 square miles, but there is not a single traffic light to be found. It’s home to High Point, the tallest elevation in New Jersey at 1,803 feet, but prohibits buildings from rising above 35 feet.

The largely-undisturbed scenery in Montague is breathtaking, but it is hard not to marvel at missing amenities taken for granted in a city, or even a typical Jersey suburb.

Water and sewer service? Sidewalks? Not where he lives, Innella said.

“But we got more blackberries than you can shake a stick at,” Innella said.

Really enjoyed my visit Wednesday to rural Montague, the “top of New Jersey.” Here Mayor Richard Innella explains why his town will be “forever green” with unimpeded views of wilderness and open spaces. pic.twitter.com/8soAlP7s2d — Rob Jennings (@RobJenningsNJ) April 4, 2019

Montague’s nickname is, “the top of New Jersey," but Innella playfully refers to it as being in the middle of the “tri-state area.”

At times, the state boundaries have seemed blurred.

Until 1980, when Montague got a post office, mail reached residents via the 12771 zip code in Port Jervis, New York.

“That used to be fun. I had a New Jersey drivers’ license, but with a New York mailing address,” said Innella, a Port Jervis native who moved to Montague in 1976.

Montague, for decades, sent graduates of the elementary public school district to Port Jervis High School.

The arrangement offered a substantial perk, because graduates from Montague were eligible for lower, in-state college tuition rates in New York as well as New Jersey, but a desire by some residents to bring students home prompted a switch to High Point Regional High School, starting in 2014.

Yet much overlap remains.

The Milford-Montague Toll Bridge offers an easy connection to Milford, Pennsylvania, where the historic Milford Theatre and its annual Black Bear Film Festival is a huge draw.

Go to a gas station in Montague and you’re just as likely, maybe more likely, to encounter an out-of-state driver.

The main business district is on Route 23, a stone’s throw from the New York border. There, five gas stations attract motorists dashing off Route 84 - the access ramp is on the New York side - to snag perpetually cheaper prices in New Jersey.

Innella said business slipped a bit after New Jersey approved a 23 cents per gallon gas tax increase in 2016.

“They used to be really backed up, but they’re still busy,” he said of the gas stations.

A motorist enters New Jersey from New York on Route 23 and passes gas stations in Montague, April 3, 2019 (Rob Jennings / NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Rob Jennings / NJ Advance Media

More than half of Montague’s residents arrived in the 1980s and ’90s, including Debbie “Dee” Walsh and her husband, Richard.

Both grew up in Paterson and graduated from John F. Kennedy High School. They were introduced to northwestern New Jersey on camping trips and moved to Montague in 1988.

“I love it. The hunting. The fishing. The wildlife. The deer in our backyard,” she said, quickly adding that they don’t shoot the deer.

Dee Walsh owns Country Kutz, one of several small businesses in the Montague Mini-Mall on Clove Road. She was at the store around 2 p.m. on a recent Wednesday, awaiting a customer from Vernon who never has had anyone else cut her hair.

“I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Except in the winter, when it’s 12 feet of snow,” Walsh said, laughing.

Montague Township borders both Pennsylvania and New York.

Montague, like much of Sussex County, is politically conservative and lacking in diversity. Nine in 10 Montague residents are white, according to the most recent Census figures, and one in 4 are at least 60 years old.

President Trump received 67.6 percent of the vote in Montague, to 27.6 percent for Hillary Clinton. Montague’s median household income, $70,329, is about 90 percent of the statewide average.

Commuting from Montague is a challenge. The average travel time to work is 41 minutes and only 3 percent of commuters use mass transit.

Jose Concalves, owner of J & J Pizza and Restaurant and a native of Portugal, said it is a 45-minute drive from his home in Newton.

Concalves bought the pizza place 11 years ago. On a side wall is a photo he took in Ponte da Barca.

Jose Goncalves, owner of J & J Pizza and Restaurant, behind the counter in Montague, April 3, 2019 Rob Jennings / NJ Advance Media

The restaurant’s TV was tuned to American westerns the other day - an episode of Gunsmoke, followed by Bonanza.

Some first-time customers express surprise upon encountering a pizza place in Montague, and Concalves said his menu is adaptable.

“I do whatever people want,” he said.

As Innella sees it, the challenges posed by Montague’s remoteness are offset by living amid such natural beauty. At least 70 percent of Montague is owned by either the state or federal governments, and walled off from development.

Innella descrived Montague as “forever green.”

“What you see now," he said, “you will see a hundred years from now."

This article is part of “Unknown New Jersey,” an ongoing series that highlights interesting and little-known stories about our past, present, and future -- all the unusual things that make our great state what is it. Got a story to pitch? Email it to local@njadvancemedia.com.

Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@RobJenningsNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.com’s newsletters