Ocean County , NJ History

According to the Trenton Times of Feb 22, 1906: Asay Springs may not refer to an area, but to actual springs that are located in the White Horse area of present day Hamilton, across the Crosswicks Creek from Bordentown. That approximate area is the former location of a house once known as the Asay-Cubberly house. It was the home of Isaac Asay (son of Joseph, I believe), from 1849-1858 and maybe longer. A good account of the area can be found in Louis Berger & Associates, Historic Sites, Trenton Complex Archaeology: Report 12, The Cultural Resource Group, Louis Berger and Associates, Inc., East Orange NJ, Prepared for the Federal Highway Administration and the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Bureau of Environmental Analysis, Trenton, 1998. (That's a long way of saying they had to study the area before they could build a new highway. If you have a recent map of NJ, you'll see the area is now pretty well covered by the intersection of I-295 and I-195.) The springs...

All I know about this place right now is that it is in Bass River Township, and at one point in time was known as Bass River Neck. It is located between Route 9 and Hammonton Road running down to the Mullica River. It was at this place that the first Quaker and Methodist Churches were built in the area of Hillside Cemetery. When the Methodist Church moved to it's present location on Route 9, the old church building was moved across Hillside Lane and converted into the Frogtown Schoolhouse. (This information kindly provided by Peter H. Stemmer and is taken from an article he wrote for the Bass River Gazzette in Oct 1998. Used with his permission.) There are a few items in a couple of issues of the New Jersey Mirror which mention Frogtown, though it's not clear if this is the same place or not: 4 Nov 1818: Sale of 30 acres of woodland near Ong's Hat, adjoining lands of William Hilyard and others. The land is covered with pine, chestnut, and white oak. Also a house an...

Barnard is located in modern Hammonton at the northwest corner of Ninth Street and the railroad, but it is not certain whether it was an actual settlement, a lone house, or a "paper town." McMahon and Beck make no mention of it (except one possible reference by the latter), nor do either of Hammonton's two histories (Wilbur & Hand and McMahon) or Hall's history of Atlantic County. The Sanborn maps do not appear to cover that edge of Hammonton. Several of the old state quad maps make reference to a "Banard Station" having existed along the railroad there. The name of the site may derive from Andrew J. Barnard, who owned the land between 1865-1905. He in turn bought it from a man named Nutter Richards and his wife Margaret. The Richard's name is closely associated with Batsto and Atsion, so it seems natural to wonder if this man is of the same family

The state census for Ocean Co., NJ lists a section of Manchester Township called "Bakersville". I've never heard of this place before, and there were only three occupied homes in it in 1915. The three families on the census in 1915 were as follows: GEORGE WITTERSCHEIR He was born in May of 1890, and worked as a farmer. He lived with his wife, Mary (b. Jan 1889), and son, George, Jr. (b. Nov 1908). A woman named Ada Darcy lived in the same home. She was born in May of 1900; her father was from England, her mother from New York. Charles Darcy, b. Jun 1893, also lived in the house. It's not clear how any of these people are related Charles worked as a farm laborer in 1930. IVINS COWAN He was born in Dec of 1880 in New Jersey. His father was from Massachussets, his mother from New Jersey. In 1930, he worked as a farm laborer. His wife, Olive, was born in Feb 1884. (Both of her parents were from Pennsylvania). Three children lived with them: Jennie Cowan, b. Aug...

The only place I have seen reference to this place is in Edwin Salter's History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, from 1890. He says that this place is in the south-western part of Monmouth, and was often named in 18th century surveys. I've been searching off and on for years, and have never come across any other reference to this place. Anyone out there ever heard of it?

Quaker Bridge in Shamong was built in 1772. It was named after the Quakers who would cross the Batsto River on their way to monthly meetings at Tuckerton. Evidently, there was a drowning one year as they crossed the river and it was resolved to construct a bridge as the crossing was deemed too dangerous. One stormy evening, a stagecoach was heading through torrential rains traveling to the Quaker Bridge Inn. The stagecoach driver saw a light in the distance and was relieved to see that he had finally arrived at the Inn. Suddenly, an enormous white stag appeared before the stagecoach. The driver left the stagecoach and approached the stag, hoping to scare it away. The stag mysteriously disappeared. Then the driver noticed that the bridge had collapsed. If it weren't for the white stag, the stagecoach would have plummeted into the river. Since then, the white stag has been considered a good luck symbol in the Pine Barrens. Arthur Thompson is said to havebuilt Thompson's Taver...