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Contents

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1
Introduction

Chapter 2
Urban Development

Chapter 3
Maritime Activity

Chapter 4
Agriculture

Chapter 5
Industry

Chapter 6
Transportation

Chapter 7
Education

Chapter 8
Religion

Chapter 9
Social/Cultural

Chapter 10
Recommendations

Appendix 1
Patterned Brick Houses

Appendix 2
Stack Houses

Appendix 3
Existing Documentation

Bibliography





SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY and the DELAWARE BAY
Historic Themes and Resources within the
New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route
National Park Service Arrowhead


CHAPTER 2:
URBAN DEVELOPMENT (continued)


Salem County

Hancock's Bridge

Salem County encountered more Revolutionary War action than its neighbors, and so had its own militia. The first contest was in May 1776, with the British warships ROEBUCK and LIVERPOOL chasing the American brig LEXINGTON on the Delaware River. The local militia, the Associators, helplessly watched while the battle was lost. Salem encountered the British again in winter 1778, when George Washington and his troops were in desperate need of food at Valley Forge; residents provided cattle and supplies. In retaliation, the British initiated the Salem Raid along the American defensive line at Alloways Creek, where there were strongholds at three major bridges.

map
Figure 15. Map of Hancock's Bridge, Atlas, 1876.

The first of two battles occurred at Quinton's Bridge, 18 March 1778, when the British discovered American forces had crossed the bridge. Colonists retreated with the British in pursuit and, coupled with reinforcements, the defensive line was sustained. The British then turned to destroy the line at Hancock's Bridge. Stationed at the nearby William Hancock House were thirty Quaker volunteers who cleverly removed the planks from the bridge every night to keep the British from getting across. A group of Tories sailed to the mouth of Alloways Creek, however, then marched across the marsh to Hancock's House while more British troops guarded the opposite bank of the creek. The Redcoats pursued and brutally massacred all the men; the American line was destroyed and the emplacements abandoned. The British thereafter departed South Jersey until the War of 1812. [14]

Today Hancock's Bridge is a small hamlet comprised of predominately nineteenth-century houses (Fig. 15). The William Hancock House (1734) is still extant and is part of the state park system. In addition to being a Revolutionary War battle site, it is also the home of one of the area's oldest Quaker meeting houses (1754, 1784). In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many residents worked at the Carll and Brown Creamery or Fogg and Hires Cannery. Many area farmers brought their produce here for shipment to urban markets. [15]

Harmersville-Canton

Just south of Hancock's Bridge are the two crossroads villages of Harmersville and Canton. In the late eighteenth century, Quakers from Hancock's Bridge established a cemetery outside of Harmersville on the road to Canton; many victims of the Hancock's Bridge massacre area buried here. Today the cemetery belongs to the Canton Baptist Church.

Canton, below Harmersville, was at one time a bustling town thanks to the Shimp and Harris and H.J. Smith tomato canneries that operated during the early twentieth century. With a population of 150 in 1909, Canton, like Harmersville and Hancock's Bridge, relied upon Salem for banking and other services. Canton, however, had a post office and a public school. [16]

Pennsville

Historians credit the settlement of Pennsville—the principal town in Lower Penn's Neck Township—to the Swedes and Finns. Under the direction of the New Sweden Company, the first Swedes attempted to set up a colony in West Jersey in the early seventeenth century. Simultaneously, in Europe the Swedes had gained control of what is present-day Finland. As a result, the company encouraged Swedes and Finns to immigrate here, and it is believed there was a Finnish settlement at the site of Pennsville as early as 1661. By 1685, their settlements in the Lower Penns Neck area were acknowledged by English map makers, and Finns are cited as the "earliest citizens of New Sweden to occupy the land between Salem and Raccoon Creeks." [17] St. George's Episcopal Church, on the west side of North Broadway/Route 49, is symbolic of these Swedish Lutheran roots, because residents later adopted Episcopalian practices and theories. Although the date of the congregation's founding is unknown, a church at this site dates to ca. 1714; the present structure was erected in 1808.

The nineteenth century was a period of growth for Pennsville. As early as 1800, a ferry was established between here and New Castle, Delaware. Over the next forty years, Pennsville had a stage connection to Salem and elsewhere, several hotels, a store, wharf and a grain house as well as dwellings. As Pennsville continued to develop, it became a stop for steamships from Philadelphia en route to the Delaware River resorts. [18] Riverview Beach amusement park boasted rides, a carousel, and a beach with dance halls, bathing and boating facilities, and a hotel. One-story frame bungalows are found along streets named Beach, River, Lakeview, Water, Springside, and the west side of Broadway that belie their connection to Riverview and Brandriff beaches. Today Riverview exists not as an amusement park but as a municipal park.

Pennsville was also home to Fogg and Hires Company Canning Factory, which operated on a seasonal basis, at a factory just off Main Street a few blocks from Riverview Beach. In the early twentieth century Howell and Wheaton had a factory where caviar was cured and packed. Shad fishing was also popular during April and May but there are no physical remnants of this industry. The 1909 Industrial Directory touted Pennsville as an ideal site for enterprises needing water transportation because of its wharves and low tide that never fell below 10'. [19] Moreover, its proximity to Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Salem was attractive.

Quinton's Bridge

Located on Alloways Creek east of Salem, Quinton's Bridge was an early eighteenth-century settlement and a battle site during the Revolutionary War, as previously mentioned. The town's location on the creek made it a prime spot for nineteenth-century industrial endeavors. Quinton's Bridge boasted three major industries in the late 1800s: Harry Ayres Cannery, which employed 100 persons; Fogg and Hires Company, which employed 200; and Quinton Glass Company, with a roster of 150 workers. The town also had shipwrights and gristmills, as well as several stores, two public schools, and Baptist and Methodist churches. [20] Today the town consists of nineteenth-century dwellings of different styles and ornamentation. Some of the housing associated with Hires, Prentiss is still extant along the east side of Alloway-Quinton Road. The only industry left in the town is Smick's Lumber, located on the site of the Quinton Glass Company.

Continued >>>








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