USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. II > Part 4
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The fifth tablet represents the scene of General Anthony Wayne lead- ing his men to the final charge of the day, and the retreating British grena- diers in their futile attempt to bear away the body of their fallen com- mander, Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Monckton. In the background is seen the parsonage of the Tennent Church. .
Above the tablet and encircling the shaft are the coats-of-arms of the thirteen original States, in bronze, festooned with laurel leaves. The shaft,
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
of New England granite, rises to a height of ninety-four feet, and is in three sections, the joining's marked by circlets of bay leaves. Surmounting the shaft is a statue of Columbia Triumphant.
The inception of the monument movement was due to Governor Joel Parker, in an address in Freehold, June 28, 1877, the ninety-ninth anniversary of the battle. Committees were appointed to procure funds, and nearly $10,000 was subscribed by the citizens of the State, and principally by residents of Monmouth county. Sub- sequently the State contributed $10,000. and the national congress voted an ap- propriation of $20,000. Mrs. Mary A. Schanck, whose paternal and ma- ternal ancestors bore an honorable part in the battle, with her children, donated a tract of three and one-quarter acres, upon which the monument was erected, and which was laid out as an open park. The committee on design was composed of Theodore W. Morris, Ed- ward J. Anderson, Lewis Perrine, Will- iam S. Stryker and Hal Allaire. This committee decided upon a design pre- sented by Emelin T. Littell and Doug- las Smythe, architects, and J. E. Kelly, sculptor, and the metal work was com- mitted to Maurice J. Power, of the Na- tional Fine Art Foundry. The corner stone was laid June 28, 1878, and the monument was completed and unveiled November 13, 1884, with imposing MONMOUTH BATTLE MONUMENT. ceremonies. An invocatory prayer was offered by Bishop Scarborough, after which the President of the Monument Commission, Mr. Theodore W. Morris, unveiled the bronzes and, while the cannon thundered a national salute, made formal delivery of the work to Hon. Leon Abbett, Governor of New Jersey. Fol- lowing its acceptance by the Governor, ex-Governor Joel Parker delivered an admirable oration which, as a contribution to history, is valuable for all time.
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
Marlborough, in the township of the same name, and its principal vil- lage, numbers three hundred inhabitants: It is located a little to the east of the site of the ancient town of Topanemus, where were made the first settlements in the township, about 1665, and where was built a Friends' meeting house, in 1692.
Marlborough is principally noted as the seat of the "Old Brick Church," first known as the Reformed Church of Navesink, and afterward as the Dutch Reformed Church of Freehold and Middletown. It was formed in the year 1699, and was until 1826 the only church of its de- nomination in the country.
Oceanport, nine miles inland from Asbury Park, was formerly the scene of a busy industry. About 1812, James B. Allaire, a great iron mag- nate of New York (and who was a descendant of the Huguenots who came to this country in 1680), turned his attention to the development of iron and the improvement of this tract, and built houses and enlarged mills already there, expending one-half a million of dollars. The plant grew rapidly and he prospered greatly. The blast furnaces and smelters of the Allaire Iron Works, under which name they were famous through- out the land, furnished many of the cannon balls used during the war with
OLD FARM HOUSE.
Great Britain which began in 1812, and many of them were fired into British ships by American men-of-war and by privateers from the New Jersey coast. The decadence of the iron industry in New Jersey, conse- quent upon the coal development in Pennsylvania, brought financial ruin to Mr. Allaire, and the town went to decay. Among the few of the old houses yet maintained is the old Allaire mansion, where Henry Allaire,
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
son of the former iron king, lives almost the life of a recluse. The little chapel is still kept up by this last representative of the family, as is also the house where John Roach, the famous ship builder, courted the lady who became his wife. The place is picturesque in its loneliness, and is well worth a visit.
Allentown is a village with a population of about seven hundred, sit- uated in the extreme southwest portion of Monmouth county, almost equidistant from the counties of Mercer and Burlington. The pioneer set- tler, in 1706, was Nathan Allen ( from whom the village takes its name, a son of Jedediah Allen, of Shrewsbury. By 1750 it was a considerable village. About 1730 Christ Church (Protestant Episcopal) was formed. A house of worship was erected the same year. It was greatly damaged during the Revolutionary war, and was abandoned shortly before 1810. In 1845, thirty-five years later, a new building was erected, and in this are carefully preserved the old Bible and Book of Prayer which were or- iginally used. The Rev. Joseph' Morgan, from Freehold, visited the place at intervals, and about 1722 a Presbyterian Church was organized and a house of worship erected. Mr. Morgan sent to the church a young min- ister who was a capable preacher, but of careless life, and he was sus- pended by Presbytery. The church was subsequently firmly established under the influence of the Whitefield revival. The Catholic and Baptist Churches are of comparatively recent date, the one organized in 1869 and the other in 1873. The Allentown Academy, which was instituted prior to 1834, was for many years a model school. In 1805 was organized the "Allentown Temperance Sober Society," with fifty-eight members-the first temperance society in New Jersey.
OCEAN COUNTY.
Ocean county is principally known for its towns on the sea coast, which are considered in another chapter. Settled as the region was, in greater part, by men who had been bred to seafaring lives, their descendants fol- lowed in the paths of their fathers, and made homes where they had lived and died. And thus is accounted for the absence of great manufacturing and commercial establishments, and of large inland communities. .
New Egypt, a village of nine hundred inhabitants, is situated on both sides of Cropwick's Creek, in the extreme western portion of the county, and very near to the boundary line between the old provinces of West Jersey and East Jersey. Liberal educational advantages are provided by a' graded public school and by the New, Egypt Seminary and Female Col- lege. The latter named institution has been in existence for more than
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
forty years, possessing full collegiate powers, and has fitted scores of young men for college and for business life, and has educated many young ladies who have become successful teachers and adornments to society. George D. Horner, A. M., was its principal for thirty-seven years, and he was succeeded by a most scholarly man and divine in the person of the Rev. Dr. Wallace. There are three churches-Methodist, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. The industries of the town comprise a large cannery, a shirt manufactory, two flour mills, and carriage factories. Cranberries and huckleberries are produced in large quantities in the neighborhood, and are marketed in New York City.
LAKEWOOD.
Lakewood is a beautiful inland village of twenty-eight hundred in- habitants (increased to five thousand in the summer season), situated in the northern part of Ocean county, not quite ten miles from where the Metedecong River expands into a bay.
The town was originally known as Bricksburg, named for Joseph W. Brick, who was manager of the Bergen Iron Works, in the near vicinity. After the decay of the iron industry, in 1865 the Bricksburg Land and Improvement Company was incorporated and planned to bring the land into
LAKE CARASALJO.
use in small tracts for fruit raising. Settlers came from New York and New England, and about one hundred and twenty-five dwelling houses, with a school house and three churches, were erected, and the village was laid out practically as it is to-day, with spacious avenues and streets.
The primary plan of forming a fruit growing community proved abor- tive, however, and in 1879 Captain A. M. Bradshaw, a pioneer resident,
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
conceived the idea of making the place a health resort, and a company was formed for that purpose and pursued its purpose to success. It was at this time that the name of the village was changed to that of Lakewood, be- cause of the adjacent twin lakes, Carasaljo and Manetta, fed by springs of living water. The larger of the two is a beautiful sheet of water about one and one-half miles in length, and from two to three hundred yards wide. A splendid graveled roadway encompasses it, between which and the principal lake is a shaded pathway which is a delightful resort for strollers. The streets are sprinkled with water fresh from the lakes, and night illumination is by electric light.
Situated in the great "Belt o' Pines" of New Jersey, Lakewood is so situated that it is not affected to any great extent by the bleak winter winds. For miles around it is hemmed in by a forest that serves to moderate the temperature, and the thermometer habitually indicates a range of from seven to ten degrees warmer than in New York, and cutting, moist winds are entirely unknown. The town is laid out in large lots, plentifully sup- plied with fine, shady trees-oaks, chestnuts and willows-while the sweet and fragrant pine forest gives out its bracing sweet aroma to stimulate the appetite and invigorate.
These health-restoring advantages make the place a favorite resort. at all seasons of the year, for sufferers from pulmonary ailments. The healthfulness of the place is especially noteworthy from the fact that the State Board of Health, in reporting upon this particular section, comments upon the entire absence of malaria and remittent and typhoid fevers. Yet the village is by no means simply a resort fior invalids. Wealthy people from the large cities, whose nervous system's have been shattered by toc close application to the demands of business or social life, come here where they may rest and recuperate. At the same time the pleasure-seeker is afforded every form of congenial recreation. The hotel ballrooms are open almost every summer evening, and private theatricals and chamber concerts are frequently given by leading city professionals. The hotels are of the best class, and the service afforded is unsurpassable in the country. The Laurel- in-the-Pines, the pioneer house, and one which has accomplished much in bringing the village into favorable notice, is of artistic design and elegant in its appointments, capable of providing for three hundred and fifty people. The Lakewood House, opened in January, 1891, is a building pro- vided with every modern convenience and comfort, comparing favorably with the best of city hotels, and affords accommodations for about seven hundred people. This was erected by a stock company, headed by Mr. Nathan Straus, of New York. Private boarding houses are numerous and
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
well kept. A large and well appointed sanitarium is open during the sea- son from October to June.
Various denominations, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, Protestant Episcopal, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic, have houses of worship. Among these are particularly noticeable the Baptist Church, a new stone edifice of elegant design and finish, and the Episcopal Church, quaint in style and containing some beautiful memorial windows of cathedral glass. The educational institutions include a, public school affording graded in- struction from that of the kindergarten to preparation for college, occupy- ing a modern building erected at an outlay of $25,000, and numerous pri- vate schools for both sexes. A weekly newspaper is published, the "Times and Journal." The shops of the New; Jersey Railroad afford employment to a considerable number of town residents. Local industries are door, sash, blinds, crates, dressed lumber and silver novelties manufacturing.
The neighborhood driveways about the lakes and through the forest afford charming views and lead to points of much interest. The grounds of the Country Club of Lakewood ( formerly the Ocean County Hunt and Country Club) are about one and one-half miles distant. The club-house is a beautiful structure of colonial design, containing all modern appoint- ments, including a splendid restaurant service. The golf course is laid out through a picturesque country extending over the preserves of the club, over broad fields and through a belt between a forest of tall pines, where two water hazards are encountered. In addition to golf the club sports include trap-shooting and tennis. There are matches on the shooting grounds every week. The Golf Club of Lakewood possesses one of the finest eighteen-hole golf courses in the country, and matches of importance are given throughout the season. The majority of the famous golfers in the United States are familiar with these links and bear pleasant recol- lections of the hotly contested matches on these grounds. The club was organized in 1894, and has increased steadily in high-grade membership. There is a cozy clubhouse, with spacious locker rooms and a restaurant in charge of a competent steward. Each club engages a professional in- structor, and visitors may obtain privilege cards to either or both.
That golf and the other out-door sports may be enjoyed without risk during the entire winter is one of the most important conditions that has. operated largely toward the present popularity of Lakewood.
Georgian Court, the mansion-like residence of Mr. George J. Gould .. is among the beautiful estates not far from the village, and there are many others in the neighborhood scarcely less magnificent and attractive.
Lakehurst, near the geographical center of Ocean county, is at the
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
confluence of Toms River and Barnegat Branch. Adjoining the village is a beautiful sheet of water called by the Indian name of Horicon, meaning "silvery water," and upon its shore stands a spacious and well appointed hotel. The village contains an excellent public school, and churches of the Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic denominations. The permanent population is five hundred and this number is quadrupled during the winter, when the place is sought by those in quest of rest and restored health.
A settlement was made near the site of the present Lakehurst shortly after the year 1700. An iron forge was established there in 1789, and saw mills had been operated long before that time. In 1841 a charcoal busi- ness was established by William Torrey, who was then owner of a tract of twenty-seven thousand acres of land, and in 1841 a postoffice was estab- lished by the name of Manchester. In 1897 this name was changed to that of Lakehurst.
Tuckerton was a place of first importance in maritime and commer- cial affairs from the colonial times. During the Revolutionary war it was an outfitting point for privateers, and into this harbor were brought many valuable prizes captured from the British, the stores from which were wagoned to Philadelphia. The British were so annoyed that an expedi- tion was sent against the place. A force was landed at night, and was met about two and one-half miles from the town by Count Casimir Pulaski with his legion. The scene of this encounter is now marked by a me- morial stone bearing a bronze tablet narrating the event, erected by the Society of the Cincinnati, July 4, 1894. It is to be said that the seafaring men of Tuckerton were equally conspicuous in preying upon the commerce of the enemy during the war with Great Britain beginning in 1812.
After the Revolutionary war, Tuckerton was so important for its ship- building, timber and iron industries that, during the first administration of the first President, it was made a port of entry for the district compris- ing the waters of Little Egg Harbor River and bays as far north as Barne- gat Inlet. One who visited the place in 1823 wrote in Watson's "Annals. of Philadelphia :"
"Little Egg Harbor was once a place, in my grandfather's time, when he went there to trade, of great commerce and prosperity. The little river there used to be filled with masted vessels. It was a place rich in money. As farming was but little attended to, taverns and boarding houses were filled with comers and goers. Hundreds of men were engaged in the swamps cutting cedar, and saw mills were numerous and always in busi- ness, cutting cedar and pine boards. 3*
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
"The forks of Egg Harbor was the place of chief prosperity. Many shipyards were there; vessels were built and loaded out to the West Indies. New York, Philadelphia and southern and eastern cities received their chief supplies of shingles, boards and iron from this place. The trade, too, in iron castings, while the fuel was abundant, was very great.
"The numerous workmen, all without dependence on the soil, re- quired constant supplies of beef, pork, flour, groceries, etc., from abroad. Even the women wore more imported apparel than in any other country place.
"Merchants from New York and Philadelphia went there occasionally in such numbers that the inns and boarding houses could not contain them, and they had to be distributed among private houses. On such occasions they would club and have a general dance, and other like entertainments. The vessels from New York and New England on trading voyages were numerous before the Revolution. The inlet was formerly the best on the coast, and many vessels destined for Philadelphia in the winter, because of the ice in the Delaware, made into Egg Harbor River, and there sold out their cargoes to traders from New York and Philadelphia.
"There used to be a considerable exportation of sassafras from Egg Harbor. Some vessels went direct to Holland with it, 'north about,' to avoid, I believe, some British orders of trade therein. The Dutch made it into a beverage, which they sold under the name of 'sloop.' This com- merce existed before the War of the Revolution.'
OLD MILL.
A society of Friends was organized in Tuckerton in 1707, and this people maintained a school for several years after the establishment of pub- lic schools. In 1816 a stage line between Tuckerton and Philadelphia was established. The principal industries began to languish with the closing of
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
the Civil war, when the denudation of the forests necessitated abandonment of shipbuilding and the iron foundries and furnaces were unable to compete with the combined iron and coal regions of Pennsylvania.
At the present time Tuckerton is a village of fifteen hundred inhabi- tants, who are for the greater number engaged in planting and marketing oysters-an industry which is prosecuted to a large extent and with con- siderable profit.
ATLANTIC COUNTY.
Egg Harbor City, with a permanent population of 1,803, is about twenty-five miles inland from Atlantic City. A five-hundred-acre park in the center is traversed by three streamlets, Landing Creek, Indian Creek and Elihu Branch, one of which has been converted into a small lake. Near the park is Gloucester Lake, with an area of one hundred and twenty acres, fed by the streams named. The village is laid out with sixteen avenues ranging from seventy to two hundred feet in width, intersected by streets fifty to sixty feet in width, with numerous open squares.
The village dates its origin from 1854, when a number of residents of Philadelphia formed the Gloucester Farm and Town Association, and purchased from Stephen Colwell the so-called Gloucester Furnace tract of thirty thousand acres and some six thousand acres of continguous lands. A novel plan was adopted for the population of the place. Every purchaser of a twenty-acre farm tract was made a shareholder, and each was entitled to a lot in the village and to certain improvements at the expense of the association. The project was well regarded by a splendid class of Germans, who came in large numbers. Two villages were proposed, Pomona and Gloucester, but these were combined and laid off in one, under the name of Egg Harbor City, in 1856. In 1867 the association was merged into the Egg Harbor Homestead and Vineyard Company, the former named corporation leaving the major part of the promised improvements unac- complished. March 16, 1858, the village was incorporated, and came under government by a mayor and council. The city is supplied with water from driven wells, and an efficient fire department is maintained.
The churches are Baptist, Reformed, Lutheran, Moravian and Roman Catholic. There are ample school facilities, and several newspapers are published. Financial institutions are the Egg Harbor Commercial Bank, with a capital of $50,000, and the Egg Harbor Building and Loan Associa- tion.
About a score of clothing manufactories give employment to some three hundred people in the aggregate, and there are a paper factory, a
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
factory for the manufacture of bone knife handles and numerous cigar fac- tories.
One of the largest industries in the vicinity is grape culture and wine making. In 1858 John P. Wild, an accomplished viticulturist and entomolo- gist, conducted a series of experiments which led him to the conviction that the soil of the region was admirably adapted to the production of a fine quality of wine making grapes, and with this encouragement the farmers and lot owners devoted their lands to this purpose. At the first only the Isabella and Catawba grapes were raised, the Lawton being then unknown. At a later day and under the leadership of Captain Charles Saalman, an in- dustrious and intelligent grape culturist, the Norton, the Ives and the Clev- ner grape were mixed so judiciously as to produce a red wine of the Bur- gundy type, equal in all respects to the foreign product. So successful were their efforts that in 1872 about seven hundred acres were planted in vine- yard, and large stone vaults were built for wine manufacture and storage. The wines from these vineyards received first medals at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876, and at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.
The wine industry prospered beyond expectation until 1886, when the grape rot made its appearance and devastated the vineyards of the region, discouraging growers to such a degree that many acres of vines were up- rooted and the land devoted to field crops. A spraying remedy finally proved efficacious, and grape culture has been for some years regaining its former importance.
Mays Landing, the county seat of Atlantic county, is situated at the head of navigation of Great Egg Harbor River, and is a station on the West Jersey and Sea Shore Railway. It has all the advantages of a modern community-waterworks, electric lighting and telephone service. Educa- tional and religious institutions are liberally maintained.
Out of a population of 1,200, more than five hundred persons are employed in various manufacturing works. The leading mechanical in- dustry is that of the Mays Landing Cotton Mills, employing four hundred persons ; a brick yard employing seventy-five persons, and a women's wrap- per manufactory, employing eighty persons. Other works are those prin- cipally connected with the lumber industry.
Hammonton, in the northern part of Atlantic county, on the Atlantic City Railroad and the West Jersey and Sea Shore Railroad, is a thriving city with 3,481 inhabitants. It has all the conveniences of a progressive in- dustrial town. Churches and schools are well supported and prosperous. The city has electric light and gas for illumination, and water works are in course of construction. The manufacturing establishments include a shoe
1
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HISTORY OF THE NEW JERSEY COAST.
factory employing seventy-five people; a cut glass manufactory, a maca- roni bakery, saw mills and other industries. The town is beautifully built, and its attractiveness is enhanced by Hammonton Lake, a charming expanse of water.
In former years Hammonton was the home of numerous celebrities known to all Americans. Charlotte Cushman, the accomplished actress, was owner of a large tract of land near the village, and there, for a time, Colonel Obertypher, a Hungarian exile and a friend of Kossuth, made his home. Samuel Wylie Crawford, a Civil war brigadier-general who won great distinction at the battle of Cedar Mountain, was once principal of the high school here. Others of wide fame were Solon Robinson, farmer, horticulturist and author; Ada Clare, the "Queen of Bohemia," whose tragic death ended a picturesque life; James M. Peebles, scholar, traveler and writer ; William Hoppin, a poet of no mean order ; Eloise Randall Rich- berg, whose pen wove many a pleasing romance; and Libbie Canfield, who became the wife of Brigham Young, junior.
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