Pinelands New Jersey:
parts of: Ocean , Burlington , Atlantic , and Cape May Counties
The Pinelands Preservation Alliance (Pemberton, NJ)
*** An amazing combination of first-rate graphics & advocacy!
*** Also links to the Pinelands Commission & NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection.
The two main marshes seperating the peninsula of the county from the rest of the state to the north include the Cedar Swamp Creek refuge and the marshes adjoining Dennis Creek. Local residents on the edge of Cedar Swamp Creek can sometimes hear yowls from the bobcats and/or mountain lions during the breeding season in the swamps!
Originally the southern part of Monmouth County, it was divided off from it as a seperate county in 1850. The second largest county in New Jersey in area, but only 15th ( out of 21 )
in population helps to explain its place as a significant part of the Pinelands regions. It includes over 50 miles of Atlantic beaches and Barnegat Bay, a sort of miniature New Jersey version of the Chesapeake, off in a corner of its own.
In 1673, a British Captain named William Tom from Newcastle, Delaware made an inspection tour by boat, thus giving his name to both the river and the town forever after. Before 1760 there were
many sawmills on the creeks, and ships sailed with cargos of timber from both Tom's River ( in the north ) and Tuckerton ( in the south ). The county was also known for fishing and whaling during the Colonial period. The Revolutionary War period added privateering and smuggling to the repetoires of the 'Pineys'!
The boudaries were first established in 1694. Stretching from the Delaware River ( on the west ) to the Atlantic Ocean ( on the east ) it is the only county which crosses the state completely in this direction. During the Colonial period, wagons of fish from here and Ocean County would cross the dirt trails of the pines to Philadelphia. During the Revolution it aquired the nickname of Smuggler's Woods and cannonballs from the bog iron in Batsto and the region were furnished to the Continental Army. ( Essential to the war effort, since the British were blockading the main ports to commerce from Europe. )
After John Fenwick of Salem ( city and county ) sold the rest of West Jersey, it was settled early by British Friends. It is said that the town of Burlington consisted of Quakers from Yorkshire on the east side and London Quakers elsewhere, reaching to opposite Bristol, PA on the Delaware River ( the Burlington-Bristol Bridge is a major roadway to this day ).
The original Burlington County lost a major chunk in the north in the survey of 1710 by Hunterdon County being divided off
from it. It was further reduced by the formation of Mercer County in 1838, when the township of Nottingham was given over to the new county!
The city of Burlington was ( and is ) an important Quaker center; the annual sessions of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting were originally held in alternate years at Burlington and Philadelphia. The narrow strip of fertile land along the Delaware River, including Burlington, soon gives way to thin, sandy soil and the famous pines, reaching the rest of the way to the east. This includes the famous Wharton Tract, which is basically the heartland of the Pinelands. It contains many bogs, swamps, little rivers, and rare and endangered species. ( The Pinelands is also noted locally for its coyotes and packs of wild dogs! ).
The main areas of Atlantic County relating to the Pinelands lie mostly on the northern edge of the county: the Mullica River, the town of Port Republic, and the Edwin Forsythe Wildlife Refuge ( in its Leed's Point section, the original home of the legend of the Jersey Devil. ) Port Republic is a sort of New Jersey version of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh!
Although Dennis Township and the Great Cedar Swamp are not really contiguous with the Pinelands further north, wild dogs and coyotes are also known here, even if rarer due to suburban development of bedroom communities for casino workers.