Borough of Westville
165 Broadway, Westville, NJ 08093-1148
856-456-0030
856-742-8190

History

Early History

Long before the first European colonists arrived in this area, native American Indians of the Leni Lenape tribe had areas of settlement along the Delaware River and its tributaries. Big Timber Creek was no exception. Indian artifacts have been found here in Westville indicating that the Delaware tribe inhabited the area.

In 1624, the Dutch built a fort in our vicinity. Historians have argued for years about the possible location of Fort Nassau. Its’ site has been thought to be in Gloucester City, West Deptford, or even the “Newbold” area of Westville. A 1656 Dutch map indicates that Fort Nassau was located on the south bank of Big Timber Creek where it empties into the Delaware River, which means it probably was within our boundaries.

After the Dutch lost control of the area, the Swedes (along with a few Finns) took over.

In the late 1600’s William Penn purchased a large portion of the Delaware Valley. He employed John Ladd (a Quaker) to survey and layout the City of Philadelphia. When Ladd was finished, William Penn was so pleased that he offered John Ladd one city block in what is now downtown Philadelphia. Ladd refused and requested to be paid in sterling silver. With this money, he moved to New Jersey and by the late 1680’s he purchased a “plantation” stretching from what is now North Woodbury to Big Timber Creek. His home, “Candor Hall”, was built about 1690 and still stands on Lafayette Avenue in Colonial Manor.

John Ladd married and became the father of five children. One of his sons, Samuel, owned the shad fisheries on Big Timber Creek. He married and also had five children. One of his daughters, Deborah, married a young man from Philadelphia named Thomas West. Thomas West and his wife built the old “West” house located on River Drive and raised a family of three children. His son, Charles West, in 1776 donated 40 logs for the cheavaux-de-frize, an underwater fortification lodged in the river channel between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, used to impede British shipping on the Delaware River and to prevent the British from attacking Philadelphia. These fifty-foot logs came from trees cut down on his property (which included present-day “Newbold”).

Also, during the Revolution, when our troops were starving at Valley Forge, General Washington sent out troops to gather cattle for our soldiers to eat. One group was sent to Salem County and a great cattle drive was conducted up the old “King’s” Highway, which ran from Salem to Burlington. From Woodbury, it followed Old Broadway through the Westville Oaks area and then wandered over to the stream which feeds into this park. From here, it went along the high bank above our pond and then meandered over to Willow Run and up Broadway, past our Boro Hall, and then veered over towards “Timber Park”, before crossing Big Timber Creek and continuing on towards the present bowling alley. Along this dirt road came hundreds of cattle and soldiers, including General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, and Captain John Barry. Because of the foraging activities, our soldiers were able to survive the harsh winter at Valley Forge in 1778. This same road was used a year earlier, when a young man named Jonas Cat tell ran from Haddonfield to National Park to warn our troops that the British and Hessians were coming. Because of his efforts, the Battle of Fort Mercer was won by our troops.

During the 1790’s, Stephen Decatur lived in Westville at the home of Charles West. It is said that he walked along old “King’s” Highway three miles each way daily, to attend the Woodbury Academy, the first Naval Academy in the United States. This is where he got his naval training which he used in the “War with the Barbery Pirates” and the War of 1812.

One of John Ladd’s daughters, Katherine, married John Howell. Her grandson, Joshua Howell also fought in the Revolutionary War, as well as the Pennsylvania Insurrection (known as the Whiskey Rebellion) and the War of 1812. He lived at “Fancy Hill”, a home located where the ‘Coastal tank farm or County incinerator is and his property extended into the “Victoria” section of Westville. His son, Brigadier General Joshua Blackwood Howell fought in the Civil War and died of injuries received during the War at Petersburg, Virginia. It has often been said that the old “Thomas West” house was used as a stopping-off place for the underground railroad, which was used during the Civil War for helping the blacks to escape to the North. There were tunnels which led from the Creek bank to the basement of the house.

Westville was originally a good-sized Indian Village. The Unalachtigo branch of the Leni-Lenape Indian tribe inhabited the Gloucester County area. The headquarters of the tribe was within the original county at a place called Armewaxes, which the first white settlers shortened to Arwamas, now known as Gloucester Point across the Big Timber Creek at the mouth of the Delaware across from Westville.

Timber Creek was called Sassackon by the Indians who lived by its banks. Indian arrow heads and other remains of this past culture can still be found along the banks of the creek. Many Westville residents have Indian artifacts which were uncovered when their homes were built.

Early New Jersey records show that Henry Hudson, and Englishman exploring for the Dutch East India Company, sailed into the Delaware Bay on August 28, 1609 and claimed the Delaware Bay area for the Dutch. Robert Juet, an English officer on the “Half Moon” kept a very accurate journal of this, the third voyage of Hudson: His words tell of discovery of Delaware Bay, as well a s the river:

“The eight and twentieth, faire and hot weather, the wind at South South-west. In morning at six of the clock we weighed and steered away North twelve leagues till noon, and came to the Point of Land (Cape Henlopen)”

Just then indicated that the ship had difficulty entering the bay because of shallow water. Once over the sand bar, he recorded:

“Then we found the Land to trend away Northwest with a Great Bay (Delaware Bay) and Rivers. But the Bay we found should; and in the offering we had ten fathoms and had sight of Beaches and drie’ Sand.”

Because of the shallow waters, Hudson weighted anchor and sailed north to discover the river which today bears his name.

The next visitor to what we know as the Delaware River was Captain Cornelius Jacobus Mey who headed an expedition into the Delaware River area in 1613. Crude maps of that period listed the river as south River (from Dutch word Zuydt meaning South) to differentiate from the Hudson River known as the North River. Mey was much impressed with the Eastern shore of the river. His reports so interested the new Dutch West India Company, successor to the New Netherlands Company, that he agreed to plant a colony for it in the new world.

By March 1624, Mey was enroute to the Hudson River with some 30 families aboard the ship, “Nieu Nederlandt”. Sixteen of them were brought to the Delaware Valley by Captain Mey between the months of May and October 1624.

While Mey was exploring the waterways, another Dutchman, Cornelius Hendrick, skipper of the “Onrust” (Restless) was also exploring the Delaware River. He probably sailed further up the Delaware River than and previous Dutchman. He noted on August 19, 1616 that he had discovered “certain lands, a bay and three rivers situated between 38 and 40 degrees.” He was making reference, no doubt to Oldman’s, Mantua, and Racoon Creeks. Hendrickson is recognized as the first man to set foot on the shores of the Delaware Valley and he was surely the first man to sail up the river to about the Philadelphia stands today. He was the first to chart the course of the river after his visit to these shores in the summer of 1614. His famous map also included the Schuylkill River and added the names of the Indians living along the rivers.

After Cornelius Mey established the first white settlement on Burlington Island, he established Fort Nassau in 1623. The site of Fort Nassau has been a subject of much controversy. The Hon. Frank H. Stewart, president of the Gloucester County Historical Society has set the site as back of what is now Brooklawn, at the mouth of Timber Creek, just west of where Big Timber Creek, Little Timber Creek and the Delaware join.

Records show that the Dutch trading post was “about fifteen leagues up the river on the eastern shore. The Dutch had built two strongholds or forts, largest about 16 miles up the river on the eastern shore, called Nassau”.

In 1631, Peter Loursenson, a Dutch sailor sent to the Delaware, commented that Fort Nassau consisted of a trading house with ten or 12 servants belonging to it. Records further show that in 1651, Fort Nassau was abandoned. Its cannon and other weapons were installed at Fort Casisnir (at New Castle). Its last trading commissioner Andries Hudde, served in the same capacity in the new fort.

The abandoned fort remained a landmark for many years. In 1750, Acrelius, pastor of the Old Swede Church, Philadelphia, wrote in his diary, “Nassau is still standing two and a half miles north of Mantas Hook (Mantaes hoeck).”

History shows that the Dutch, Swedes, and English vied for possession of the settlement along the Delaware. Eventually the Swedes submitted to the rule of the Dutch and the Dutch submitted to the rule of the English. With each change of ruler the Delaware was renamed having the following names before it finally received the name it still has: Zudt river, Nassau River, Prince Hendrick River, Charles River and the De La Warr.

When the English gained control of this new land, King Charles II gave the title of title of New Jersey to his friends, Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret. In 1674, Berkley sold his interest to two Quakers who, in turn in 1676, sold part of the land to William Penn. From here on, that part known as West Jersey became the original Gloucester City. At that time, Gloucester County extended from the river to the ocean and included parts of what are now Camden, Gloucester, and Atlantic Counties, Gloucester County became separated from Camden County in 1844.

Historic for years have recounted the fact that New Jersey was the real crossroads between Fort Nassau and New Amsterdam and later between New Stockholm and New Amsterdam. This resulted in the building of a road from the Ocean across New Jersey and then south through Gloucester County.

Westville Founded

Through many years, there developed in the Colony of New Jersey an overland route, called the Great Road, running from Perth Amboy to Burlington and through to Salem. The road was later called King’s Highway. It crossed Big Timber Creek where Westville now stands, therefore, it was quite natural that some sort of town should develop .since fords of the large streams were few prior to and at the time of the American Revolution.

As the stages crossed, Big Timber Creek there was often need for a stage stop. Thomas West built a tavern a few hundred yards away from the creek. This tavern quickly became a favorite stopping place for the travelers going to or coming from the lower countries. The oldest record of ownership of the land on which the tavern and eventually the town was built is probably contained in a deed dated September 15, 1703 which shows that Daniel Coxe purchased “400 acres of land around Timber Creek in the county of Gloucester for 44 pounds of money of Pennsylvania.”

However, the record of ownership of the land on which West built his home and tavern is in a Gloucester County Deed filed in the Surrogate’s Office in the county Court House. The original grant consisted of 600 acres. Samuel Carpenter sold 400 acres to Samuel Ladd. However, before the conveyance was made Samuel Carpenter died. Hannah Carpenter, wife and sole executor of the estate sold the 400 acres to Samuel Ladd under deed of May 28. 1714.

Later, Ladd died and this part of the estate was conveyed to his sister Deborah Land West, wife of Thomas West, traditional founder of Westville.

Eventually, Deborah West conveyed the land to other persona.

(Thomas West died in 1770.) Deborah West conveyed the land as follows!

1. 13 acres to Robert Price – Hay 30, 1772. Robert Price in turn deeded the 13 acres to his son, Robert Frederick Price. Robert F. Price’s executors – John Brick and George Sparks, sold the thirteen acres to Charles West under deed of January 27, 1787.

2. 30 acres to her daughter, Mary West, who married Samuel Denny. Samuel and Mary Denny deeded the 30 acres to Charles West under deed of April 8, 1786.

3. 357 acres to her son, Charles West. (He received this remainder upon the death of his mother.) Thomas West build two important structures on this land owned by his wife. One, his home, estimated to have been built about 1746 still stands on River Drive Avenue at Sixth Street. The house has been altered many times but was restored to its former beauty and is recognized as an historical landmark in the county.
The other, Old Buck Tavern, has had quite an interesting history.

There are many different versions of how “Buck Tavern received its name. The most popular one was that Thomas West employed an Indian called “Old Buck.” The most accepted theory is that West build the Inn, he put a mounted deer’s head over the door and thus the tavern acquired tavern nick- name “Sign of the Buck.” Others prefer to believe that deer hunters would meet there after a day’ a hunting in the area. Many times there were deer hanging outside as the boys enjoyed themselves inside.

Soon the bridge across the creek became known as Buck Bridge, the tavern as Buck Tavern and for many years the whole community that grew up around it was known as “The Buck or “Buck Tavern.”

Although the Tavern apparently never attained any outstanding distinction as headquarters for Revolution or British soldiers, destruction of the creek bridge by local patriots slowed down the Hessians enroute from Haddonfield to Red Bank to fight the Battle of Fort Mercer.

Stephen Decatur, a post Revolutionary figure of distinction, (Commodore of the C. S. Frigate Shannon) lived at Buck Tavern with the West family while he studied at Woodbury Academy. James Lawrence went to the Academy with Decatur. Both earned their fame as early naval heroes of the War of 1812.

Other early proprietors of Buck Tavern were: Henry Sparks, Henry Wood, Micajah Clement, Samuel Jennings, James C. Dillon, Joseph Hillman, William Hopper, Thomas Knight, Thomas Wilson, Samuel S. Kendrick. Eventually the property came to John M. White. In 1821, the trustees for the creditors of White advertised all his properties for sale, among them being Buck Tavern, which was described as follows: “Buck Tavern House, Stables, Sheds, etc. and 40 acres of land adjoining lying between the creek and the Glassborough roads of which 15 acres are meadows on the creed adjoining the road leading from the Creek to the House. Also, a good orchard of the best fruit.”

“The above property is finely situated for a village; lying on the main stage road from the. lower counties of the State to Philadelphia from whence by the use of Steam Boats, the distance through a heavy sand to because of the shallow waters, Hudson weighted anchor and sailed north to discover the river which today bears his name.”

The next visitor to what we know as the Delaware River was Captain Cornelius Jacobus Mey who headed an expedition into the Delaware River area. In 1613. Crude maps of that period listed the river as South River (from Dutch word Zuydt meaning South) to differentiate from the Hudson River known as the North River. Mey was much Impressed with the Eastern shore of the river. His reports so Interested the new Dutch West India Company, successor to the New Netherlands Company, that he agreed to plant a colony for It In the new world. By March 1624, Hey was enroute to the Hudson River with some 30 families aboard the ship, “Wieu Nederlandt”. Sixteen of them were brought to the Delaware Valley by Captain Mey between the months of May and October 1624. While Mey was exploring the waterways, another Dutchman, Cornelius Hendrickson, skipper of the “Onrust” (Restless) was also exploring the Delaware River. He probably sailed further up the Delaware River than any previous Dutchman. He noted on August 19, 1616 that he had discovered “certain lands, a bay and three rivers situated between 38 and 40 degrees.” He was mating reference, no doubt to Oidman’s, Mantua, and Raccoon Creeks. Hendrickson Is recognized as the first man to set foot on the shores of the Delaware Valley and he was surely the first man to sail up the river to about where Philadelphia stands today. He was the first to chart the course of the river after Ills visit to these shores in the summer of 1614. His first nap also Included the Schuylklll River and added the name of the Indiana living along the rivers.

After Cornelius Mey established the first white settlement on Burlington Island, he established Fort Nassau In 1623. The site of Fort Nassau has been a subject of much controversy, the Hon. Franit H. Stewart, president of the Gloucester County Historical Society has set the site as back of what is now Brooklawn, at the mouth of Timber Creek, just west of where Big Timber Creek, Little Timber Creek and the Delaware join. Records show that the Dutch trading post was “about fifteen leagues up the river on the eastern shore. The Dutch had built two strongholds or forts, largest about 16 miles up the river on the eastern shore, called Nassau”. In 1651, Peter Loursenson, a Dutch sailor sent to the Delaware, commented that Fort Nassau consisted of a trading house with ten or 12 servants belonging to It. Records further show that in 164j Nassau was occupied by 20 men and was used by the Dutch until 1651. In 1651, Fort Nassau was abandoned. Its cannon and other weapons were installed at Fort Casisnir (at New Castle). Its last trading commissioner Andries Hudde, served in the same capacity in the new fort. The abandoned fort remained a landmark for many years. In 1750, Acrelius, pastor of the Old Swede Church, Philadelphia, wrote in his diary, “Nassau is still standing two and a half miles north of Manias Hook (Hantaes hoeck).”

History shows that the Dutch, Swedes, and English vied for possession of the settlements along the Delaware. Eventually the Swedes submitted to the rule of the Dutch and the Dutch submitted to the rule of the English. With each change of ruler the Delaware was renamed having the following names before it finally received the name it still has: Zudt River, Nassau River, Prince Hendrick River, Charles River and the De la Warr.

Borough Incorporated

CHAPTER 107

An Act to incorporate the borough of Westville, in the county of Gloucester.

BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The inhabitants of that portion of the townships of Deptford and West Deptford, in the county of Gloucester, hereinafter mentioned and described, are hereby constituted and declared to be a body corporate in fact and in law by the name of “The Borough of Westville,” and as such shall be governed by the general laws of this State relating to boroughs.

2. The boundaries of said borough shall be as follows: Beginning at a point in the middle of Great Timber creek, in range with the property line between lands formerly of William C. Allen; thence (1) southwestardly between lands formerly of George W. Gardner, now belonging to the Westville Land Company, and lands of R. Cooper Beideman on the right and lands of formerly William C. Allen and lands formerly of Samuel H. Ladd on the left, about four thousand four hundred and seventy-five feet to a large stone corner to said Beideman and Ladd lands and in line of lands formerly Howell’s, now of Gloucester County Realty Company; thence (2) northwestardly along the line between lands of said R. Cooper Beideman on the right and lands of said Gloucester County Realty company on the left, about one thousand four hundred fifty-six feet to a stone corner to lands of Joseph W. Brooks thence (3) northwestardly at right angles to the Gloucester turnpike, between lands of Joseph W. Brooks on the right and of the said Gloucester County Realty Company on the left, five hundred thirty and fifty-five hundredths feet to a corner in the middle of the Gloucester turnpike aforesaid; thence (4) northeastwardly along the center line of said turnpike six hundred eighty-eight feet to a corner; thence (5) at right angles to said Gloucester turnpike or nearly so, westwardly along the middle of the roadway crossing the West Jersey and Seashore Railroad between lands formerly of Rebecca Adams, now of Frederick Dorior, and lands of Charles Kesting on the right and lands of Gloucester County Realty Company, Agnes Hoffman, and others on the left of the estate of Wilson Fitzgerald, deceased, about two thousand two hundred and fifty feet to a corner in the middle of the Crown Point road; thence (6) northeastwardly along the middle of the Crown Point road about three thousand eight hundred feet to a corner in range with a line one hundred fifty feet southwestardly of the southwesterly line of Woodbine avenue on the plan of Newbold; thence (7) along the rear line of lots fronting on Woodbine avenue (courses hereinafter recited being deflected from true meridian) north forty-six degrees and thirty-nine minutes west, four hundred eighteen and fifteen-hundredths feet to the westerly corner of lot No. 321 on said plan; thence (8) along the northwesterly line of lot No. 320 on said plan, north forty-three degrees and twenty-one minutes east, one hundred fifty feet to a corner in the southwesterly line of Woodbine avenue; along which it runs (9) north forty-six degrees and thirty-nine minutes west, one thousand five hundred feet to the extension of the line between lots Nos. 283 and 285 on the aforesaid plan of Newbold; thence (10) along said line, north forty-three degrees and twenty-one minutes east, two hundred ten feet to the southerly corner of lot No. 286 on said plan; thence (11) along the rear line of lots fronting on Highland avenue, north forty-six degrees and thirty-nine minutes west, two-hundred fifty feet to the westerly corner of lot No. 293; thence (12) along the northwesterly line of lot No. 293, north forty-three degrees and twenty-one minutes east, one hundred fifty feet to the south-westerly line line of Highland avenue; thence (13) along the southwesterly line of Highland avenue, north forty-six degrees and thirty-nine minutes west, one thousand feet more or less to the Delaware River; thence (14) northeasterly up said river to the middle of Great Timber creek aforesaid; thence (15) up the middle of said creek the various courses and distances thereof to the place of beginning.

3. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, it shall not operate to affect the incorporation of the territory above described as a borough of this State until it shall have been accepted by a vote of majority of the legal voters included in said territory residing in the townships of Deptford and West Deptford, respectively, voting separately in each township thereon at a special election to be held within said districts in each township respectively within thirty days from the approval of this act, and within the hours of six A.M. and seven P.M. of the day fixed for the election, at places within said territory, to be fixed by the clerk of said townships of Deptford and West Deptford, respectively. The clerks of said townships of Deptford and West Deptford shall each cause public notice of the time and place of holding such elections to be given by advertisements signed and set up in at least ten public places within said districts in the respective townships and published in one or more newspapers printed or circulating therein at least ten days prior to such election and said clerk shall provide for each elector voting at such election ballots to be printed or written, or partly printed and partly written, on which shall be printed the word “For” and the word “Against” above and immediately preceding the title of this act; and if the word “For” be marked off or defaced upon the ballot it shall be counted as a vote against the acceptance of said act; if the word “Against” is marked off of said act; if the word “Against” is marked off or defaced upon the ballot it shall be counted as a vote in favor of the acceptance thereof; and in case neither the word “For” or the word “Against” be marked off or defaced upon the ballot it shall not be counted either as a vote for or against such acceptance. Such election shall be held at the time and place so appointed, and be conducted by the officers of the election district of the said respective townships, except that no special form of ballot or envelope need to be used. The officers holding such election shall make return to the township committees of said townships of Deptford and West Deptford, respectively, of the result thereof by a statement, in writing, under their hands, and the same shall be entered at length on the minutes of said township committees; and thereupon and upon such adoption by a majority of the legal voters of each of the said districts so voting separately, but not otherwise, this act shall in all respects be operative.

4. The registers of voters of the voters within said districts respectively used at the general election next preceding the holding of such special election shall be used for the purpose of conducting such special election. It shall not be necessary for the board of registry and election conducting said election in said districts, respectively, to make a new registry of voters for such special election, but only to revise and correct the registers made for the last general election, and for that purpose the said boards shall meet such place within said districts respectively as shall be designated by the clerk of the said townships respectively at lease one week next preceding said election. Notice of the place so designated shall be given by the clerk of the townships respectively by posting in at least five of the most public places in said district. Said meetings of the said boards of registry and election in their respective of the said boards of registry and election in their respective townships shall begin at one o’clock in the afternoon and continue until nine o’clock in the evening of that day for the purpose of revising and correcting register and adding thereto the names of all persons entitled to vote within said district at said special election, who shall appear in the person before them and establish to the satisfaction of the majority of the board that they are entitled to vote at said election, or who shall be sworn by a written affidavit of a voter residing in the said district to be entitled so to vote. A separate affidavit shall be required for each person so registered, which shall contain the address of the affiant and shall be signed by him; and on the following day one copy thereof shall be delivered to the chairman of the county board of elections of Gloucester county , to be filed by said boards, and one copy shall be retained for use by the said board of elections respectively at such special elections.

5. Immediately after the statement of the result of such elections shall be make to the township committees of said townships of Deptford and West Deptford respectively a copy thereof, certified to by their respective clerks, shall be forthwith filed in the office of the county clerk of said county of Gloucester.

Approved April 7, 1914.

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