Burlington Island is located in the Delaware River just North of the Burlington-Bristol Bridge. First settlers landed in 1624 and set up a fort on the South end of the Island. In 1682 Robert Stacy obtained title to the island from Governor Andros of New York. Two men were living on the island so Stacy , an State assemblyman, created a bill to donate the island to the City with profits and rentals to be used to support public education. The current Board operates under the charter created by legislature in 1852. The Advocates for Burlington Island is a web page dedicated to providing information about the Board and its activities. Please request to join (No one is rejected).
Burlington Island a hidden treasure.
- Thread starter island historian
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island historian:
A number of points regarding your post:
1. The first settlers were French-speaking Walloons, who only remained on the island for about one year before being picked up in 1625 and returned to New Amsterdam (Manhattan Island) when Peter Minuit decided to consolidate the population of New Netherland in what would later become New York. Minuit himself was also a Walloon. Despite the rather rapid departure of the Walloons, Burlington Island was, indeed, the site of first permanent settlement on the Delaware River. After removal of the Walloons, the Dutch had no presence on the Zuydt or South River, causing the establishment of Fort Nassau in present-day Gloucester City in 1626 as a trading post with the indigenous natives for furs.
2. Robert Stacy did not receive title to the island in 1682 from Governor Andros; rather, he obtained a seven-year lease from the governor in 1678.
3. Peter Jegou and Henry Jacobs did not live on the island. The two men had dwellings at Leasy Point, located on the east shore of Assiscunk Creek at its confluence with the Delaware River. The men used the island solely for raising crops and grazing livestock.
4. Robert Stacy was a member of the West New Jersey General Free Assembly from 1682-1685, but he could not have been a “State assemblyman” because the colony of New Jersey would not become a state until approval of its first constitution in 1776.
5. Stacy did not donate the island to the city since he did not possess title to it. The West New Jersey Proprietors had already asserted its legal claim to all untitled lands, which included the island. Stacy yielded the remaining three years of his lease upon passage of the act granting the island to the city for the purposes of educating the youth in the First and Second Tenth.
6. The New Jersey State Legislature passed two acts in 1852: one passed 6 March 1852 authorizing the sale of one-half or the lower part of the island; and another act to incorporate the island managers. The latter act, passed 10 March 1852, included a provision for the holding and conveying of real estate, a power not previously held by the overseers. The two acts combined allowed the managers to sell the lower end of the island for an ill-fated real estate development. This is the half of the island that became a picnic grove in 1900 and grew into Island Beach Park (I posted information about this park here: (http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/burlington-island-and-jessups-grove.5151/).
When the amusement park closed, the Van Sciver Corporation, a sand-mining and building supply firm, purchased the land. In April 1929, the Warner Sand Company purchased the Van Sciver Corporation and all of its holdings. Warner mined sand from the lower end of the island, destroying much of the artifactual record remaining from the Dutch occupation period and many of the amusement park remnants.
7. You invite folks to join the Advocates for Burlington Island, but you failed to provide the URL for the website.
Jerseyman
A number of points regarding your post:
1. The first settlers were French-speaking Walloons, who only remained on the island for about one year before being picked up in 1625 and returned to New Amsterdam (Manhattan Island) when Peter Minuit decided to consolidate the population of New Netherland in what would later become New York. Minuit himself was also a Walloon. Despite the rather rapid departure of the Walloons, Burlington Island was, indeed, the site of first permanent settlement on the Delaware River. After removal of the Walloons, the Dutch had no presence on the Zuydt or South River, causing the establishment of Fort Nassau in present-day Gloucester City in 1626 as a trading post with the indigenous natives for furs.
2. Robert Stacy did not receive title to the island in 1682 from Governor Andros; rather, he obtained a seven-year lease from the governor in 1678.
3. Peter Jegou and Henry Jacobs did not live on the island. The two men had dwellings at Leasy Point, located on the east shore of Assiscunk Creek at its confluence with the Delaware River. The men used the island solely for raising crops and grazing livestock.
4. Robert Stacy was a member of the West New Jersey General Free Assembly from 1682-1685, but he could not have been a “State assemblyman” because the colony of New Jersey would not become a state until approval of its first constitution in 1776.
5. Stacy did not donate the island to the city since he did not possess title to it. The West New Jersey Proprietors had already asserted its legal claim to all untitled lands, which included the island. Stacy yielded the remaining three years of his lease upon passage of the act granting the island to the city for the purposes of educating the youth in the First and Second Tenth.
6. The New Jersey State Legislature passed two acts in 1852: one passed 6 March 1852 authorizing the sale of one-half or the lower part of the island; and another act to incorporate the island managers. The latter act, passed 10 March 1852, included a provision for the holding and conveying of real estate, a power not previously held by the overseers. The two acts combined allowed the managers to sell the lower end of the island for an ill-fated real estate development. This is the half of the island that became a picnic grove in 1900 and grew into Island Beach Park (I posted information about this park here: (http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/burlington-island-and-jessups-grove.5151/).
When the amusement park closed, the Van Sciver Corporation, a sand-mining and building supply firm, purchased the land. In April 1929, the Warner Sand Company purchased the Van Sciver Corporation and all of its holdings. Warner mined sand from the lower end of the island, destroying much of the artifactual record remaining from the Dutch occupation period and many of the amusement park remnants.
7. You invite folks to join the Advocates for Burlington Island, but you failed to provide the URL for the website.
Jerseyman
Badfish740:
Yes, Robert Stacy and his brothers, Mahlon and John, all emigrated from Yorkshire. This meant they were to settle in the First Tenth, originally extending from the Falls of the Delaware to Rancocas Creek. If you are interested in an indepth discussion of the planned original settlement pattern for West New Jersey along the Delaware River, feel free to read this article on my blog: http://jerseyman-historynowandthen.blogspot.com/2010/10/best-laid-schemes-o-mice-men-gang-aft.html.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
