According to this page John Haines, one of the early farmer inhabitants of Medford, lived for some time in a cave on the south branch of the rancocas at a place now known as Haines Bank. this really got my attention cause i've never heard of any other caves in nj (besides the artificial bordentown ones on stu's site; i'm still trying to figure out the location of those). anybody know where Haines Bank is and if the cave is still there? i've always wanted to go cave exploring...
Haines Bank Cave?
- Thread starter WAMBA
- Start date
Could it be anywhere near Haines Creek which you drive over on Rt. 70 in Medford close to Southampton.
WAMBA:
I think you may be misinterpreting the term "cave" in this context. These are not natural caves. Many of the early settlers in West Jersey arrived late in the year and had little time to erect permanent shelter for themselves and their families. To gain temporary shelter against the onset of winter, they would find a high bank along a waterway and excavate an opening in that bank in which to spend the winter months. When spring arrived, the settler would build a more permanent residence. The first members of the Roberts family to arrive in the New World resided in a "cave" along the Pennsauken Creek during their first winter season. Many first arrivals in Philadelphia did likewise. I have a record of a sawyer still living in a "cave" along Big Timber Creek during the 1730s.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
I think you may be misinterpreting the term "cave" in this context. These are not natural caves. Many of the early settlers in West Jersey arrived late in the year and had little time to erect permanent shelter for themselves and their families. To gain temporary shelter against the onset of winter, they would find a high bank along a waterway and excavate an opening in that bank in which to spend the winter months. When spring arrived, the settler would build a more permanent residence. The first members of the Roberts family to arrive in the New World resided in a "cave" along the Pennsauken Creek during their first winter season. Many first arrivals in Philadelphia did likewise. I have a record of a sawyer still living in a "cave" along Big Timber Creek during the 1730s.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Well I've browsed this forum in the past, but this post got me to register.
"Caves", presumably dug holes in a riverbank, would seem to be a pretty unstable commodity in the area in question. However, there is a place where this may be possible.
On the north bank of the S Branch of the Rancocas, a short distance downstream from Vincentown, is (or was, its been some years since I was there & housing projects have pretty much sprouted rampant thru the area) the only known occurrence of a coral reef in NJ. It stood perhaps 20 feet high, IIRC, and extended about 100 feet or so along the riverbank. The firm but friable white rock could easily have been dug into without collapsing.
amf
"Caves", presumably dug holes in a riverbank, would seem to be a pretty unstable commodity in the area in question. However, there is a place where this may be possible.
On the north bank of the S Branch of the Rancocas, a short distance downstream from Vincentown, is (or was, its been some years since I was there & housing projects have pretty much sprouted rampant thru the area) the only known occurrence of a coral reef in NJ. It stood perhaps 20 feet high, IIRC, and extended about 100 feet or so along the riverbank. The firm but friable white rock could easily have been dug into without collapsing.
amf
amf said:
Thats interesting. I never heard that one. I'd like to see it. I went to 2nd grade in Vincentown. Too young to understand then.
"Caves" in Warren Grove
WAMBA,
At the time of the last skirmish of the Revolutionary War, it was rumored that Captain John Bacon, a Loyalist sympathizer, and his "merry band" of "Pine Robber" cutthroats, were supposed to "hole--up" in a "cave near Warren Grove." To date, I have yet to get an explanation for the word "cave." Perhaps they were large, dug--out "foxholes" with "lean--tos" built over them for warmth, camouflage and protection from the environment? --- a kind of WWI "trench city"--type of thing, albeit on a much reduced scale?
ebsi
WAMBA said:
WAMBA,
At the time of the last skirmish of the Revolutionary War, it was rumored that Captain John Bacon, a Loyalist sympathizer, and his "merry band" of "Pine Robber" cutthroats, were supposed to "hole--up" in a "cave near Warren Grove." To date, I have yet to get an explanation for the word "cave." Perhaps they were large, dug--out "foxholes" with "lean--tos" built over them for warmth, camouflage and protection from the environment? --- a kind of WWI "trench city"--type of thing, albeit on a much reduced scale?
ebsi
ebsi2001 said:
I have seen such a description in several places. I just have to track it down. Cave is probably not an accurate description. These "caves" were apparently open excavations into the side of a small hill. I assume construction of some kind of roof and at least one wall were necessary. I can only imagine that the side and back walls needed to be braced or supported with timber and perhaps a plank floor may have been used. I think that some references to "caves" suggest that the structure was used for longer than just one year. I know the Evans family first settled in a cave near Mt Laurel or Evesham. No traces remain however a descendent of that family once told me where it was. I'll see if I wrote it down somewhere.
Rich
The settlers and first farmers knew the value of earth as an insulation. I remember seeing 'root cellars' on most original farms in the area where I grew up. Bulkhead doors out in the highest point in the yard suggests they covered over a trench with soil over some kind of support. instant cave.
wis bang said:
Interestingly, there is a modern spin on the "cave" system still in play in parts of New England. In Maine, it is not uncommon for a family to excavate and build a foundation; and live in it while the house is being finished on top. This process usually takes several years as people build on a "cash and carry" rather than a credit system. Perhaps, some of these "caves" became the cellars to the houses the families occupied early in history. Just some food for thought.
Scott W.
WAMBA said:
I’ve heard that story before, a long time ago. The only high “bank” that I know of in the Medford area is south of Rt 70 near the Haines Run Apartments. When I was a kid my friends and I went down the stream in a rowboat and never found anything like a cave.
There’s also an area across the stream near Branch Street but its been part of someone’s yard for years and is over grown.
http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4416892&e=516009&s=24&size=s&u=7&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25
These high banks which occur frequently along many 0f the rivers occur when the river takes a sharp turn and is the result of errosion due to the water flow. Keeping this in mind I would suspect that any evidence of any caves that had existed in one of these banks would now be at the bottom of the river. These banks continue to erode pretty quick, I have noticed, and the river becomes slightly altered.
Jeff
Jeff
Interesting post and a question I always wondered about since reading of early settlers living in caves near Columbus NJ, I always thought it odd as that area is as flat as can be.
I would like to find more info on a wall of coral near Vincentown, interesting indeed.
My Grandparents built thier house in White Horse as described , living in the basement until they finished the rest of the house.
I would like to find more info on a wall of coral near Vincentown, interesting indeed.
My Grandparents built thier house in White Horse as described , living in the basement until they finished the rest of the house.
I found the following references to caves and dwellings of early settlers.
"The first settlement made in Evesham was made by William and Elizabeth Evans, who emigrated to this country from Whales . . . between 1680 and 1690. . ."
" . . .they were obliged to build a cave to live in, as there were no facilities for house building. They built their cave-dwelling near what is now Mount Laurel, and William died in it in 1728, . . ."
"These passengers having arrived late in the fall [of 1677] but few were able to build themselves log houses before the winter was much spent. During the interim they lived in wigwams built after the manner of the Indians."
". . . they arrived in Burlington in the year 1678, this being the first ship that ever was known to come so high up the Delaware River. Then they landed and made some such dwellings as they could for the present time, some in caves and others in palisade-houses secured."
"Most of the English and many others have their houses made of nothing but clapboards, . . . " c1679-1680
"At first the dwellings were either mere caves hollowed out in banks and protected at their entrances with boards, or the most primitive shanties imaginable." c1677
"On the other side of Craft's Creek a tract of five hundred acres was taken up by Thomas Scattergood, who with his family lived in a cave on the south bank of the stream, traces of which are still discernible. [1883]" c1670's
". . . there was no alternative but to dig a cave in the side of the small hill to live in." c1685
"Like many other settlers, his first home was in a cave, which he furnished in a rude manner for housekeeping. He lived with his wife many years in this cave, and in it was born Henry Jacobse, their son, who was the first white child born within the limits of the township." c1698
All of these reference Burlington County settlers (except the last which was from Little Egg Harbor which was once part of Burlington County).
"The first settlement made in Evesham was made by William and Elizabeth Evans, who emigrated to this country from Whales . . . between 1680 and 1690. . ."
" . . .they were obliged to build a cave to live in, as there were no facilities for house building. They built their cave-dwelling near what is now Mount Laurel, and William died in it in 1728, . . ."
"These passengers having arrived late in the fall [of 1677] but few were able to build themselves log houses before the winter was much spent. During the interim they lived in wigwams built after the manner of the Indians."
". . . they arrived in Burlington in the year 1678, this being the first ship that ever was known to come so high up the Delaware River. Then they landed and made some such dwellings as they could for the present time, some in caves and others in palisade-houses secured."
"Most of the English and many others have their houses made of nothing but clapboards, . . . " c1679-1680
"At first the dwellings were either mere caves hollowed out in banks and protected at their entrances with boards, or the most primitive shanties imaginable." c1677
"On the other side of Craft's Creek a tract of five hundred acres was taken up by Thomas Scattergood, who with his family lived in a cave on the south bank of the stream, traces of which are still discernible. [1883]" c1670's
". . . there was no alternative but to dig a cave in the side of the small hill to live in." c1685
"Like many other settlers, his first home was in a cave, which he furnished in a rude manner for housekeeping. He lived with his wife many years in this cave, and in it was born Henry Jacobse, their son, who was the first white child born within the limits of the township." c1698
All of these reference Burlington County settlers (except the last which was from Little Egg Harbor which was once part of Burlington County).
yeah great post! that definitely clears up what they mean by caves. if so many people used that method of preliminary shelter, i wonder how often there were cave collapses. an eroded riverbank doesn't seem like the most structurally stable area as whatever eroded it would probably still be affecting it.
ChrisNJ said:
The "wall of coral" is / was a short ways downstream from Vincentown on the South Branch. At the time I visited it as part of a soils course field trip at Rutgers, it was accessed thru a farmers field from the first road to the left as you headed north out of town. Some years later I recall looking for it again, but the area was a housing project.
amf