My aunt purchased a lot of land in Mizpah in the 1940's with the intention to build her dream house there. My father subsequently purchased a small lot with the intention of putting up a trailer for a summer vacation home. My aunt died in an auto accident before she could finish her home and my father never brought his trailer. I believe they both purchased their lots for Rathblott Land Development. At the time of the purchases, there were quite a few African Americans in the area although I've since heard that the town started as a community of Jewish farmers. I'm developing the family genealogy and would like to more about the town's history, development and future plans to include in both my aunt and my father's historical lines. Any information would be greatly appreciated and thanks for your help.
History of Mizpah
- Thread starter njdeb
- Start date
I have read that the blacks of Mizpah originally came there to work as collier to supply the furnace at Weymouth with charcoal. Thats my limit of knowledge on the history of Mizpah.I"m sure Spung Man will know much more.Thats his territory
Like most Pinelands hamlets, there is little known about the area's early history. Mizpah is on the Cohansey trail, a very ancient and important aboriginal byway that began at then Cohansey (now Greenwich) and crossed the Long-A-Coming trail at the Lochs-of-the-Swamp at the Steelman Plantation (c.1706) near where Routes 322 and 50 intersect. People likely passed through for 14,000 years on seasonal rounds on their way to Egg Harbour.
Early place names I have found include:
Blue Bent Pond – a perfectly round spung, blue for its hue, bent for old English meaning curved (like in timber-framing).
Turtle Pond – a snapper returns here every spring to feast on salamander fry.
Dan’s Bridge – a Mare Run crossing by the Old Baker Place, portal to Lummis Road (Cedarville) and Walkers Ford (Black settlement associated with the Forge of same name).
Irelands had an eighteenth century mill on Mare Run (at today's Watering Hole Café above Mays Landing), and followed Atlantic Whitecedar back to the waterway’s head very early on. Small splash dams were built to float wood down to the mill during seasonal high water.
Mizpah is deep within the Weymouth Furnace tract, so charcoal production was the nineteenth century mainstay. We know very little about the furnace’s labor force due to lack of records but there is much speculation that runaway slaves were colliers here as Manumuskin suggested. Multiple trails converge in Mizpah, which is consistent with other coal ground sites. After the Civil War, the labor force left as charcoal production waned. With the advent of West Jersey Railroad speculation an ethnic settlement boomed here in 1891, then busted in the Panic of 1893. Another Jewish settlement was laid out just to the east (Edwina) and one was laid out just to the west (Ruskville) along the railroad.
The Mizpah Sand Quarry thread will take you from here:
S-M
Early place names I have found include:
Blue Bent Pond – a perfectly round spung, blue for its hue, bent for old English meaning curved (like in timber-framing).
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.492121210621825&lng=-74.80357903640748&z=15&type=nj1930&gpx=
Turtle Pond – a snapper returns here every spring to feast on salamander fry.
Dan’s Bridge – a Mare Run crossing by the Old Baker Place, portal to Lummis Road (Cedarville) and Walkers Ford (Black settlement associated with the Forge of same name).
Irelands had an eighteenth century mill on Mare Run (at today's Watering Hole Café above Mays Landing), and followed Atlantic Whitecedar back to the waterway’s head very early on. Small splash dams were built to float wood down to the mill during seasonal high water.
Mizpah is deep within the Weymouth Furnace tract, so charcoal production was the nineteenth century mainstay. We know very little about the furnace’s labor force due to lack of records but there is much speculation that runaway slaves were colliers here as Manumuskin suggested. Multiple trails converge in Mizpah, which is consistent with other coal ground sites. After the Civil War, the labor force left as charcoal production waned. With the advent of West Jersey Railroad speculation an ethnic settlement boomed here in 1891, then busted in the Panic of 1893. Another Jewish settlement was laid out just to the east (Edwina) and one was laid out just to the west (Ruskville) along the railroad.
The Mizpah Sand Quarry thread will take you from here:
S-M
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Thanks so much for your reply. It was a lot more than I knew.I have read that the blacks of Mizpah originally came there to work as collier to supply the furnace at Weymouth with charcoal. Thats my limit of knowledge on the history of Mizpah.I"m sure Spung Man will know much more.Thats his territory
S-M,
Could this have been the location for one of these splash dams?http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.47481475175483&lng=-74.7706415097046&z=16&type=lidar&gpx=
Note the ridge-like feature across the paleochannel in the Lidar image.
Interesting find! It appears to be a crossway that leads to the Old Baker Place, which seems like a reasonable place to dam a creek. You will have to line up the Mare Run section to the Wright (1867) Weymouth exceptions map at the Historical Society of Hamilton Township in Mays Landing.
S-M