Cannon Range is interesting in itself. There is a reference to it in Cumberland County Old Names and Places, anonymous, compiled c. 1915:
Cannon Range Avenue – This is a road on the Cumberland Tract [the 20,000-acre Richland Colony]. In 1895, Edward R. Wood ran out a line from a point on the road from Cumberland to Hunters Mill to the north line of the tract and cleared out a portion of the line with the idea that it would be sold to the National government for use as a testing ground for heavy ordinance. It was inspected by the government officials on a hot summer day and the mosquitoes drove the party away before the inspection was concluded. It was never used for the purpose intended and in Mr. Wood's scheme of development [Richland] became known as Cannon Range Avenue. There are now [1916] a few small farms in the process of growth along it.
More can read about the Cannon Range in Report of the Board of Ordinance and Fortification, January 5, 1892 (1893), which Jerseyman found for me some time ago:
See pp. 93–112:
Some additional notes on the location:
There are already homes on "Cannon Range Road" in 1896, according to Risley's promotional pamphlet Estelle and Milmay: The Growing Colony in Southern New Jersey. Views of Pioneer Life. I interviewed an ancient resident (96 in 1998), the grandson of one of Richland's founders (Jonathan Harrison Smith), who claimed that a cannon was taken off a freight car in Richland and wagon-hauled along an old trail to Milmay for firing. The original ancient "Cannon Range" trail crossed right through our farm, and intersected with William Hollingshead's Boundary Road at a charcoal pit.
Smith had a steam-powered sawmill between the Cannon Range and the Manumuskin River on South River Road, which went from the Oasis spung at Vanaman's Thick 'n Hole Tract [New Italy], crossed the Manumuskin River at the saw-dust pile, intersected the Tuckahoe Trail at Buckhorn, and ended at the Smith-Ireland burial ground in Atlantic County Park. Smith disassembled and rebuilt the mill at Richland’s Saw Mill Park to cut at E.R. Wood's request the West Jersey right-of-way and supply lumber to the burgeoning Richland village.
The Milmay portion became Waldeck Farms, a licorice-growing boondoggle during World War I. (Walker, of forge-fame, and Decker from NY). After Armistice, they tried cotton, peanuts, tobacco, and Angora. The land was abandoned for back taxes during the Great Depression. Our barn, now retrofitted into part of my brother's new house, is where the Waldeck moonshine was piled up in barrels during Prohibition. We bought the place in 1959 when I was born.
S-M
Cannon Range Avenue – This is a road on the Cumberland Tract [the 20,000-acre Richland Colony]. In 1895, Edward R. Wood ran out a line from a point on the road from Cumberland to Hunters Mill to the north line of the tract and cleared out a portion of the line with the idea that it would be sold to the National government for use as a testing ground for heavy ordinance. It was inspected by the government officials on a hot summer day and the mosquitoes drove the party away before the inspection was concluded. It was never used for the purpose intended and in Mr. Wood's scheme of development [Richland] became known as Cannon Range Avenue. There are now [1916] a few small farms in the process of growth along it.
More can read about the Cannon Range in Report of the Board of Ordinance and Fortification, January 5, 1892 (1893), which Jerseyman found for me some time ago:
See pp. 93–112:
(X) Site near Richland. This site is situated in the interior of south New Jersey, about 2-1/2 miles from Richland, a station on the West Jersey and Atlantic Railroad, about 30 miles from Philadelphia, which would be the natural supply station (p. 93).
....In regard to the selection of this site for a proving ground the Board is of the opinion that if an exclusively land range is to be selected this site is suitable; but the Board would further state its opinion that it is very desirable, if not essential, that a proving ground should afford facilities for various war-like appliances in or over deep water, and in view of this case the Board does not recommend the Richland site for selection as a proving ground (p. 110).
....In regard to the selection of this site for a proving ground the Board is of the opinion that if an exclusively land range is to be selected this site is suitable; but the Board would further state its opinion that it is very desirable, if not essential, that a proving ground should afford facilities for various war-like appliances in or over deep water, and in view of this case the Board does not recommend the Richland site for selection as a proving ground (p. 110).
Some additional notes on the location:
There are already homes on "Cannon Range Road" in 1896, according to Risley's promotional pamphlet Estelle and Milmay: The Growing Colony in Southern New Jersey. Views of Pioneer Life. I interviewed an ancient resident (96 in 1998), the grandson of one of Richland's founders (Jonathan Harrison Smith), who claimed that a cannon was taken off a freight car in Richland and wagon-hauled along an old trail to Milmay for firing. The original ancient "Cannon Range" trail crossed right through our farm, and intersected with William Hollingshead's Boundary Road at a charcoal pit.
Smith had a steam-powered sawmill between the Cannon Range and the Manumuskin River on South River Road, which went from the Oasis spung at Vanaman's Thick 'n Hole Tract [New Italy], crossed the Manumuskin River at the saw-dust pile, intersected the Tuckahoe Trail at Buckhorn, and ended at the Smith-Ireland burial ground in Atlantic County Park. Smith disassembled and rebuilt the mill at Richland’s Saw Mill Park to cut at E.R. Wood's request the West Jersey right-of-way and supply lumber to the burgeoning Richland village.
The Milmay portion became Waldeck Farms, a licorice-growing boondoggle during World War I. (Walker, of forge-fame, and Decker from NY). After Armistice, they tried cotton, peanuts, tobacco, and Angora. The land was abandoned for back taxes during the Great Depression. Our barn, now retrofitted into part of my brother's new house, is where the Waldeck moonshine was piled up in barrels during Prohibition. We bought the place in 1959 when I was born.
S-M
