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bach2yoga
Guest
Does anyone know how the Black Horse Pike and the White Horse Pike got their names? I've wondered since I was a child.
Renee
Renee
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bach2yoga
Guest
What's Ben's favorite saying? Google is your friend...
The White Horse Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1854 to build a toll road from Camden to White Horse Tavern. White Horse Tavern, now known as Stratford, was a town that had a tavern featuring a picture of a white horse.
Not even the experts are sure how the Black Horse Pike, whose paving was celebrated in 1931, got its name. One possibility is that the name was simply meant to contrast with the White Horse Pike, since the Black Horse Pike is a parallel and alternate route to Atlantic City.
The other possibility is that the name referred to a tavern in Blackwood.
The White Horse Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1854 to build a toll road from Camden to White Horse Tavern. White Horse Tavern, now known as Stratford, was a town that had a tavern featuring a picture of a white horse.
Not even the experts are sure how the Black Horse Pike, whose paving was celebrated in 1931, got its name. One possibility is that the name was simply meant to contrast with the White Horse Pike, since the Black Horse Pike is a parallel and alternate route to Atlantic City.
The other possibility is that the name referred to a tavern in Blackwood.
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BarryC
Guest
I'm pretty sure I read about it once, but I don't remember at the moment. Bob Peterson may have written about it once.
bach2yoga said:
I remember reading about this a few years ago. This may be B.S. but what I read was the white horse pike was used by the white travelers and the black horse pike by the black travelers. No idea of the truth of this ,but the times may have dictated this behavior??
http://www.stratfordnj.org/history_stratford.html
Here is a history of how the White Horse Pike got it's name, i would think that the Black Horse Pike was named the same way. I have never heard of what you stated.
Jim
However their names came about, I still have this mental block whenever I have to tell one from another, due to the two names being so similar!
RustyNevada:
No truth at all to what you heard. The White Horse Road or Pike dates to the eighteenth century when it led to the White Horse Tavern and the small hamlet of White Horse on the old Egg Harbor Road. In January 1854, the state legislature incorporated the White Horse Turnpike Company to convert White Horse Road into a toll road. It remained a turnpike until the early part of the twentieth century, when the state purchased the corporation and removed the toll, rendering it free for all to use. In 1922, the state extended the White Horse Pike to Atlantic City to open the resort community to increased automobile traffic.
The origins of the Black Horse Pike can be traced to 1795 when Surveyors working for Old Gloucester County, laid out a new and straight road to replace the meandering Irish Road. The new roadway carried various names including the Newton Road, Chews Landing-Philadelphia Road, Mount Ephraim-Blackwoodtown Road, etc. During 1855, state legislators incorporated the Camden and Blackwoodtown Turnpike Company, authorizing the new corporation to make this highway a toll road. It remained such until 1903, when the state bought the turnpike and removed the toll. People then referred to the highway as "The Blackwood Pike." In 1925, developers promoting new housing subdivisions along the roadway sought to capitalize on the success of similar residential developments along the White Horse Pike, formed an association to rename the "Blackwood Pike" as the "Black Horse Pike" and to extend the road all the way to Atlantic City. Once completed, promoters advertised the Black Horse Pike as "the second 'White Horse Pike' to the shore." And the rest, as they say, is history.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
This is kind of funny in today's context since the latest craze is selling roads to private corporations
This is kind of funny in today's context since the latest craze is selling roads to private corporations
Boyd:
Yes—everything old is new again!
Best regards,
Jerseyman