A Historic Business Opportunity

Two-hundred forty-four years ago this week an advertisement ran in the Pennsylvania Gazette for a large parcel of prime land in our community. A look at the notice shows how much things have changed around here since that long-ago day:

Image courtesy of Newspapers.com

Some contrasts with today are obvious. We no longer live in "the western division of the province of New Jersey." And 1,000 acre plus parcels of land are no longer to be had in our area at any price. And our township broke off from Greenwich over 150 years ago. But other differences are more subtle. For example, Chestnut Branch flows today through woods of tulip poplar; pine trees have become somewhat rare.

The tract for sale may have included part of today's communities of Sewell and Barnsboro. It is unclear who purchased the land, or even if a sale did take place. It may have been bought by the Chew family and become part of their large holdings along Chestnut Branch. One clue to its location it that the "almost new" sawmill offered with the property was almost certainly located at what we today call Tyler's Mill. The only road of consequence through our area in those days passed this mill where it crossed Chestnut Branch. 

The road took the path of our Main Street, leading northwest from the sawmill past the Barnsboro Inn as it does today. As it left the settlement of Barnsboro it followed the track of the Mount Royal Road. There was no Carpenter's Landing (Mantua) yet, so there was no road leading in that direction. The landing described in the ad was probably at Mount Royal. This would have been, as the notice says, about a five mile trip. This was a selling point, because access to the thriving Philadelphia market was the key to success for an aspiring local sawmill operator. 

Five miles seems a short distance to us today, but hauling lumber overland in the late 1700s was an onerous task. One of the driving reasons for the establishment of Carpenter's Landing was likely a desire to shorten the trip from the sawmill to navigable water. As the community developed, additional sawmills were built on the Chestnut Branch: one at Alcyon Lake, another where the creek passes under Center Street Sewell. And a large sawmill operation on Mantua Creek was built at Carpenter's Landing itself.

So, where did the pine forest go? Through the sawmills, onto ox-carts, up through Barnsboro to the landing at Mount Royal (or Mantua, later) in rafts or boats to the Delaware River, on to the city market, then into ships for export to markets across the ocean. And, as it grew, into the homes and buildings of Philadelphia itself. 

Perhaps you know of a stand or two of pines in the woods near your house...not the scrub trees of the Pine Barrens, but the lofty white pines that once covered much of our township. The next time you visit, take a moment to look up and breathe in and try to picture the long-ago woods of the west division of New Jersey province.


Interested in learning more about Mantua Township's past? Do you have information about the property described for sale in the advertisement featured today? We would love to share. Come visit our museum from 10 AM to 12 Noon on first and third Saturdays of the month, or the first Thursday evening of the month from 7 to 8 PM. You can also message us to arrange a special off-hours tour.