Revival!

147 years ago today a reporter writing under the pen name "Washtenaw" ran a two-column story in the Philadephia Evening Telegraph about his experiences at the Bethel Camp Meeting in Mantua Township. Bethel was a religious revival meeting/ community/ camp/ vacation/ event that took place for two weeks every August for decades in the woods that once grew where the "Snowy Owl" development now stands. Long before the Pitman Airport that preceded Snowy Owl the campground was there. And though it is difficult to picture now, tens of thousands of people fled the heat of the city for this shady camp meeting.

Bethel meeting took its name from the Bethel Methodist Church, which still stands on the Delsea Drive in Hurffville, its sponsoring congregation. John Turner, a prominent member of that church and extensive Mantua Township landholder, lived on Tyler's Mill Road and donated part of his land for the camp meeting. 

This type of gathering has largely gone by the wayside, but in the days before large buildings that could hold several thousand participants, it was the only feasible way to hold such large meetings. And before air conditioning, a wooded setting was a welcome environment in the August heat. 

Bethel Camp Meeting started as a local revival center. The entrance to the camp was a dirt road leading from Tyler's Mill Road. But after the railroad came to Mantua Township attendees began flooding in from the city, and the event grew dramatically in size. Railroad owners built a special platform alongside the tracks that was only used when the camp was open.

Our reporter opened his story by describing the location of the camp and the size of the crowd. The "Barnsboro Station" in the article is located where the old Sewell train station now stands. The town of Sewell had yet to be created.

In the next section of the article the reporter describes the difficulty in getting to the camp on the train (and on the train in the first place). 

I took these pictures this morning. I wonder if I was walking on what's left of the "narrow roadway leading into the woods" mentioned above. The depth and width of the path show it is an old, well-established way that was once heavily traveled.

In the following section the reporter describes the sleeping accommodations. Civil War surplus tents  figured prominently.

In the next section the reporter presents an evocative account of the camp at nighttime. It speaks to the very reason for the camp meeting, and the age-old desire of human beings to find inner peace. The description of how they provided light for the camp is interesting.

Late night hymn singing:

Our reporter did not spare the water sellers, who plied their trade (even on the Sabbath) to a hot and dusty crowd. 

Perhaps the scarcity of water was one of the reasons that the Bethel Camp waned in popularity over the next three decades while the newer camp meeting destination, the Pitman Grove, grew. For years the two meetings both took place every August--on different weeks, out of respect for each other's events. Pitman's meeting had plentiful water, with Alcyon Lake nearby, and that may be one issue that turned the tide in its favor. As we know, a town grew up around the Pitman Grove, while Bethel Camp meeting disappeared into the mists of history.

A "small stream" back of the camp a quarter mile: this would fit the bill.

The next section outlined the daily schedule in camp.

Imagine a Sunday morning with hundreds of people, alone and in family groups, walking along the railroad tracks south for a mile and a half from Barnsboro Station. Since trains could not stop at the camp meeting platform on Sundays, this was the scene.

The reporter found the camp physically uncomfortable and seems to have been glad to be making his escape before the meeting concluded.

The rapid growth of Bethel Camp Meeting in the years following the Civil War was driven by promoters who saw an opportunity to sell railroad tickets. Note the name of the agent who ran this ad the year previous to our reporter's visit in the Evening Telegraph:

Bethel Meeting died away sometime in the late 1800s, no longer able to compete with the success of the Pitman Grove. By 1900, according to maps I have seen, most of the trees the reporter described seem to have been cut down. And then it was a nursery, and an airport, and a housing development. But plenty of trees remain on the slopes leading down to the stream. As I walked alone in the shade among the beeches this morning, it was cool and refreshing--especially for a day in August.

Soldiers from Wenonah invade Mantua Township

Well, not really. But 107 years ago this week the determined troops of the Camden-based Battery B of the New Jersey National Guard's field artillery built a bridge from Wenonah into Sewell. They were intent creating a shortcut to their pistol range, which was on the other side of Mantua Creek in our township. 

The troops were tired of taking their horse-drawn wagonfuls of supplies to the range the long way around: across the Wenonah Avenue bridge to downtown Mantua; a hard left at the Mantua School onto Mantua Boulevard (the McCarthy Avenue cutoff was not yet in place); down to and over the bridge at Chestnut Branch; and from there to their destination on the Sewell side of Mantua creek.

Oregon Daily Journal article courtesy of Newspapers.com

Why would a Camden-based artillery unit care so much about the route from Wenonah to a gun range in Sewell? Two factors came into play: First, Battery B was at this point homeless. Three years prior its armory had been destroyed in a horrible fire. Second, while most of its officers lived in and around Camden, its captain Samuel Barnard lived on Cherry Street in Wenonah. 

Captain Barnard seems to have found a temporary spot for his battery's equipment in his hometown. Since his men could easily reach Wenonah from Camden via the West Jersey Railroad, creating a training location nearby would have made sense.  

In 1910, the year after they built the bridge, Battery B was given $100,000 to buy land to build and furnish a new armory in Camden, complete with "the necessary stables and range or ranges suitable for revolver and sub-calibre artillery practice."* Before long, the group was once again meeting in Camden and Captain Barnard was the one taking the train. The new armory was on Wright Avenue, near the current Mickle Street exit from 676, in a building that in the 1970s housed Camden's Department of Public Works.

What happened to the bridge? It does not seem to have survived the departure of the field artillery. Where was it located? My guess is it was somewhere in the area highlighted in yellow on the 1901 topographic map below. Any further upstream would have required bridging Monongahela Brook as well as Mantua Creek. Much further downstream the creek would have been too wide for such a bridge.

1901 map courtesy of the United States Geological Survey

It's been quite a while since Battery B went back over the border. If anyone reading this post has any clues about this short-lived bridge, or the location of the one-time gun range to which the bridge led, please let us know. I am curious!

Come visit the Museum this Saturday, July 2nd. We'll be open from 10 AM to 12 Noon.

*Compiled Statutes of New Jersey, Volume III, p 3393 - Newark, NJ, Soney & Sage, 1911. Available on Google Books.

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.

Disaster Averted

Plenty of rain fell in Mantua Township 120 years ago this week. This did not deter vacationers from enjoying the amusement park at Alcyon Lake. The beginning of summer meant crowds eager to swim, boat, ride the log flume, or otherwise attempt to beat the heat. The lake, larger than ever behind a new dam built by the park's owners, was invitingly cool.

The park had grown up around the Pitman Grove, in those days part of Mantua Township still. The Grove was a popular religious camp meeting; a place for people to come and renew (or find) their faith away from the heat and bustle of the city. Founded over twenty years before, the Grove had grown rapidly, for two key reasons: a new railroad, which made it convenient for Philadelphians to participate, and Alcyon Lake, which provided an important water supply.

The lake which attracted the camp meeting which in turn attracted the amusement park was the result of a dam built across a creek years before to power a sawmill. The creek was the Chestnut Branch--the same creek that gives its name to our township's park these days. Over the spillway of the dam at Alcyon Lake it flowed, as it still does, under Lambs Road near today's Total Turf facilities. It passed among the disused marl pits through what is now Ceres Park, then under a bridge at the Barnsboro-Glassboro turnpike--our Barnsboro's Main Street. Here the creek powered a sawmill owned by George Tyler before passing under what we call today Tylers Mill Road.

Chestnut Branch goes on through Sewell and joins the Mantua Creek in Mantua, but the part of the creek described above is the setting for a dramatic story from a dozen decades past in which foresight on the part of a few saved lives and prevented an accident from turning into a tragedy.

Early in the morning of the 19th two local farmhands were examining the new dam at Alcyon. They were concerned that all the recent rain might cause trouble with the structure. What they found alarmed them: the face of the dam was bulging outward. Quickly they sounded the alarm, warning people away from the immediate area. Their thoughts turned downstream, mentally tracing a potential path of destruction. Nobody lived in the floodplain of the creek, but the workers at Tyler's sawmill would be at work already, and certainly in harm's way.

Philadelphia Times article courtesy of
Newspapers.com

Mounting horses, the two galloped toward Tyler's mill. They likely followed Lambs Road up to the corner where the Pitman Methodist Church now stands, then raced up the muddy turnpike toward Barnsboro. They arrived in time to warn the handful of mill workers. One of the workers opened the sluice gates to allow the flood waters to flow through when they came, and they all sought shelter on higher ground.

Back at the lake, the dam had already given way. A roaring wall of water ten feet high was unleashed. The noise of it carried for miles. The flood destroyed three bridges, and caused major damage at the amusement park as attractions, piers, etc. were sucked down the lake and ruined. But it could have been much worse. Nobody was killed. In fact, no one was even injured. The floodwaters spread out after Tyler's mill and did no damage further downstream. 

My hat goes off to the two unnamed Mantua Township heroes who had the wit to recognize a dangerous situation and took the initiative to act.

1901 Topographic map courtesy of US Geological Survey

If you want to know more about this story, or if you know anything that can help us identify the two heroes, please come visit the Museum or leave us a message. We will be open this Saturday from 10 AM until Noon.

Mantua Grammar School Class of '31

Eighty-five years ago this week the year was drawing to a close at the Mantua School. Twenty-three of Mantua's finest youth readied themselves for 8th grade graduation, which took place June 9th at the Methodist chapel. Their names are listed below the photo.

Row 1 (l-r): Helen Geiger; Beulah Hillman; Beatrice Thurlsin; Dorothy Sharp; Edna Jones; Beverly Reese; Louise Carbone; Doris Foster. 
Row 2: Unknown; Bill DeCesari; Margaret Roy; Gertrude Pope; Tillie Mueller; Margaret ?; Bernard Gallagher. 
Row 3: Lester Bates; Henry Staubach; Unknown; Winfield Smith; Lewis Bailey; Robert Harris; James Mulvenna; Morris Haslett. 

In a way, this generation was riding the crest of an educational wave. Most already had as much formal education as their parents would ever have. But by 1931 in New Jersey, the law requiring children aged 6 through 16 (which had existed for decades) to attend school was starting to be enforced. Most of these teens would enter Pitman High School in the fall. 

An accomplishment of this type called for recognition. Below is one of the impressive diplomas handed out on that long-ago day. It belonged to Morris Raymond Haslett, the last boy on the right in the last row.

  

Morris had been born in Philadelphia in 1917, but when he was still a baby his parents Raymond and Margaret bought a home in Mantua Heights on what would later become West Elm Avenue. Neither Raymond (a house painter) nor Margaret had studied beyond 8th grade. 

Morris would go on to complete high school. He became a plumber, volunteer fireman, and served in a Coast Guard air crew during World War II. He married, raised a family, and lived a long, useful life in Mantua. He passed in 2003 and is buried in Eglington Cemetery. 

If you're interesting in learning more about the 8th grade class of '31, Mantua Township school history, or anything about our community's past, come visit the museum June 18th between 10 AM and Noon.

Tragedy at the Bridge

175 years ago this week eight-year-old Josiah Bowlin and his older brother, a young teen, were fishing from the bridge over Mantua Creek, at the spot where Route 45 now crosses the river. It was a Sunday, but these were the days before the end of May meant a holiday weekend. The awful war that would lead to Decoration Day--and eventually Memorial Day--was still to be fought. The small town growing up by the bridge was then called Carpenter's Landing, and was part of Greenwich Township. A dozen years would pass before Mantua Township would be created.

Josiah and his brother lived on the Deptford side of the creek. Their parents, Henry and Grace, were well respected in the community. They were in their thirties. A third son--just a baby--and three daughters rounded out their young family. They also had the distinction of being African-American, one of only three such families in their neighborhood.

Back at the bridge, tragedy struck. Somehow, Josiah's older brother lost his footing and fell into the water. Just as today, the current and tides can make this part of the creek a dangerous place. Unable to reach his brother, young Josiah ran home for help. Family and friends raced to the bridge, but it was too late. The older boy had disappeared.

The Public Ledger of Philadelphia, June 1st and 2nd of 1841 tell about the sad event (thanks to Newspapers.com):

"Great exertions," the newspaper tells us, were made over the next couple of days to recover the body, but to no avail. The community mourned with the Bowlin family. Within the next few years Henry took his family away from Carpenter's Landing and settled in Galloway Township in Atlantic County. He and his wife had at least two more children. Henry passed away in Galloway in 1880.

Interested in learning more about Mantua Township history? Our museum will be open this Thursday evening (6/2) between 7 and 8:30 PM. On Saturday (6/4) from we will not be open in the morning but will be open from 2-6 PM due to the annual "Rock the Block" celebration. Come support the event and visit us while you're there.

It's been 118 years this week since Milton Chew stopped into Bradshaw's Store and spent 25 cents to buy a new washboard. The store was at the corner of Berkeley Road and Bridgeton Pike in Mantua, on a spot now occupied by a Walgreen's parking lot.

Bradshaw's was a general store. As the ledger for the last week of May back in the day shows, it sold everything from cracked corn to wallpaper. The proprietor would also advance cash for paying a bill or rent labor to get a job done. One of the more unusual purchases during the week, by S. Frazier, was a 40-foot tree to be made into a flagpole.

You may recognize the last names of some of the store's customers during that long-ago week, since many have family members that still live in our township. Besides Mr. Chew and Mr. Frazier the ledger shows Mrs. J. Hewlings, Mrs. M. Eastlack, William Gallenthin, Mrs Swartz, E. Roman, F. B. Ridgeway, William Norris, and H. Reed, among others. Have a look:

The Bradshaw Store closed for business many decades ago and became simply a private residence and later burned in an arson fire. These two ledger pages were among a handful of water-damaged papers firemen rescued from from the ruins of the house. If you're interested in seeing this record in person, stop by the Mantua Township Historical Museum's open hours from 10 AM - 12 noon on the first or third Saturday of the month, or from 7-8:30 PM on the first Thursday evening of the month.