APPENDIX D Cultural Resources Survey Report - US Environmental ...

continue to be a force in the development of the region (Cammarota 2001: 23-24; Dorwart 2001: 19,
22-23).
Agriculture, with a particular emphasis on animal husbandry, was the principal livelihood of the early
settlers who exploited the extensive meadows along the creeks for pasture livestock and for growing
hay. Others were engaged in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables for the local and Philadelphia
markets (Prowell 1886: 747; Fitcher 1966:21-22). Landowners also dammed streams to establish
grist, saw, and fulling mills. Local fisheries were established along the banks of the Delaware River,
as were rows of brick kilns. The large landowning families of Waterford Township, about 60 in
number, included the Spicer, Morgan, Coles, Burroughs, Lippincott, Inskeep, Browning and Adams
families. These families had created a “northern tidewater plantation society” during the eighteenth
century on land that is now occupied by Pennsauken Township and Camden County (Fichter 1975:
34; Dorwart 2001: 28-30, 32-34, 79).
In 1834, the Camden and Amboy Railroad (C&ARR) and Transportation Company laid tracks from
Bordentown to Camden. These tracks were situated on the west side of the APE near SGL
Surrounding Property. The first passenger train ran in early 1835. The railroad partnered with the
Camden and Philadelphia Steamboat Ferry Company, creating a major transportation corridor from
Philadelphia (via the Delaware River) to New York City (via the Raritan Bay) (Dorwart 2001: 53).
The track ran along the Delaware River from Camden to Bordentown, passing through present-day
Delair, then continued northeast, to South Amboy (see Figure 4.3). As the first in New Jersey and
third in the nation, the C&ARR set standards for modern railroading and fostered both
industrialization and development in New Jersey (Archeological and Historical Consultants, Inc.
2001).
The introduction of the railroad had a marginal effect on the APE and vicinity in the early and midnineteenth
century. While the landscape remained largely agricultural, local resort clubs were
established along the banks of the Delaware River. The Tammany Pea Shore Fishing Company was
founded in 1803 and located southwest of present-day Delair (Hunter Research 2000: 2). The club
began as an exclusive meeting place for wealthy residents of Philadelphia and Camden to informally
discuss politics. By 1850, the “Fish House,” as it was known, was open to the public operating as a
yacht club or “pleasure resort” (Dorwart 2001: 79). The Fish House first appears on an 1857 map
of Camden County (Figures 4.4-4.5). The road to the Fish House, known as Cove Road (formerly
Cove Landing), however, first appears on an 1846 map of the county, which does not distinguish
buildings (Clement 1846). This small road intersects the former King’s Highway, which by 1857 had
become the Burlington Turnpike, a local toll road (Lane 1939: 148, 152-153; Merry 1857).
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