Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
The Stage Road
by Steve Eichinger
Originally the Stage Road was nothing more than an Indian path used in their annual summer migrations from the Camden area through Burlington County to the Tuckerton area on the coast, particularly today’s Osbourne Island. [ Note: See The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968 by John P Snyder for information regarding early Indian trails in New Jersey.] As more and more white settlers began moving into the Little Egg Harbor area, the need for better roads became necessary as plantations and small hamlets emerged throughout the area. The Indian trail was gradually improved into a crude roadway used for wagon and stage travel, and the roadway became known as Stage Road. This article deals with the Stage Road as it runs through the present day Bass River Township.
The earliest documentation I have found concerning the development of Stage Road is found in the January 2, 1779 Little Egg Harbor minutes when they had to rebuild the bridge at Bodine’s Tavern where the Stage Road crossed the Wading River. The roadway must have existed well before 1779 as this notation from the 1779 minutes refers to a “rebuilding” of the bridge.
At a town meeting held at the meeting house in said township (Little Egg Harbour) by an appointment according to law to raise the sum of money for rebuilding a bridge over the Waiding [sic] River. The town by majority of votes allows Henry Woodward for rebuilding the bridge over Waiding [sic] River the sum of one hundred and seven pounds ten shillings Procklamation [sic] money as money now goes.
Also, on March 3. 1779, the Little Egg Harbor minutes contains additional information about improving the recently laid out road.
Likewise was carried by vote that the following persons shall be a committee to examing [sic] the roade [ sic] witch [sic] hath been laide out front the Provence line to Attsion and make what alteration they shall think proper in our township & to cal the surveyors to lay it where they think best and to agree with Joseph Walker on the best terms they can to with draw the cavet of the township is to pay the expence [sic] the committee is at [sic] in altering the roade [sic] withdrawing the cavet & for laying the road out. Francis French, Jeremiah Willits, Jonathan Gifford, John Lochard, James Gaile [sic]
The Stage Road was formally laid out in 1789 when the Burlington County Court of Common Pleas authorized the Burlington County Surveyors of the Highways to survey and the Burlington County Overseers of the Highways… “to clear out fit for public use on or before the first day of October one thousand and seven hundred and ninty nine.” The road was to run from the Providence or “Keith” Line, located at the entrance to the present day “Sea Pirate Campground” on Rt. 9 in West Creek, in a northwesterly direction through Tuckerton, Nugentown, Bass River at Pilgrim Lake and on to Bodine’s Tavern on the banks of the Wading River at Bodine’s Field, south of the old Harrisville ruins on Rt. 679. From there it went through Washington, the Mount, Quaker Bridge and on to Atsion.
The Stage Road has been improved, shifted, and straightened over the years. In the late 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC’s, working out of the CCC Camp off West Greenbush Road in Bass River Township, straightened and graveled the surface from the Ocean-Burlington County line in Giffordtown to Route 679 near the present Timberline Lake Campground. Today, there is still at least one person living in New Gretna who worked on improving the Stage Road during those CCC project days- Benny Allen. He and his father, Harry, walked daily from their home on Adams Lane to report at the CCC Camp where they worked on a variety of projects for a dollar a day.
Today, the only section of roadway that still carries the original name of “Stage Road” leads from Rt. 9 by the Acme shopping center in West Tuckerton westward through Nugentown, through the Bass River State Forrest, and ends in Bass River Township at the inter section of West Stage Road and Rt. 679 (Chatsworth Road). The next part of the original Stage Road is under that part of 679 which runs from the store at Timberline Lake north for approximately a mile. It then appears only as a depression in the woods as it slowly veers off to the west side of Rt. 679 and can only be clearly seen when it occasionally crosses a stream or another old road. When you get to Beaver Run on Rt. 679 the old road can be seen crossing the stream about 30 to 40 yards down stream. The old bulkheads are still visible.http://www.njpinelandsanddownjersey...ntManager_op=viewDocument&JAS_Document_id=154
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"Very little is known about the Mount Tavern on the Tuckerton Road between Washington and Quaker Bridge." Heart of the Pines, pg 747.
"The school building stands off the road, the last structure on the old Tuckerton Stage Road (the Quaker Bridge Road in these parts.)" Heart of the Pines, pg 52 [talking about the Atsion School.]
"There was a tavern located here [Quaker Bridge -ed]overlooking the Batsto River (1808-09 to 1849) that became an important stage coach stop on the Tuckerton Stage Road. It was eventually destroyed by fire."
"Located here at Quaker Bridge overlooking the Batsto River, Tompson's Tavern was an important stage coach stop on the Tuckerton Stage Road. The exact date that it was built cannot be determined. it served as the town meeting place as well as election headquarters prior to 1810. It was eventually destroyed by fire around 1849."
"Many sand roads dating from the eighteenth century still exist in the Pinelands, the most famous being the Tuckerton Stage Road. Three well- known tavern sites are located along this road- Quaker Bridge, Mount, and Washington. "
"The Philadelphia-Tuckerton stage line stopped at Long-a-Coming (now Berlin), Atsion, Quaker Bridge, Mount, and Washington, and on to the Wading River and to Tuckerton. (McPhee 1969:34)"
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In 1849 the Marlton Turnpike company was formed and five toll gates were
built, one at Pine Grove to catch the travel on the Marlton Pike and the
travel coming out of Tuckerton Road.
Prior to the forming of the turnpike company, the Tuckerton Stagecoach
Company used this road. Coaches would start at Cooper's Ferry in Camden
where people in Philadelphia would cross the Delaware River on the ferry
boats, and then the trip by coach to Tuckerton on the Atlantic shore.
After leaving Pine Grove the road was mostly sandy all the way to
Tuckerton. Hotels lined this road at convenient distances apart- at
Ellisburg, Marlton, Flyatt, Hampton Gate, and Washington.
Leaving Cooper's Ferry in the morning and trotting the horses one would
reach Ellisburg-a distance of seven miles in an hour and a half. Another
five miles and Marlton was reached. Allowing for short stopovers at
these two hotels, half of the morning was gone.
After leaving Pine Grove the road was mostly sandy, and the horses came
to a walk. Another ten miles and Flyatt Hotel was reached. It was now
dinner time. The horses had to be fed and watered, and the passengers
went into the hotel for their dinner. After a layover of an hour and a
half, another five miles brought them to Hampton Gate Hotel. Another 10
miles and Washington Hotel was reached. It was now time to put up for
the night.
On the marrow ( in the morning), a drag of 15 miles bought them to Tuckerton. In between was a stopover at Bodine Hotel at Harrisville.
........A History of Evesham Township
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Photos of Road
by Steve Eichinger
Originally the Stage Road was nothing more than an Indian path used in their annual summer migrations from the Camden area through Burlington County to the Tuckerton area on the coast, particularly today’s Osbourne Island. [ Note: See The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968 by John P Snyder for information regarding early Indian trails in New Jersey.] As more and more white settlers began moving into the Little Egg Harbor area, the need for better roads became necessary as plantations and small hamlets emerged throughout the area. The Indian trail was gradually improved into a crude roadway used for wagon and stage travel, and the roadway became known as Stage Road. This article deals with the Stage Road as it runs through the present day Bass River Township.
The earliest documentation I have found concerning the development of Stage Road is found in the January 2, 1779 Little Egg Harbor minutes when they had to rebuild the bridge at Bodine’s Tavern where the Stage Road crossed the Wading River. The roadway must have existed well before 1779 as this notation from the 1779 minutes refers to a “rebuilding” of the bridge.
At a town meeting held at the meeting house in said township (Little Egg Harbour) by an appointment according to law to raise the sum of money for rebuilding a bridge over the Waiding [sic] River. The town by majority of votes allows Henry Woodward for rebuilding the bridge over Waiding [sic] River the sum of one hundred and seven pounds ten shillings Procklamation [sic] money as money now goes.
Also, on March 3. 1779, the Little Egg Harbor minutes contains additional information about improving the recently laid out road.
Likewise was carried by vote that the following persons shall be a committee to examing [sic] the roade [ sic] witch [sic] hath been laide out front the Provence line to Attsion and make what alteration they shall think proper in our township & to cal the surveyors to lay it where they think best and to agree with Joseph Walker on the best terms they can to with draw the cavet of the township is to pay the expence [sic] the committee is at [sic] in altering the roade [sic] withdrawing the cavet & for laying the road out. Francis French, Jeremiah Willits, Jonathan Gifford, John Lochard, James Gaile [sic]
The Stage Road was formally laid out in 1789 when the Burlington County Court of Common Pleas authorized the Burlington County Surveyors of the Highways to survey and the Burlington County Overseers of the Highways… “to clear out fit for public use on or before the first day of October one thousand and seven hundred and ninty nine.” The road was to run from the Providence or “Keith” Line, located at the entrance to the present day “Sea Pirate Campground” on Rt. 9 in West Creek, in a northwesterly direction through Tuckerton, Nugentown, Bass River at Pilgrim Lake and on to Bodine’s Tavern on the banks of the Wading River at Bodine’s Field, south of the old Harrisville ruins on Rt. 679. From there it went through Washington, the Mount, Quaker Bridge and on to Atsion.
The Stage Road has been improved, shifted, and straightened over the years. In the late 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps, the CCC’s, working out of the CCC Camp off West Greenbush Road in Bass River Township, straightened and graveled the surface from the Ocean-Burlington County line in Giffordtown to Route 679 near the present Timberline Lake Campground. Today, there is still at least one person living in New Gretna who worked on improving the Stage Road during those CCC project days- Benny Allen. He and his father, Harry, walked daily from their home on Adams Lane to report at the CCC Camp where they worked on a variety of projects for a dollar a day.
Today, the only section of roadway that still carries the original name of “Stage Road” leads from Rt. 9 by the Acme shopping center in West Tuckerton westward through Nugentown, through the Bass River State Forrest, and ends in Bass River Township at the inter section of West Stage Road and Rt. 679 (Chatsworth Road). The next part of the original Stage Road is under that part of 679 which runs from the store at Timberline Lake north for approximately a mile. It then appears only as a depression in the woods as it slowly veers off to the west side of Rt. 679 and can only be clearly seen when it occasionally crosses a stream or another old road. When you get to Beaver Run on Rt. 679 the old road can be seen crossing the stream about 30 to 40 yards down stream. The old bulkheads are still visible.http://www.njpinelandsanddownjersey...ntManager_op=viewDocument&JAS_Document_id=154
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"Very little is known about the Mount Tavern on the Tuckerton Road between Washington and Quaker Bridge." Heart of the Pines, pg 747.
"The school building stands off the road, the last structure on the old Tuckerton Stage Road (the Quaker Bridge Road in these parts.)" Heart of the Pines, pg 52 [talking about the Atsion School.]
"There was a tavern located here [Quaker Bridge -ed]overlooking the Batsto River (1808-09 to 1849) that became an important stage coach stop on the Tuckerton Stage Road. It was eventually destroyed by fire."
"Located here at Quaker Bridge overlooking the Batsto River, Tompson's Tavern was an important stage coach stop on the Tuckerton Stage Road. The exact date that it was built cannot be determined. it served as the town meeting place as well as election headquarters prior to 1810. It was eventually destroyed by fire around 1849."
"Many sand roads dating from the eighteenth century still exist in the Pinelands, the most famous being the Tuckerton Stage Road. Three well- known tavern sites are located along this road- Quaker Bridge, Mount, and Washington. "
"The Philadelphia-Tuckerton stage line stopped at Long-a-Coming (now Berlin), Atsion, Quaker Bridge, Mount, and Washington, and on to the Wading River and to Tuckerton. (McPhee 1969:34)"
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In 1849 the Marlton Turnpike company was formed and five toll gates were
built, one at Pine Grove to catch the travel on the Marlton Pike and the
travel coming out of Tuckerton Road.
Prior to the forming of the turnpike company, the Tuckerton Stagecoach
Company used this road. Coaches would start at Cooper's Ferry in Camden
where people in Philadelphia would cross the Delaware River on the ferry
boats, and then the trip by coach to Tuckerton on the Atlantic shore.
After leaving Pine Grove the road was mostly sandy all the way to
Tuckerton. Hotels lined this road at convenient distances apart- at
Ellisburg, Marlton, Flyatt, Hampton Gate, and Washington.
Leaving Cooper's Ferry in the morning and trotting the horses one would
reach Ellisburg-a distance of seven miles in an hour and a half. Another
five miles and Marlton was reached. Allowing for short stopovers at
these two hotels, half of the morning was gone.
After leaving Pine Grove the road was mostly sandy, and the horses came
to a walk. Another ten miles and Flyatt Hotel was reached. It was now
dinner time. The horses had to be fed and watered, and the passengers
went into the hotel for their dinner. After a layover of an hour and a
half, another five miles brought them to Hampton Gate Hotel. Another 10
miles and Washington Hotel was reached. It was now time to put up for
the night.
On the marrow ( in the morning), a drag of 15 miles bought them to Tuckerton. In between was a stopover at Bodine Hotel at Harrisville.
........A History of Evesham Township
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Photos of Road
