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From Historic Roadsides of New Jersey by The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey, 1928
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Cape May was discovered by Sir Henry Hudson in The
Half Moon August 28, 1609. He entered Delaware Bay, subsequently called South Bay and anchored a few miles north
of Cape May Point, spending a day in exploring the Cape.
The original Indian Settlers were called Kechemeches. The
Delaware River was called Whittuck and what is now New
Jersey was Skaakbee or Sheyichbi. Tuckahoe appears to be the
only Indian name surviving in the County.
Cape May County and Cape were named from Cornelius
Jacobsen Mey, who, in 1621, was sent by the Dutch West
India Company in the Good Tidings and explored the coast.
On May 5, 1630, Samuel Godyn and Samuel Blommaert,
exploring for the Dutch West India Company, purchased of the
Indians a tract of land extending four miles along the Bay from
Cape May Point northward and four miles inland. The deed,
recorded on June 3, 1631, is still preserved among the Colonial
records of the State and is the first in the County.
In 1631 David Pieterson de Vries, an eminent Dutch navigator, became the first resident Patroon owner in Cape May
where he engaged in whaling. In 1641, Cape May and nearly
all the Bay Shore north of it, were purchased from the Indians
by Swedish agents.
The first settlement of importance was at New England
Town, also called Town Bank and Cape May Town, about
1685, by whalers from Cape Cod and Southampton, Long
Island.
In a letter dated 1688, Dr. Coxe speaks of having helped
to plant a town at an expense of three thousand pounds for the
development of the whaling industry. This settlement, in addi
tion to names given above, is referred to in the early records as
Portsmouth and as Falmouth. The New England settlers
brought old names with them and it is notable that one of the
founders of New England Town was Captain Ezekial Eldridge,
who came from Falmouth on Cape Cod.
The site of this village on the Bay Shore about four miles
north of the Point, was washed away by the sea prior to the
Revolution. Some of the settlers, notably Hannah Gorham
Whillden, were children or grandchildren of certain Pilgrim
settlers of Plymouth Colony. Their descendants, together with
those of Joseph Whillden, Thomas Leaming, Humphrey
Hughes, Cornelius Schellinger, Samuel Crowell, Thomas Hand,
and Ezekial Eldridge, are still to be found in the County.
New England Town where the first County Court was
held in 1693, was abandoned prior to the Revolution because
of the cessation of the whaling industry and because of the
more permanent settlement, which after 1690 grew up at Cape
Island, the present Cape May City. On May 10, 1692, at the
house of Benjamin Godfrey was held the first Town Meeting
in the County, and the first County Court appears to have
been held here June 16, 1694.
An interesting experiment was attempted by Dr. Daniel
Coxe, who had been physician to the Queen of Charles II, and
to Anne, subsequently Queen. He acquired proprietary rights
in 1688 to 95,000 acres, the larger portion of the County, and
built Coxehall as a centre for a proprietary or manorial system
of government. This existed from 1690 to 1692, when Dr.
Coxe broke up his holdings. The first map of the County based
on survey, appears to have been made by Lewis Morris in
1706, and the first road giving land connections to the north,
through the Cedar Swamps, was completed in 1707.
The County was first organized in 1692 and its limits
definitely determined in 1710.
DENNISVILLE
On entering the County, on the south side
of Dennis Creek, is Dennisville. Founded in 1726 by Anthony
Ludlam.
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE
Surveyed and laid out in 1703
by Jeremiah Hand. First called Rumney Marsh and afterward
Middleton.
Points of interest:
EARLY FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE
In 1741 a brick church was erected on the present site and
was used until burned in 1854. The cemetery, which is adja,
cent, contains the graves of many original pioneers and of their
descendants. The most notable is the grave of Aaron Leaming,
who died August 22, 1780, leaving an estate of one hundred
and eighty-one thousand pounds. He had served his County
thirty years in the Assembly and his diary, together with the
diary of Jacob Spicer, is the chief source of Colonial information for the County.
On road from Court
House to Seaville, just before reaching the latter place. Meeting
organized about 1700 by the Leaming and Townsend families.
Meeting House built in 1716 is well preserved.
COLD SPRING
Cold Spring Presbyterian Church about
three miles northeast of Cape May City. A Presbyterian congregation which met at Coxehall was undoubtedly the nucleus
of the Presbytery constituted in 1714. The church and locality
was named after an icy cold spring near by. First church was a
small log building erected in 1718. On July 2, 1723, the first
Court in the County, of which records are preserved, was held
in this church. The present structure dates from 1823.
The surrounding graveyard is the most interesting in the
County. The oldest grave stone is that of Sarah Spicer, 1742,
mother of Jacob Spicer, whose wealth, real estate speculations,
and political activities are disclosed by an interesting extant
diary. Joseph Whillden, died 1748, son of the pioneer of that
name and a great grandson of John Howland, the Pilgrim of
Plymouth, and his wife, Mary Whillden, 1743, are the next
oldest graves.
The most famous ministers of this church were Reverend
Daniel Lawrence (died 1766, and buried here), the Reverend
Moses Williamson and Reverend Dr. Samuel Finley, who afterward became President of Princeton University.
At Cold Spring was erected, in 1699, the earliest water
mill in the County. It was owned by John Carman.
SCHELLINGER'S LANDING
On Sewell's Inlet at the northern edge of Cape May City. During the Revolutionary War
a base for armed pilot boats and privateers, fitted out in part by
Cape May citizens, for protection of shipping entering the Bay.
CAPE MAY CITY
Formerly known as Cape Island. The
earliest bathing resort along the Atlantic Coast. Mentioned as
such by John Bringhurst in a letter dated 1765 and by numerous advertisements in Philadelphia papers. After boat and rail
connections were established with Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Washington, it was the resort of the early Presidents of the
United States and members of Congress. The early hotels at
which they stopped have been replaced by modern structures.
The name Congress Hall is reminiscent of Cape May's having
been frequently the summer White House and congressional
summer playground.
CAPE MAY POINT
Called Stites Beach until 1876 when
the name was changed to Seagrove. Boston, New York and
Philadelphia newspapers, between 1712,1748, refer to the land
ing and depredations of various Spanish and French privateers
at and near Cape May Point. Captain Kidd known to have
landed here several times. Old tree known as Kidd's Tree stood
near the light-house until about 1893. One of Kidd's landings
here is mentioned in a report of the Lords of Trade to the
Lords Justices under date of August 10, 1669.
LILLY LAKE
Cape May Point. During the Revolution to
prevent use of its fresh water by the British for the supply of
their ships, the patriots dug trenches connecting this lake with
the Ocean, making it salt. Later the trenches were filled in and
in time the water again became fresh.
SITE of COXEHALL
About four miles north of the Point
of the Bay Shore Road. Seat of the first proprietary or manorial
system of land holding. Built about 1690. The cellar of the
old house is still to be seen and it is planned to mark this interesting site. The earliest meetings of Presbyterians and Baptists
appear to have been held here.
Vicinity of NEW ENGLAND TOWN, or TOWN BANK, or
CAPE MAY TOWN, or , or FALMOUTH (above
referred to).
Built on a bluff overlooking Bay about a quarter
of a mile north of Coxeliall. The first permanent inhabitants
of the County came from Cape Cod and Long Island and settled
and conducted their whaling, fishing, and fur industries here.
The earliest known burial ground in the County was here. The
settlement began before 1685 and continued for about
thirty-five years. Due to the encroachment of the sea, the last traces
of the first settlement were washed away by about 1750. (The
Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey plans to
place an appropriate marker at the nearest adjacent point on the
Bay Shore Road).
FISHING CREEK or NORBURY LANDING
Site about 1735
of second oldest mill in the County, a fulling mill for manufacture of homespun cloth. It was owned by Captain Richard
Downs.
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