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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2002
Salem-Oakwood Beach-Elsinboro Point; Tilbury Rd., Fort Elfsborg-Salem Rd.
Oiled gravel roadbed; footpath for final 0.5 m.
The road threads through a typical area of Delaware bottomlands, originally marshy but reclaimed long ago with drainage ditches by early colonists. The nearby Delaware River (R) borders many truck and dairy farms
along the route. These fertile fields are the site of the earliest known Swed-
ish colony in New Jersey. Some of the farm homes are survivors of the
later Quaker and English settlements. This area, where there were Dutch
traders and settlers in 1623, Swedes about 1643, and English at about the
same time, did not have a permanent colony until 1675 when Fenwick and
his Quaker associates arrived.
SALEM, 0 m. (16 alt., 8,047 pop.) (see SALEM).
Points of Interest. County Buildings, Alexander Grant House (museum), Old
Law Office, Salem Oak, Bradway House, Friends Meeting House, and others.
Tilbury Rd. branches southwest from State 49 at Salem and follows
Salem Creek.
At 1 m. the road turns L. past the DARKIN HOUSE (private) (R),
a three-story brick structure erected 1720. It carries its years not lightly.
In this vicinity Sir Edward Plowden, erstwhile founder of the Knights of
Albion, unsuccessfully attempted to establish New Albion. Here, too,
Thomas Lutherland, executed in 1693 after a jury trial following a test by
the ancient Law of the Bier, is said to have committed a murder (see SALEM).
At 1.7 m. the road turns L. At the nearby bend (L) stands another
DARKIN HOUSE (private), erected 1740. Like most South Jersey homes of
this period, the Darkin house is essentially Swedish Colonial. The house is
slowly falling into decay.
The road skirts plowed fields and pastures (L) where herds of fine cattle graze. To the R. are Salem Cove and many tidal creeks.
At 2.6 m. the route turns R. into the improved Fort Elfsborg-Salem Rd.
At 3.2 m. (R) is the SALEM COUNTRY CLUB (private). On the waterfront, 100 yds. south of the clubhouse, is the REDROE MORRIS HOUSE
(private), a two-story brick and frame dwelling erected 1688. This is the
earliest known example of the brick and frame combination so widely followed in farmhouse construction throughout the Salem district for more
than a century. The massive oak beams supporting the first floor are 18
inches square; the walls are about 3 feet thick. The building is severely
simple in outline, evidently constructed for permanence and utility.
OAKWOOD BEACH, 3.7 m., a summer colony, faces the Delaware
River. The beach was named for the many huge oaks that once stood here.
Some of these were used at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to build wooden
ships prior to the Civil War.
At 4 m. (R) is FORT ELSINBORO COUNTRY CLUB (6-hole golf course;
greens fee $1).
At 4.1 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to (L) the COL. BENJAMIN HOLMES HOUSE (private), 0.4 m.,
residence of the Salem County militia commander in 1778. The northern section,
with a lower roof, was erected in 175o. British troops burned the interior in 1778
and destroyed the Holmes ferryhouse, which stood nearby.
The COCKED HAT SCHOOL (L), 1.2 m., a tiny one-room structure, got its name
from the defeat of a local politician whose ambitions were "knocked into a cocked
hat" many years ago at an election in this building.
At 2.8 m. is the junction with a dirt road; R. here to the ABEL NICHOLSON
HOUSE (R), 3.2 m. (private), built in 1722. One of the most massive of these early
structures, the house has the rare diamond design and the date of erection woven
into the side walls with glazed bluish brick.
On the northern bank of Alloway Creek is the GEORGE ABBOTT HOUSE (private), 3.8 m., erected c. 1703. Members of the Abbott family were held captive in the
two-and-one-half-story stuccoed brick house on the day of the massacre at Hancock
House (see Tour 29). From a gable window, the family is said to have watched
fugitives escaping across the marsh from Hancock House. On the day after the massacre, a Sunday, the Abbotts were stopped by the British on their way to the meeting in Salem. Extending crimsoned bayonets, the soldiers cried: "Behold the blood of
your countrymen!"
The highway comes to a dead end at 4.6 m., where cars may be
parked. From this point a rough footpath, built upon a dike that holds
back Delaware River tides, leads to ELSINBORO POINT, 5.1 m., the
site of the first Swedish settlement in New Jersey. Swedish colonists built
Fort Elfsborg here in 1643. The river narrows at this point and the Swed-
ish guns were able to force Dutch trading ships to haul down their flags.
So thick were the mosquitoes that the Swedes nicknamed the settlement
Myggenborg, or Mosquito Castle.
There is neither monument nor sign of habitation on the site of the
fort. In summer briars and honeysuckle are plentiful, and there are countless descendants of the original mosquitoes who were the victors in the
Fort Elfsborg siege.
Salem to Elsinboro Point, 5.1 m.
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