Map of Little Egg Harbor Township in Ocean County
'Little Egg Harbor Township' is a
Township in
Ocean County,
New Jersey,
United States. As of the
United States 2000 Census, the township population was 15,945.
Little Egg Harbor Township was formed on
February 13,
1740, as 'Egg Harbour Township' from portions of
Northampton Township (now
Mount Holly Township), while the area was still part of
Burlington County. It was incorporated as one of New Jersey's original 104 townships by an Act of the
New Jersey Legislature on
February 21,
1798. While in Burlington County, portions of the township were taken to form
Washington Township (
November 19,
1802) and
Bass River Township (
March 30,
1864). Little Egg Harbor Township became part of Ocean County on
March 30,
1891, after which further portions of the township were annexed to create
Long Beach Township (
March 23,
1899) and
Tuckerton (
February 18,
1901).
["The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 203.]
Mystic Island (2000 Census population of 8,694) is a
census-designated place and
unincorporated area in the southern part of the township. The borough of
Tuckerton is within the township but is politically independent. Little Egg Harbor and Tuckerton share the same ZIP code.
History
Originally part of
Burlington County, Little Egg Harbor took its name from the portion of a bay called Egg Harbor by the
Dutch sailors because of the eggs found in nearby gull nests. The first known account of the town was made by Captain Cornelius Jacobsen May in 1614.
The first man to settle the township was Hanry Jacobs Falkinburg Sr. He arrived a little before 1698 and would trade with the local Native Americans, giving him farmland and plots of land known now as Wills Island and Osborn Island. Later, as Falkinburg could speak fluent
Lenni Lenape, he acted as an interpreter between the Indians and settlers.
In October 1778, the
Little Egg Harbor Massacre took place as
Patrick Ferguson was wreaking havoc on Colonial shipping in the
Mullica River,
Kazimierz Pułaski and his newly raised forces were ordered to oppose his actions. Pulaski's Legion, along with three companies of light infantry, three troops of light horse, and one artillery detachment, came too late to be of great use against Ferguson's operations. But their arrival did stop Ferguson from raiding the iron works at
Batsto, and stemmed their attacks on privateers at The Forks of the Mullica River.
They then set up camp on a farm. A deserter, Lt. Gustav Juliet, found Ferguson and told him of Pulaski's encampment; he mentioned that morale was fairly low, and security almost nonexistent, so that a surprise attack would be devastating. Ferguson promptly loaded 250 of his best men onto boats and rowed them, in the dark, some ten miles (16 km) to Osborne Island. He then marched them a further two miles (3 km) to the site of the infantry outpost, which comprised fifty men a short distance from the main encampment. At first light, Ferguson ordered the attack; only five of his quarry were taken alive. Pulaski eventually led his mounted troops up, causing Ferguson to retreat to his boats minus a few men that had fallen into the colonists' hands. A memorial on Radio Road commemorates the attack.
One of the first recorded ships of the township was a sloop belonging to Thomas Ridgway Sr. John Mathis Sr. also had a ship which his son, Daniel, sailed the West Indian routes. They made a profit from selling clams and oysters.
The
Tuckerton Wireless Tower () was built in 1912 by the German "Hochfrequenzmaschin Aktiengesellschaft Fuer Drachtlose Telegraphie" company (The High Frequency Machine Corporation for Wireless Telegraphy, often referred to as HOMAG) when the present-day
Mystic Island was called Hickory Island. The
tower was used to communicate with an identical radio telegraph station in
Eilvese, Germany starting on 19 Jun 1914, less than two weeks before the
assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. The
station continued to communicate with Eilvese until America entered
World War I on
6 April, 1917. It is rumored that it was used to send the message to order the attack by a German
U-boat on the
RMS Lusitania. After President Wilson's
Declaration of Neutrality, the President
ordered the US Navy to take over the station on
9 Sep 1914 to assure the
neutrality of messages sent to and from the station; however, the station continued to be operated by German nationals employed by HOMAG and continued to communicate only with the
Eilvese radio station. When America entered the war, all U.S. radio stations were seized and shut down by
Executive Order. The
Tuckerton Radio Station was assigned to the US Navy which used it primarily to
back-up the communications of the US Navy's main transatlantic radio station in
New Brunswick, NJ. The remaining German personnel at Tuckerton became war prisoners and were replaced by Navy personnel when the U.S. entered the war. After the war, the
Tuckerton Wireless Station was included in German war reparations paid to America. Shortly afterwards, it was sold to
RCA which operated it until 1948 as a backup to their Radio Central facility in
Rocky Point, New York. In 1921, RCA installed two massive
Alexanderson alternators, which were removed in 1948. For transatlantic communications, The radio station operated under the
call signs WCI and WGG. For coastal communications, after World War I, the station operated under the callsign WSC. The
steel tower, anchored by three large concrete blocks, was taken down on December 27, 1955.
[1] The three huge anchor blocks still exist today, in a backyard on
North Ensign Drive and in the middle of
South Ensign Drive and Storysail Drive. Many smaller anchor blocks providing foundations for
smaller towers visible in this photo, that supported the
umbrella antenna are still visible in the lagoons. Remains of the large tower can be seen in scraps at the
Giffordtown Museum.
Little Egg Harbor today
Little Egg Harbor is growing rapidly, adding 2,500 more residents since the 2000 Census.
Kleiner Group and
Kara Homes are the main developers of the community, with Kleiner building three separate developments since 2001: Holly Lake, Sunrise Bay, and Cranberry Creek. Sunrise Bay and Cranberry Creek are both adult communities and Holly Lake is single family; and Kara Homes building three developments: Winding Run, Hartley Estates, and Waters Edge. Construction of the three developments were temporarily ceased when Kara Homes filed for bankruptcy in 2006.
Major developments in Little Egg Harbor Township include Tall Timbers (Townhomes, Radio Road and Center Street), Atlantis (Single Family Homes, Radio Road and Great Bay Boulevard, also home to Ocean County Golf Course at Atlantis), Holly Lake (Single Family Homes, Radio Road), Holly Lake Park (Single Family Homes and Condos, Oak Lane), Harbourtown Villas & Estates (Townhomes and Single Family Homes, Radio Road), Tavistock (Townhomes, Radio Road and Mathistown Road), Cross Creek (Single Family Homes, Center Street), and many more.
Cranberry Creek also helped the extension of Otis Bog Road, from
U.S. Route 9, to Center Street. Holly Lake and Holly Lake Park are separate communities, Holly Lake Park is the original, and they both share ownership of the same freshwater lake, Holly Lake. The lake contains lots of sunnies and Northern River Otters. The lake drains out to the
Little Egg Harbor and
Barnegat Bay. Another local river from that network is Willis Creek, running through and providing lagoons for the Atlantis Development.
Mystic Island is a master-planned community built in the 1960's with lagoon-front homes. Most of the homes have either been expanded on or torn down then replaced with larger homes, usually set on pilings. The Tuckerton Wireless tower was located here.
Little Egg Harbor Township was in the headlines after the
November 3,
2004,
Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School Bombing when a fighter jet on a training mission from the 113th Wing of the District of Columbia
Air National Guard, based at
Andrews Air Force Base in
Maryland, shot seven bullets into the Intermediate School's roof, and many others into the parking lot. The plane had been on a training mission at the
Warren Grove Gunnery Range, a area about 3½ miles from the school. The coverage was featured on many popular network stations. The school was repaired during the New Jersey Teachers' Convention. Only a few custodians were in the school, and nobody was injured.
[2]
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 189.5
km² (73.2
mi²). 127.2 km² (49.1 mi²) of it is land and 62.3 km² (24.1 mi²) of it (32.90%) is water.
Demographics
As of the
census² of 2000, there were 15,945 people, 6,179 households, and 4,442 families residing in the township. The
population density was 125.4/km² (324.7/mi²). There were 7,931 housing units at an average density of 62.4/km² (161.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 96.22%
White, 0.79%
African American, 0.26%
Native American, 0.60%
Asian, 0.01%
Pacific Islander, 0.98% from
other races, and 1.15% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 3.26% of the population.
There were 6,179 households out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.8% were
married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.1% were non-families. 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the township the population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 6.7% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.8 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $45,628, and the median income for a family was $51,580. Males had a median income of $39,668 versus $29,576 for females. The
per capita income for the township was $20,619. About 4.1% of families and 6.5% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 9.4% of those under age 18 and 3.4% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Local government
Little Egg Harbor operates under the
Township form of New Jersey municipal government. The Township Committee consists of five members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis in partisan elections, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year. Annually, the Township Committee selects one of its members to serve as Mayor, and another as Deputy Mayor, each serving one-year terms.
[3]
The members of the Township Committee are
Mayor Barbara Jo Crea (
R, term ends
December 31,
2007),
Deputy Mayor Scott Stites (R, 2009),
Ray Gormley (R, 2008),
John Kehm, Jr. (R, 2008) and
Arthur Midgley (R, 2009).
[4][5]
Federal, state and county representation
Little Egg Harbor Township is in the Third Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 9th Legislative District.
[6]
Education
Students in public school for grades pre-K through 6 attend the schools of the
Little Egg Harbor Township School District.
George J. Mitchell Elementary School serves 795 students in pre-K through second grade and
Little Egg Harbor Township Intermediate School serves 940 students in grades 3 to 6.
Public school students in grades 7 - 12 attend the schools of the
Pinelands Regional School District, which serves students from
Bass River Township,
Eagleswood Township, Little Egg Harbor Township and
Tuckerton Borough. The district is comprised of the Pinelands Regional Junior High School (1,082 students in grades 7-9) and
Pinelands Regional High School (888 students in grades 10-12). The current combined enrollment is nearly 2,000 students. The student to teacher ratio is 25:1 in the high school, and 22:1 in the middle school.
Transportation
New Jersey Transit provides bus service to
Atlantic City on the
559 route.
[7]
Notable residents
Notable current and former residents of Little Egg harbor Township include:
★
Brian E. Rumpf, has served in the
New Jersey General Assembly since 2003, and has served on the Little Egg Harbor Township Committee, serving as the township's mayor from 2000 - 2003.
[8]
References
1. Tuckerton Community Profile, accessed April 2, 2007. "Just prior to World War I, the German government built the Tuckerton Wireless, a tall tower with the capability of communicating directly with Europe. The tower was operated by German nationals until the entrance of the United States into the war. Local folklore maintains that the message "Get the Lucy" was broadcast from the tower, which resulted in the famous sinking of the Lusitania. The tower was dismantled in 1955. "
2. Little Egg school shot by jet to get 9,000, ''Press of Atlantic City'', November 2, 2006.
3. Little Egg Harbor Township form of Government, Little Egg Harbor Township. Accessed July 5, 2006.
4. Little Egg Harbor Elected Officials as January 1, 2007, Little Egg Harbor Township. Accessed March 29, 2007.
5. 2007 Elected Officials of Ocean County, Ocean County, New Jersey. p. 6. Accessed August 14, 2007.
6. 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters, p. 55. Accessed August 30, 2006.
7. Ocean County Bus/Rail Connections, New Jersey Transit. Accessed July 5, 2007.
8. Assemblyman Rumpf's Legislative Website, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed July 14, 2007.
External links
★
Little Egg Harbor Township website
★
Little Egg Harbor Township School District
★
★
National Center for Education Statistics data for the Little Egg Harbor Township School District
★
Pinelands Regional School District
★
Little Egg Harbor Branch of Ocean County Library
★
Sunset Over the Salt Meadows
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