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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 2003
Mullica Hill-Pittsgrove-Bridgeton; State 46.
State 46 crosses sparsely settled, slightly rolling country dotted with
scrub timber, orchards, and many well-kept farms, including the largest,
most modern farm in the State. The few communities along the road date
back to Colonial times. There are wooded and cut-over sections in which
laurel grows profusely.
State 46 branches south from State 45 (see Tour 28) on the southern
edge of MULLICA HILL, 0 m. (114 alt., 710 pop.) (see Tour 28).
Wide fields, producing a major part of the truck and vegetables grown
in the region, border both sides of the road, and orchards grow to the
edge of the winding highway. Small cemeteries are often encircled by
ancient, red brick walls overgrown with ivy and other vines.
At 5 m. State 46 crosses Oldman's Creek. Swedish settlers lived here,
when it was known as Alderman's Creek, before the English conquest in
1664. Fruit trees bloom here during late April and early May; Gloucester
and Cumberland Counties arrange tours and post the highways for their
Blossom Festival.
WHIG LANE, 6.6 m., with a crossroads corner with one store, now
closed, and two nearby houses, recalls the division of sentiment in
south New Jersey during the Revolution. On the 2-mile road from which
the settlement takes its name lived few people, but these were vigorous
partisans of opposing causes, and each side strove to express and perpetuate
its political faith in the naming of the road. One section was for a time
called Tory Lane, but with Washington's increasing victories the Tories
lost their name. The road has a few houses suggestive of Revolutionary
times.
At PITTSGROVE, 8.5 m. (140 alt., 212 pop.) (see Tour 24), is the
junction with US 40 (see Tour 24).
High tension lines of the Atlantic City Electric and Gas. Co. cross high
over the road at 10.8 m. Just south (R) is the SAMUEL SWING HOUSE
(private), built of local brick. The end of the house facing the road has
the letters " SSS," the date "1775," and some decorative flourishes worked
into the wall in white brick. The markings are for Samuel and Sarah
Swing, who erected the house.
Throughout the countryside are many homes erected in the 1700's, all
of Dutch and Swedish Colonial types of architecture, altered in varying
degree by each builder.
SHIRLEY, 11.8 m. (14.3 alt.), consisting of a store and several houses,
is the center of an important potato-growing district. Once known as
Swing's Corners for the Swing family, early settlers, the town adopted its
present name when a post office was established. Charlotte Bronte was at
the peak of her popularity at the time, and the wife of the newly appointed postmaster suggested that Shirley, heroine of Miss Bronte's latest
novel, be honored in naming the place. The post office was closed years
ago.
Farms devoted to dairying, grain, and potatoes are spread on both sides
of the highway. Beyond weather-worn snake fences of chestnut rails, mod-
ern tractors haul plows.
At 14.3 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road to PALATINE LAKE, 3.5 m. (private), considered one of the
best spots in south New Jersey for black-bass fishing. The lake and picnic grounds
are popular for Sunday-school picnics.
At 14.5 m. is the junction with the Friesburg dirt road.
Right on this road to (R) the JOSEPH SNEATHEN HOUSE, 1.5 m. (private), a
fine example of Colonial architecture. Built of brown Jersey sandstone interlaced
with white lines of mortar, the two-and-one-half-story building has the initials of
the builder and his wife, Rachel, and the date 1765 woven into the brickwork of
the east gable. A few feet above the ground in the rear of the east wall is a cement-covered opening, once the outside door of an oven built within the fireplace in the
kitchen. Tradition has it that the hole was walled up to prevent neighboring Indians
from stealing bread and other food from the oven. The house stands on the banks
of a stream, near a millrace that once provided power for a gristmill. Before
Sneathen died he offered freedom to two of his slaves if they would dig a new
raceway to the mill. The slaves dug the raceway but declined the offer of freedom.
DEERFIELD, 15.2 m. (120 alt., 717 pop.), shipping point for the
summer potato crop, was once an important marketing center. The village
was settled in 1732 by colonists from nearby Greenwich and Fairfield. According to local tradition, the original cost of 1,000 acres here was 10
shillings an acre. Settlers protested at the exorbitant price, and the community consequently acquired the name of Deerfield. The post office is called
Deerfield Street.
Right from Deerfield on Deerfield Pike to the delightful DEERFIELD STONE
CHURCH, 0.5 m., erected 1771 of native sandstone. This Presbyterian structure has
been used every Sunday since its erection. Although little changed outwardly, the
interior has been modernized several times.
At 15.2 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road is SEELEY, 2.7 m. On the shore of SEELEY LAKE (R) stood
what is said to have been the largest gristmill and flourmill in south New Jersey.
There are ruins of the undershot waterwheel and sections of old grinding stones at
the dam and spillway. The SEELEY MANOR HOUSE (private), a two-story frame
structure built in 1780, is a fine Georgian Colonial dwelling. A wing has been
added on each end. The structure was the manor house of Josiah Seeley, who built
his mill by the nearby lake. The property was acquired by Seabrook Farms (see
below) when the corporation bought all of Seeley village to acquire water rights.
It has recently been sold to a private owner. The house has its original walnut
paneling, hand-made hardware, and wide, butressed oak doars.
State 46 swings L. and runs through open farm country. At 15.8 m. is
KOSTER'S NURSERY, which specializes in boxwood and rhododendron.
Koster's blue spruce, a hardy, silvery-blue variety used extensively in land-
scape planting near salt water, was originated here. The nursery is a unit of
Seabrook Farms (see below).
At 15.9 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Left on this road to the SEABROOK BULB GARDENS, 0.5 m., with the largest
planting of narcissus and tulip bulbs in New Jersey. When the flowers are in full
bloom thousands of people are attracted to the several hundred brightly colored
acres.
SEABROOK FARMS, 17 m., is the largest single farm in the State, covering 9 square miles of fine soil on both sides of the highway. The annual
crops of peas, beans, asparagus, and other vegetables are produced by mod-
ern industrial techniques applied to farming.
Seabrook Farms includes over 6,000 cultivated acres, 30 miles of improved roads, railroad facilities for the simultaneous loading of 30 cars,
and a packing plant. Water for overhead irrigation of 250 acres is electrically pumped from three artificial lakes, making it possible to plant peas
in rows only 7 inches apart.
The farm hands as well as the girls in the packing plant (more than
2,000 are employed during the busy season) punch a time clock; every
item of cost and revenue is recorded and analyzed under the most up-to-date bookkeeping system; and an efficiency engineer is constantly at work
on methods to improve production and reduce costs.
In April, 1934, Seabrook employees formed an independent union,
which succeeded in having the 12 1/2- or 15-cent hourly wages doubled.
Later that summer the workers, led by Donald Henderson, a Columbia
University instructor, again went on strike. The strikers lost their union
recognition although wages were not reduced. The corporation has since
abandoned its policy of employing migratory workers, who were housed in
small frame shanties. Local residents are now preferred.
Diesel-engined caterpillar tractors plow, disc, and pulverize the rich
soil. Instead of being picked by hand, the peas, one of the most important
crops, are harvested, vines and all, with mowing machines. The vines are
hauled by truck to large viners that separate and shell the peas. Afterward
the vines are returned to the field as fertilizer.
The pea harvesting is completed before July 1, and the fields are
promptly replanted with bush lima beans. The same culture and harvesting methods are followed.
In the packing plant the peas are graded by sizes with the aid of
rotary sieves; then they are washed, steamed to a semicooked stage, packed
in cardboard containers, and frozen solidly by refrigerating apparatus that
maintains temperatures well below zero. A fleet of specially built trucks.
also with refrigeration at the zero mark, carries the peas to market. Ninety
per cent of the peas, lima beans, asparagus, and spinach grown at Seabrook
Farms is frozen. The company also buys from neighboring farmers over a
large area.
Orchards and farm crops are sprayed and dusted against insects and
other pests. Airplanes flying near the ground scatter insecticides. The
"dawn patrol" of six planes attracts many summer visitors.
An imposing feature of Seabrook Farms is the great array of green-
houses, each 300 by 60 feet. The soil is plowed by two-horse teams driven
through the greenhouses. In the winter, roses, flowering bulbs, and radishes are grown. Tomato and pepper plants are started in the greenhouses
and are later transplanted to open ground. Cucumber, squash, and lettuce
are also grown under glass.
At 19.7 m. is CARLLS CORNER, the southern limit of Seabrook Farms.
RADIO STATION WSNJ (L) tells its story in its call letters: it serves southern New Jersey.
BRIDGETON, 22.5 m. (50 alt., 15,699 pop.) (see Tour 29), is at the
junction with State 49 (see Tour 29).
Mullica Hill to Bridgeton, 22.5 m.
The Jersey Central R.R. parallels the highway between Deerfield and Bridgeton
Tourist homes and other accommodations.
Hard-surfaced roadbed throughout, partly concrete.
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