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Little Egg Harbor |
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Little Egg Harbor |
Originally a part of Burlington County, Little Egg Harbor Township was one
of Burlington?s original townships. Taking its name from the portion of
the bay called Egg Harbor by sailors because of the great quantities of
gull eggs found there, Little Egg had its share of the privateers,
smugglers, pirates and other ruffians that were part of early Jersey
shore history.
According to "South Jersey Towns," by William McMahon, Henry Jacobs Falkinburg Sr. was the first white man to settle in the township. He arrived sometime prior to 1698 and began trading merchandise with the local Indians, thus getting him control of what are now know as Osborn and Wills islands and a number of farmlands. Later, Falkinburg, who could speak fluent Lenni Lenape acted as an interpreter between the Indians and settlers in the area.
Early settlers in Little Egg, who did not farm began building boats, getting timber from the surrounding forests for hulls. One of the first recorded ships built in the township was a sloop belonging to Thomas Ridgeway Sr. John Mathis also owned a ship, commanded by his son Daniel, which sailed the West Indies routes.
The gathering of clams and oysters was also profitable, and it wasn't long before Philadelphians and New Yorkers were dining on shellfish harvested by Little Egg's baymen.
Little Egg eventually broke from Burlington and became part of Ocean County, and the Tuckerton section of Little Egg became an entity unto itself. Little Egg is famous for two historic sites: the Pulaski monument marking the where Count Kasimer Pulaski's troops were attacked by British raiders during the Revolutionary War, and the location of the former Great Tuckerton Wireless tower, an 865 foot structure built by a German company in 1910 and one of the first to broadcast trans-Atlantic radio signals to Europe.
Today, Little Egg Harbor Township surrounds Tuckerton on three sides with a land area of 45 square miles. It includes sections known as West Tuckerton, Parkertown, Osborn Island, Mystic Island and part of Warren Grove, which is nestled in the famous Jersey Pine Barrens.
The township has an elementary school and intermediate school and is home to Pinelands Regional High School and Middle School, which also accept students from Tuckerton, Eagleswood and New Gretna.
Dan Campbell, Chairman of the Lettle Egg Harbor Planning Board, may be reached via e-mail at 75310.3017@Compuserve.com
Mayor John Adair, Deputy Mayor Michael Dorne, Committeewoman Margaret DePergola, and committeemen Ricco Gelmetti and Chuck Ruoff make up the Township Committee. Township Clerk Betty Allen can be reached at (609) 296-7241.
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