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towns: camden county this suburban town its character. The township is home to the art-deco, now-shuttered Westmont Theater, opened in 1927 and said to have inspired Steven Spielberg to become a director. The theater is listed on New Jersey’s Register of Historic Places.
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On Saturdays from May to November, the town hosts a farmers market under the PATCO Hi-Speedline, featuring only local produce, baked goods and crafts. In October the town holds a book festival. The American Planning Association selected Haddon Avenue as one of its 10 Great Streets for 2009 “for the way it melds the past with the present.” Collingswood is the first New Jersey community to be cited under the association’s Great Places in America program.
Haddon Township is also home to the Ritz Theatre and the Champion School, Camden County’s first one-room schoolhouse. The township has an active retiree community with several groups including the Senior Citizens Association of Haddon Township.
Much of what is now Collingswood was a farm owned by members of the Collings family during the 18th and 19th centuries. The town has several historic homes, including the StokesLees mansion, located in the 600 block of Lees Avenue, which dates to the 18th century, making it one of the oldest houses in the county.
GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP One of the largest municipalities in the state, Gloucester Township is also one of New Jersey’s oldest towns, incorporated in 1695. The present Township of Gloucester was one of the original townships that comprised Old Gloucester County, and in 1844 it became part of the newly formed County of Camden. Rich in its history and historic sites, the township is home to The Gabreil Daveis Tavern House, located at 4th Avenue in Glendora. The pre-American Revolutionary War tavern was built in 1756, was recently restored and now serves as the township’s historical centerpiece. Betsy Ross eloped across the Delaware River to Gloucester and was married at the tavern in 1773. The ChewPowell House, built in 1688, can be found on Good
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Haddonfield’s annual summer sidewalk sale Intent Road in Blenheim. The well-preserved landmark is listed in both the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.
HADDONFIELD Noted for its historic homes, quaint shops and fine restaurants, Haddonfield is known as a gem in South Jersey suburbia. The borough was founded by Elizabeth Haddon, who sailed from England to the New World in 1701. In 1875, Haddonfield became the first community to cede from Haddon Township and become a self-governing borough. Although the sale of alcohol has been forbidden since 1873, it was at Haddonfield’s Indian King Tavern, built in 1750, where the New Jersey General Assembly met and declared New Jersey a free
and independent state in the winter of 1777. As a legal center for South Jersey, the town houses the offices of more than 390 attorneys. New Jersey Monthly magazine rated Haddonfield as the 33rd best place to live in New Jersey in its 2010 rankings.
HADDON HEIGHTS Haddon Heights is a turn-ofthe-century railroad town founded in 1904. It was originally settled during the Colonial period and the borough still has four preRevolutionary War homes that are occupied. The town was originally laid out in 1890 as a “new town,” a planned community along the railroad line to Atlantic City. It is the only town in South Jersey with its original passenger and freight station, and freight trains still
travel daily through town. Station Avenue serves as the borough’s “main street,” and is lined with an old-fashioned grocery store, various shops and retail outlets and a nice array of coffee shops, luncheonettes and fine dining restaurants.
HADDON TOWNSHIP The Township of Haddon, incorporated in 1865 when it was split off from Newton Township, would divide again over a period of many years to become part of nine other municipalities. These splits would leave Haddon Township with its somewhat irregular, non-contiguous borders that today include the communities of West Collingswood Heights, West Collingswood Extension and Westmont. A unique mix of architectural styles and businesses gives
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At a minuscule 0.2 square miles, Hi-Nella is the smallest borough in Camden County. While it might be small in size, its residents have an enormous amount of pride. The name Hi-Nella is a Native American term that means “high ground,” and the borough’s heritage is reflected in the names of its neighborhood roads, such as Pocahontas, Apache and Minnetonka. Hi-Nella was created by Charles Darling, a land developer who was hired in 1924 to plan the community. The Hi-Nella Shopping Center on Warwick Road offers a central location for retail and other businesses. A new gazebo in the Memorial Field Park on Nokomis Road was completed earlier this year.
LAUREL SPRINGS Diminutive Laurel Springs, “Walt Whitman’s Summer Home,” was once a top summer destination for locals. Laurel Lake, and its reputedly healing waters, was the main attraction and it once boasted two hotels. Most people pass through the borough on the White Horse Pike, where it’s See Page 103