Relation of West Jersey and South Jersey
To a very large extent South Jersey
is
West Jersey.
In the common "8 counties" definition of South Jersey (see
Definitions of South Jersey
) all but Ocean County were in the jurisdiction of West Jersey. In fact, the southernmost municipality of what is now Ocean County, (Little Egg Harbor Township),
was
in West Jersey at that time.
West but not South
The West Jersey regions north of Burlington were not thickly settled, the Delaware River was not navigable much past Burlington City and the falls of Trenton area stopped further passage altogether. |
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South but not West
As indicated above, all of today's Ocean County was in East Jersey with the exception of Little Egg Harbor Township (which was transferred from Burlington to Ocean County in 1890). Settlement in this area was even lighter than in the northwest: as late as 1790 the population probably did not exceed 2000 (about 3 percent of the South Jersey population at that time). |
So the history of South Jersey up until 1703 is basically West Jersey history and some of the cultural characteristics of West Jersey's "bedrock" communities persist as a part of South Jersey heritage.
A c2010 project on mapping
what major city people affiliate with most, shows remarkable evidence that the old East Jersey/West Jersey boundary lives on in a de-facto
West Jersey Consciousness
.
Home (westjersey.org)
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This site maintained by
Bob Barnett.
Last updated: 2020 Sixth Month, 17th.
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