Southern New Jersey

Last Update: 12/MAY/2020

Compiled by Pete Payette - ฉ2020 American Forts Network

Camp Kendrick
(Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station)
(Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst)
(1918 - 1919), Lakehurst
An Army Chemical Warfare Service training camp, located adjacent to the future Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Site taken over by the Navy in 1921. This site was previously used as a private enterprise ammunition proving ground under contract with the Russian military in 1915. See also Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

Fort Dix (U.S. Military Reservation)
(Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst)
(1917 - 1996/present), Wrightstown
A National Army cantonment training encampment and demobilization center for the 78th Division. Originally named Camp Dix until 1939. The Army Reserves, National Guard, and the Citizen's Military Training Corps (CMTC) used the camp from 1922 - 1931. Most of the original buildings were removed by 1926. The camp then became a major Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) reception and replacement center from 1933 - 1939. Became a permanent post in 1939, with much new construction for WWII training. Two batteries (eight guns) of 90mm AA guns were temporarily emplaced here in 1955 - 1956. The base was deactivated in 1996, now used by the Army Reserve and the NJ Army National Guard Headquarters. Now a component part of Joint Base McGuire - Dix - Lakehurst. On post since 2007 is the U.S. Army Reserve Mobilization Museum. Public access restricted.

Princeton Barracks
(1758, 1776 - 1777), Princeton
An extant stone house (private property) at 32 Edgehill Street was supposedly used to quarter British officers in early 1758. At the time it was the home of Richard Stockton, a future signer of the Declaration of Independence.

British troops were later quartered in Nassau Hall (built 1756) at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in late 1776 prior to the Battle of Princeton (January 1777). Patriot troops used it afterwards as a hospital and prison.

Princeton Army Ground School
(1917 - 1919), Princeton
An Army Ground School on the Princeton University campus.

Trenton Barracks
(Old Barracks Museum)
(1758 - 1782), Trenton
A 300-man British garrison post. Hessians occupied this building when the Patriots attacked the town the day after Christmas in 1776. Later became a Patriot military hospital. It was sold off in 1792, became a museum in 1903, restored in 1916, and again in 1998. The last remaining intact British barracks in the state. Located adjacent to the New Jersey State House on South Willow Street. Admission fee.

Camp Washington
(1846), Trenton
A training camp for the Mexican-American War, located at "Jackson's Woods", south of Hamilton Ave. and east of Chestnut Ave..

Fort Rawnsley
(1847), Trenton
A recruiting station for the Mexican-American War. Located in a hotel at Warren and Lamberton Streets.

Trenton Civil War Camps
(1860's), Trenton
Camp Bayard was located west of South Broad Street and south of Cass Street.
Camp Halstead was located on the outskirts of town at "Moses' Woods", at West Hanover and Passaic Streets.
Camp Olden was originally located near the city armory, but was moved to Sandtown Road near Pond Run.
Camp Perrine was located by the Old State Prison.
Camp Parker (undetermined location).
Camp Delaware (undetermined location).

Matinicunk Island Fort
(1624 - 1626), Burlington Island
A Dutch palisaded four-gun fort (open in front with a curtain in the rear) built for the protection of French Walloon settlers (two families and eight single men). It was soon abandoned and replaced by Fort Nassau in Gloucester City. Also called Verhulsten Island Fort, or Fort Wilhelmus. This was the first attempted European settlement in present-day New Jersey. It was located on the original southern tip of the island, but the site has been obliterated by modern gravel mining operations (since the 1950's) and is now a lagoon and dredge spoil area. A late 17th-century (1670's or 1680's ?) presumed Dutch trader's house was located on the west side of the island and was excavated in the 1890's.

Burlington Barracks
(1758 - 1780), Burlington
A British 300-man post until captured by Patriots in 1777. It was built very similar to Trenton Barracks. It was used thereafter to quarter Patriot troops and war munitions. Located on East Broad Street near Assiscunk Creek. No longer extant, site now occupied by the Knights of Columbus lodge. The city was one of the two colonial capitals of New Jersey until 1790.

Burlington Cantonment
(1830's ?), Burlington
A temporary Federal post, before the Mexican-American War period.

Camp Cadwallader
(1860's), Beverly
A Civil War training camp.

Camp Ruff
(1860's), Camden
A Civil War training camp.

Fort Nassau
(1626 - 1651), Gloucester City
A Dutch trading post, complete with palisades and battlements. Also known as Fort Eriwonick. It was probably occupied by a British expedition in 1633 when the fort was briefly abandoned by the Dutch. It was finally abandoned shortly after Sweden built Fort Elfsborg downriver. Site probably located near Charles and Water Streets, north of Timber Creek (Verkeerde Kill).

Cold War AAA Defenses of Philadelphia
(1952 - 1958), Camden area
Several permanent sites were established for the Army's Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Gun Site Program, the precursor to the NIKE missile defense program. Four 90mm AA guns were positioned at each site, with troop barracks and other support buildings. Known sites include:
Pennsauken (Jordantown) (1958): at Union Ave. (PH-23).
Cherry Hill (1952 - 1956, 1958): at Cornell Ave. and NJ 70 (Marlton Pike) (PH-29).
Camden (1952 - 1956): undetermined (PH-30).
Bellmawr (1953 - 1957): at East Browning Road (PH-39).

NIKE missile defense sites (1955 - 1974) are beyond the scope of this website.

See also NEW JERSEY NIKE MISSILE SITES by Donald Bender
Woolwich Township NIKE Base from Sites of New Jersey

(See also PENNSYLVANIA page 1)

Fort Mercer
(Red Bank Battlefield Park)
(1776 - 1777, 1778 - 1781), Red Bank
An earthwork fort with 350 yards of outer works. The British (Hessian troops) attempted to capture the fort in October 1777, but were repulsed with heavy losses. It was then later abandoned when the main British force returned in November 1777 and landed nearby, after Fort Mifflin, across the Delaware River, had already fallen. It was not used by the British to defend occupied Philadelphia. Patriot forces gained it back in 1778 and rebuilt it. Stone monument erected in 1906. Remnants of the earthworks still remain. Also located here is the extant Whitall House (1748), which was used as a hospital after the Battle of Red Bank. See also Red Bank Battlefield Park from Gloucester County History and Genealogy
Sites of New Jersey

A "Fourth System" coastal battery was planned here in 1872 on the Red Bank Military Reservation (1872 - 1904). Nothing was ever built.

Woodbury Island Battery
(1777), National Park
A Patriot two-gun battery on an island that once existed at the mouth of Woodbury Creek. Also known as Bush Island Battery.

Camp Stockton
(1860's), Woodbury
A Civil War training camp.

Fort Billings
(Fort Billings Park)
(1776 - 1777, 1779 - 1781), Billingsport
Also known as Billingsport Redoubt. It protected the chevaux-de-frise set across the river. It was a 15-acre square earthwork with four corner bastions. It had barracks, Officers' quarters, and a bakehouse. The British captured this Patriot defense in October 1777 and destroyed it. The British later built a two-gun redoubt. After the British left Philadelphia in 1778, the Patriots rebuilt the fort. Located about one and one-half mile below Mantua Creek, the site is now an oil tank farm. The actual parcel of the fort site, adjacent to Lincoln Park, has not yet been developed and will be preserved as Fort Billings Park. An excavation was planned in 2008, but was denied by the refinery owners. There are several stone monuments on the site. Located at Clonmell Road and North Delaware Street.

On the eastern-side of Mantua Creek about 800 yards from the mouth (near the end of present-day Leonard Lane) was the Patriot two-gun earthwork Mantua (Creek) Battery (1777) (no remains).

Fort Elfsborg
(1643 - 1651), near Oakwood Beach
A Swedish three-cornered earthen redoubt with eight guns. Also known as Fort Elsinburgh. Nicknamed Myggenborgh (Mosquito Castle) because of the swarms of mosquitos and gnats. The Swedes burned down the fort after the Dutch built Fort Casimir across the river. The actual site is now under water at Elsinboro Point. A black stone monument (from Sweden) was dedicated in 2004 at the Elsinboro Township School.

Salem Creek Fort
(1630's), near Salem
A small Puritan (Connecticut) traders' blockhouse was built on Salem Creek before they were ousted by the Dutch. Exact location undetermined.

คค HARBOR DEFENSES of DELAWARE BAY (partial)
Harbor Defense of the Delaware - FORT WIKI

คค Fort Mott (State Park)
(NJ Coastal Heritage Trail)
(1872 - 1943), Finns Point
This post was formally named at the end of 1897. Battery at Finns Point was first located here in 1872. Only two gun emplacements and five magazines in the mortar battery were completed before construction was halted. Two magazines remain, and were used again during the Endicott period. Several guns were mounted on temporary platforms in the 1880's. The Peace Magazine was built in 1904. Seacoast batteries here are the combined Battery Arnold (1899 - 1943) and Battery Harker (1899 - 1941), Battery Gregg (1901 - 1910), Battery Krayenbuhl (1900 - 1918), and Battery Edwards (1902 - 1920). Observation stations were later installed in the gun emplacements on Batteries Krayenbuhl and Gregg. Battery Edwards' casemates were constructed from two of the original 1872 magazines. Two old steel observation towers are located on post. The one by the river was built in 1902, and the one by the park office was built in 1903. The fort was on caretaker status beginning in 1922. Three of Battery Harker's guns were sold to Canada in 1941. Two of those still remain at Fort Cape Spear in Newfoundland. The other was sent to Fort Pr้vel in Qu้bec. Eleven of the Officers' Quarters were moved across the river to Fort DuPont in 1932. The state park was formed in 1947, with the remaining portion of the reservation becoming the Killcohook State Wildlife Area. Also here is the Delsea Region visitor center for the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail. Two batteries (eight guns) of 90mm AA guns were temporarily emplaced here in 1955 - 1956.

Nearby is the Finns Point National Cemetery, where many of the Confederate POWs from Fort Delaware were buried.

คค Cape May Military Reservation
(Cape May Point State Park)
(1917 - 1919, 1941 - 1948), Cape May
Batteries here are Battery 223 (1944 - 1947), Anti Motor Torpedo Boat Battery 7 (1943 - 1946) washed away in 1973, and an unnamed battery (1917 - 1919) of one 6-inch gun (destroyed) on Beach Ave. near the old Coast Guard Station. There was also an unnamed WWII battery of four 155mm guns on Panama mounts which also washed away in the 1970's. A beach restoration project in 2005 restored Battery 223 to the shore, but permanently buried in the process the two gun blocks and the remains of the Panama mounts.
The Cape May Lighthouse was erected in 1859, replacing earlier lighthouses from 1824 and 1847. A WWII fire-control tower is located on Sunset Beach (restored and opened to the public in 2009), and another is near the lighthouse, built into the Grand Hotel in the early 1970's. Additional fire-control towers were once located at Wildwood Crest (in the block bounded by Syracuse, Seaview, Denver, and Atlantic Aves.) and North Wildwood (on Third Ave. between Surf and Ocean Aves.) (both demolished before 2000).

คค ALSO: A two-gun anti-aircraft battery (3-inch) (1918) was built at the DuPont Company plant at Thompson's Point near Gibbstown, and two two-gun AA batteries (3-inch) (1918) were built at DuPont's Carney's Point plant. Another two-gun AA battery (3-inch) (1918) was built at the Cities Services Oil Company (CITGO) on Petty Island near Camden, although no guns were ever mounted. See also Petty's Island Preserve from NJ Audubon Society

Camp Wissahickon
(1917 - 1919), Cape May
A U.S. Navy WWI recruit training camp located between Spicer Creek and Lafayette Street, at the terminus of the present-day Garden State Parkway. Also known officially as Cape May Naval Training Station. About 30 barracks and several concrete ammunition magazines were built, and more than 8000 sailors and marines were trained here before the war's end. No remains except for at least one remaining bunker.

Camp Belleplain
(1942 - 1943), Belleplain
A WWII coastal defense shore patrol base camp for Company F, and detachment Company H, 2nd Battalion, 113th Infantry Regiment, from February 1942 to September 1943. Exact location undetermined. Some elements of the combat team may have also been located in nearby Woodbine. This group was previously assigned to a temporary camp at Cold Spring from December 18, 1941 to February 1942. This group patroled the beaches between Cape May and Atlantic City, with liaison outposts (after February 1943) at the Coast Guard Stations at Cape May Point, Wildwood Crest, Avalon, Townsends Inlet, Ocean City, Margate City, and Brigantine. The South Jersey local sector base camp was relocated to Tuckahoe on September 20, 1943 (location undetermined), and the troops were withdrawn sometime after November 1943 (before January 1944 at the latest).

Palermo Radar Station
(1942 - 1945), Palermo
A WWII anti-aircraft spotting station and an SCR-271 early warning air defense radar was located at the former Palermo Air Force Station on the east side of US 9. No remains, area now developed with condos.

In 1948 the Air Force activated an AN/TPS-1B Lashup search radar here (site L-13). In 1951 AN/CPS-5 and AN/TPS-10A height-finder radars were added to the site, now designated P-54. By April 1952 the 770th AC&W Squadron was operating AN/CPS-4 and AN/FPS-3 sets. In the spring of 1957, this site was one of the first to deploy an AN/FPS-20 search radar. The site also received two AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars at this time. In October 1961 the 770th Radar Squadron (SAGE) left. Plans to convert the Palermo site to a gap-filler annex were cancelled following the loss of Texas Tower No. 4 in January 1961. The AN/FPS-20 search radar was retained, operated by Detachment 1 of the New York Air Defense Sector. This unit was redesignated the 680th Radar Squadron (SAGE) in 1962, and the site designation changed in 1963 to Z-54. In 1963 the AN/FPS-20 was upgraded into an AN/FPS-65. In 1968 one AN/FPS-6 height-finder radar was retired. Radar operations ceased in March 1970, and the 680th Radar Squadron was deactivated in May 1970. The GATR site (R-28) remained in use until 1976.

Amatol Arsenal
(1918 - 1923), Magnolia
A subsidized munitions loading plant (Amatol) on 6000 acres, operated by Atlantic Loading Company, originally named Camp Amatol until 1919 when taken over by the Army's Ordnance Dept.. It's primary purpose after the war was to be an ordnance storage depot. The townsite for the workers was located about two miles west from the plant for safety purposes. No remains, the two sites have reverted to woodland. The only extant structure is the former state police barracks on the White Horse Pike (US 30), located between Hammonton and Elwood. The old Atlantic City Speedway was built here in 1926, closed in 1928. About 1700 acres of the former post are now managed by the state as the Hammonton Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Fort Fox Burrows
(1776 - 1778), near Port Republic
A Patriot earthwork fort located on Chestnut Neck on the Mullica River, built to protect the Batsto Ironworks and a privateering base in Great Bay. Also known as Chestnut Neck Fort. It was never actually armed, and was destroyed by the British in a 1778 raid.

Northern New Jersey - page 1

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