History of the Ten Villages of Upper Township: Petersburg, Part 2 – Shore News Today

(Editors note: This column is part of an ongoing series on the history of Upper Townships villages. The main sources for this piece was Jean Albrechts A History of Upper Township and Its Villages published in 1989 and H. Stanley Craigs The History of Petersburg, published by Herald Press in Tuckahoe in 1913.)

Joyce van Vorst wrote about the schools in Petersburg:

The first Petersburg school was deeded on Jan. 23, 1814. The money for the building was raised by subscription; each subscriber with a specific number of shares. It was known as The Franklin School and the first teacher was Elias Corson. He taught reading, writing, and arithmetic for a term of two months (48 days) for the sum of $30. He worked a seven-hour day and had to pay his own board. (Obviously no teachers unions existed in 1820.)

The subscribers promised one fourth a cord of wood for each scholar. School commenced on Dec. 28, 1820. The school survived the September 1821 Great Gale (mentioned in the Seaville column) but a new school was built in 1871 not far from the Franklin School, which is now gone. These two schools saw 64 teachers come and go. I wonder why?

In 1952, the modern post-war elementary school was built in Marmora with additions in 1959 and 1963 reflecting the growth of the township. A new middle school was built on Perry Road in 1973 for grades 5-8.

The solitary church in Littleworth was the Wesley Methodist Episcopal Church, later to become the Wesley United Methodist Church. It was first organized in 1831 from a prior congregation that was probably meeting in members homes.

Elias Corson and his wife, Abigail, along with nine other Corsons, the Mickels, Godfreys, and a Mr. Peterson formed the initial group. This incorporated group organized to build a meeting house to be called the Wesley Meeting House.

Preachers were scarce in those days so they preached in what was called a circuit much like judges did at the time, riding by horseback or wagon from church to church. In 1839, the existing circuit was divided and the portion including Tuckahoe, Head of the River, Marshallville, Littleworth, Beesleys Point, and later Seaville became known as The Atlantic Circuit. As van Vorst wrote, the congregation of the Wesley Meeting House increased and a larger building was felt necessary.

In 1853 the building on the site was sold and moved to the adjoining lot and converted to a dwelling. The new church building was built by Peter Corson for $3,200 more than $100,000 in 2017.

By 1867 the circuit was divided yet again, this time including the village of Petersburg (with its new name) Beesleys Point and Seaville known as The Petersburg Circuit. Why the Petersburg Circuit? Well, this time the pastor resided in the Petersburg parsonage, and the circuit was so titled.

Eventually, the Methodist Episcopal and Methodist Protestant churches merged to become the Methodist Church and later they combined with the United Brethren to become the United Methodist Church as they are known today.

In 1967 a Sunday school addition was added with a kitchen and dining area in the basement and a stage and auditorium on the second floor. Today, the Petersburg Methodist Church is a healthy and vibrant church in the township.

According to The History of Petersburg (Craig, 1913), the original railroad in Upper Township ran from Middletown to Cedar Swamp Creek crossing the Dennisville Road about where the Killdeer Hill Road branches off. The route was changed at the insistence of the townspeople.

The Philadelphia and Seashore Railway Co. started construction and in 1891 tracks were laid as far south as Corsons Inlet. In 1892 it was completed to Sea Isle City. That same year, the railroad was sold to the West Jersey Railroad which operated it through 1893, when it was sold to the South Jersey Railroad Company, which later sold it to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company.

In 1894, the Ocean City branch was constructed by Henry D. Moore and by 1897 the Ocean City Railroad ran a branch from Cedar Springs through Palermo (that station is now located at Cold Spring Village) and on to Ocean City.

The Reading Company became the owner of the Ocean City Railroad and the Atlantic City Railroad combined with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1933 to become the PA-Reading Seashore Line.

Thousands of tourists, who became known as Shoobies because they often carried their lunches in shoe boxes, came to the shore communities from Philadelphia and points north for very reasonable fares.

I conclude with a very interesting railroad story. A railroad spur was built in 1917 from Middletown into the Tuckahoe Game Preserve, now called the Lester G. MacNamara Wildlife Management Area. This area was used to store ordinance such as shells and bullets destined for Russia, which was fighting the Germans in World War I and losing badly on the eastern front.

The Russian Revolution broke out in November of 1917, so there was no way at that point that weapons or ammunition would be sent to aid Bolsheviks.

The United States entered the war April 6, 1917, after President Woodrow Wilson asked for a declaration of war following numerous instigations by the Germans.

The majority of the workforce in Upper Township was employed at that time by the Bethlehem Loading Company whose headquarters was in Belcoville, Atlantic County a few miles up Route 50. When off duty, workers frequently spent time in the building that now houses the Tuckahoe Bike Shop and, before that, Ann Porters Store. There was a piano and stage in the very back of the building which was used for showing silent movies. Pianos provided the sound track for many early silent films with music especially created to accompany each film. In addition, events were scheduled for music and dancing.

The Bethlehem Loading Company, a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Company, produced ammunition for the war effort. The munitions factories were set up in South Jersey ostensibly for secrecy. After the Armistice was declared on Nov. 11, 1918, the location was used for the unloading of shells. There is a dynamite shed still on the property, now used for storage, which dates from World War I.

The foundations of these factory buildings can still be seen today on the Route 50 side of Atlantic County Park. There is a sign which indicates the place and nature of the buildings.

Since were commemorating the 100th anniversary of Americas entry into World War I this year it is fitting to talk about the men from Upper Township who served during the war. Perhaps one or more are your ancestors are among that number.

The Aaron Wittkamp Colwell American Legion Post 239 was chartered after the war on Jan. 27, 1920. It was named for the three men from Upper Township who were killed in France in 1918: John D. Aaron, Frank Wittkamp and Theodore R. Colwell. The original charter members of Post 239 were Rolland van Gilder, Fred Hagelgans, William Wayner, Vince DAgostino, Robert Garrett, James Dailey, Riccardo Balzan, Anther Hess, William Tomlin, Earl Fraser, Charles MaCrea, Stanley Gandy, Dominik Detro, Charles Young, Theodore Young, John Young, and Herbert Hand.

One more for the roadHow many of you knew that the Tuckahoe Game Preserve was also used to house German prisoners of war during World War II? The men were trucked out to work on local farms just as they were in POW camps all over the United States. I once met a taxi cab driver in Berlin back in 1972, who was in a POW camp in Louisiana and picked vegetables until the war was over. He had been captured in North Africa and brought here in 1943. His English was excellent!

These POWs in the game preserve were put up in the roughly built wooden barracks that were probably once used by Civilian Conservation Corps workers back in the 1930s, surrounded by a barbed wire enclosure. Some of the buildings are still there in the game preserve now used by the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife.

The POWs were shipped back to Germany when the war was over. Lifelong township resident Jerry Bailey spoke to me about a German pfennig (penny) which is presently owned by a family member and was found back in the area where the German POWs were housed.

I wonder how many German POWs came back to the U.S. after the war? Many did, although we have no idea as to numbers.

When we reach the story of Strathmere, you will be surprised by a story about a German navy captain who watched the Strathmere shoreline from his U-boat during World War II.

Robert Holden taught at the Ocean City Intermediate School for 31 years, retiring in 2006. He is now a senior adjunct professor of history at Atlantic Cape Community College, where he has focused on Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He has traveled to Holocaust sites in Europe, and in China to study The Rape of Nanking and Japanese aggression in the Pacific. In 2009, he received the Axelrod Award for years of teaching and giving presentations about the Holocaust. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Historical Preservation Society of Upper Township and currently serves as the historian. He lives in Upper Township with his wife Janice Breckley Holden.

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History of the Ten Villages of Upper Township: Petersburg, Part 2 - Shore News Today