Tour of historic Mansfield leaves this reporter impressed

Reporter visits Scattergood cave, Hedding General Store

By:David Koch
   One of the great perks of being a reporter is the opportunity to relay the rich histories of local towns to readers.
   Recently I had the pleasure of being invited by Joseph Langowski, principal of the John Hydock Elementary School, to take an historical tour of Mansfield Township given by Marge Case and Marion Tallon, members of the 4H photography club.
   The trip proved fascinating. I never knew how much history was in Mansfield.
   The Mansfield Township that we know today is a growing 22-square mile township trying hard to preserve its rich agricultural history. Mansfield Township is comprises five hamlets (Georgetown, Hedding, Kinkora, Rising Sun Square and Mansfield Square) and the village of Columbus.
   But in 1668, Mansfield and all of South Jersey was a huge forest.
   The only way to travel through this forbidding wilderness was by the area’s many rivers and creeks. That is how Thomas Scattergood, his wife and nine children came into what would centuries later become Mansfield Township.
   Sailing up the Delaware, and up what is today known as Craft’s Creek, this adventurous, English Quaker found a small bluff overlooking the forest and built a small wooden hut for his family.
   Over 300 years later, I joined 14 new teachers at John Hydock Elementary School for a walk down a long dirt road on a humid day to see Mansfield’s first European home.
   What we saw was a far cry from the suburban, cookie-cutter homes being built on the other side of town.
   The original is long gone, given that it was such a temporary dwelling.
   What remains is a plaque from the historical society marking the site of the original Scattergood Cave, and a wooden replica of the cave built by the Historical Society in 1976 that is in such disrepair that it looks as if it were the original.
   Thomas Scattergood was the first resident of Mansfield Township, when he received an official land deed for 500 acres in 1686.
   Slowly, the area around Scattergood’s cave became filled with English Quakers as the ships Kent, Shields, and Flyboat Martha all arrived from England, coming up the Delaware River in the late 1670s.
   One man, Thomas Kirby, was the great-great uncle of Ms. Case’s paternal grandmother, Ceala Kirby.
   Ms. Case’s grandmother, Ceala, grew up on a diary farm, which is now the site of the new Four Seasons at Mapleton Development on Route 68.
   One can still see the old Quaker Meeting House on Route 206. Like many towns throughout Burlington County, such as Burlington, Moorestown, and Mount Holly, Mansfield got its start from Quakers.
   Prevailing attitudes of the day dictated the separation of the sexes and that the men’s side of the house have a wooden stove, whereas the women’s side did not.
   Behind the old meeting house is a cemetery with many of the graves of Mansfield’s first residents.
   You can still see many remnants in Mansfield of an era when most of the nation was agrarian.
   Columbus’s most famous landmark, the Ye Old Columbus Inne, was built in 1882.
   But this has served as an important coach stop from Cooper’s Ferry in Trenton to Philadelphia since the 17th century. An inn has been at the site since 1700, when Columbus was known as Encroaching Corners, and later when the village was known as Black Horse.
   Next to the Columbus Inne further up East Main Street is the abandoned, ivy-covered McIntrye House, where the Lippincott Sisters operated a hat store on the left side of the house during the turn of the century.
   Across the street from the McIntrye House is the Landon House built in the late 1800s. It was once the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Landon, who served as missionaries in Siam (today known as Thailand).
   It surprised me to learn that it was at this house that "Anna and the King of Siam" was written, which later became the basis for the famous musical "King and I."
   I also enjoyed seeing the little general store in Hedding on the corner of Columbus-Kinkora and Old York roads known as the Shreve Store, that looks like a true piece of Americana.
   Inside is a dark and delicate place with glass cases and shelves holding turn of the century wares. Items from stiff collars to breast pumps were displayed there.
   Then there was the abandoned ivy-covered house on Route 206 by the turnpike. This was the Rising Sun Tavern. Here history was made on Dec. 22, 1776, when Col. Joseph Reed wrote a letter to Gen. George Washington warning him not to take his troops through Mansfield because of the presence of 200 Hessian troops.
   Today, the village of Rising Sun is dissected by the New Jersey Turnpike. Its old school house has been toppled to make way for the entrance ramp.
   A school house stood here in 1914, when four schools were built throughout the township and male teachers only earned about $17 a month.
   Then of course, there is the Keeler Oak, the enduring symbol of Mansfield. It’s a white oak on Petticoat Bridge Road in Columbus. The Keeler Oak is 300 years old and was willed by Ms. Keeler to the Township of Mansfield.
   In more ways than one, it’s the symbol of Mansfield. It has seen Hessian and American soldiers pass by it during the American Revolution on their way to Petticoat Bridge.
   "We are trying to remain rural even though you’ll see a lot of development," said Ms. Tallon, who is a member of not only the 4-H Photography Club, but the Mansfield Historical Society and the school board. "I think we’re fighting a winning battle."
   All of the information provided in this story can be found in a book created last year by the local 4-H club called "Now and Then."
   For information call Marge Case, at (609) 291-7079.