Cumberland County Historical Society

06/11/2026

Hello Beautiful People! Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Gibbon house will not be open today. Sorry for the inconvenience.

06/11/2026

Following WWI, in Bridgeton, the Patriotic Order of Sons of American (POSA) planted trees to honor the dead from Cumberland County. In addition to these trees POSA also crafted a monument to honor fallen soldiers from WWI. The monument is a Gothic arch with a canopy, and the plaque is mounted on an irregular shaped stone slab. The plaque lists the names of soldiers lost in WWI from Cumberland County. In Bridgeton another monument was created to honor fallen soldiers from WWI. At Pearl Street School, there was a metal plaque on the school that said “In memory of Pearl Street School students who gave their lives in the World War 1914-1918.” However, Pearl Street Elementary School was demolished. In order to keep the plaque and commemorate lives lost in WWI, they moved the plaque onto a concrete slab in front of the POSA WWI monument.

Source:
“NJ WWI Related Locations .” World War I Centennial. Accessed March 10, 2026. https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/nj-wwi-related-locations.html?perso_id=10&tmpl=component&start=200.

06/09/2026

06/09/2026

Let them eat cake! Or let you eat cake! Either way join us for a celebration 250 years in the making!

06/09/2026

The Bridgeton Hospital opened in 1898 to serve its community. The hospital was a community funded institution. It housed a School of Nursing and hosted many dinner banquets to promote and fundraise for the hospital as it functioned largely on donations. In 1986, the Bridgeton Hospital merged with the Millville Hospital to create the South Jersey Hospital System. In 2004, it was consolidated into the Inspira Health Network where it began to focus on behavioral health, outpatient care services, and emergency care. The operations of the hospital have slowed over time as it is not as large of a hospital as the other hospitals in the Inspiria Health Network.

Sources:
Simoes, Kristine M. “A Public Relations Plan for a Merger between South Jersey Hospital System and Elmer Community Hospital.” Rowan University Digital Works, April 15, 1995. https://rdw.rowan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3242&context=etd.
“Acute Care Founding Dates.” The New Jersey Hospital Association. Accessed January 27, 2026. https://www.njha.com/about-njha/njha-100-to-health/acute-care-founding-dates/.

06/07/2026

Sea Breeze was established as a resort in 1877 to cater to steamboat passengers from Wilmington and Philadelphia. A popular hotel in Sea Breeze was the Warner House, which was known for its seafood, accommodated several hundred guests. The Warner House burned down in 1890. Besides the notable hotel, Sea Breeze also had a boardwalk, bowling alley, and billiards room. In twenty five years, however, the prominence of Sea Breeze began to fade due to trains making the Atlantic coast more accessible in the late nineteenth century. People remained in the town, despite the drop in tourism. Harry Griffith, bootlegger, salvager, and riverboat pilot, in 1929, erected a marina in Sea Breeze. This marina was a rowboat rental and bait shack at first, but Griffith grew his business and it became the Sea Breeze Tavern. His tavern remained in operation until 1986, when portions of the tavern washed into the bay due to Hurricane Gloria. The following year in 1987, the tavern was sold and then demolished. Sea Breeze is no longer the resort it used to be, but it still has remnants of the boardwalk and piers and a few houses.

Source:
“Historic Themes and Resources within the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route Southern New Jersey and the Delaware Bay: Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem Counties.” National Park Service, March 14, 2005. https://npshistory.com/publications/new-jersey/historic-themes-resources/chap9.htm.

06/05/2026

Shore towns have been a staple attraction in New Jersey for centuries, and one in Cumberland County took on prominence by the late nineteenth century. Fortescue “the weakfish capital of the world” became a popular destination along the Delaware Bay, and became a spot for people from Philadelphia to frequent without having to travel all the way to Cape May to experience the beach. The settlement of Fortescue began in 1776 with John Fortescue, the namesake of the town, which was mainly a fishing resort. It is currently unknown when the first hotel was built in Fortescue, but it is believed the first one was a county tavern that had an unobstructed view of the ocean. By 1884 and 1885, the Fortescue Hotel and Wharf and Beach appeared on maps of Fortescue and remained a staple until the mid twentieth century.

Source:
“Historic Themes and Resources within the New Jersey Coastal Heritage Trail Route Southern New Jersey and the Delaware Bay: Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem Counties.” National Park Service, March 14, 2005. https://npshistory.com/publications/new-jersey/historic-themes-resources/chap9.htm.

06/03/2026

Working hard on putting together our new Museum of Native Heritage in Greenwich, NJ! We’ve still got a long way to go (installing cases, transporting artifacts, and curating exhibits are some of the items on our to-do list!) but our MNH staff has been steadily getting things together. Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes content!

06/03/2026

Charles K Landis entered law school at 15 and started his own practice at 19. However, Landis soon realized that he wanted to work in real estate. He began his real estate career with the development of Vineland in 1861 with the dream of creating a utopian society. Landis purchased 22,000 acres from Richard D. Wood, and eventually bought more until he owned 32,000 acres. He brought in German immigrants and black residents to help set up Vineland and paid them a dollar a day. Landis advertised for people to come to Vineland across the country and in Europe. People quickly settled Vineland and remained tavern free and driven by industry. Landis ended up marrying the daughter of Captain Richard Meade, Clara F. Meade in 1868. Their marriage lasted eight years, and their firstborn son, Henry Miegs Landis, died at a young age. They also had three other children Charles Kline Landis, born 1871, Richard Worsen Meade Landis, born 1873, and James Montivert Waterbury Meade Landis, born 1875. By 1875, Landis had his sons, his wife, and a blossoming town with 20 schools, multiple post offices, and connection to the railways. Beyond his real estate business, he faced backlash from the editor and publisher of The Vineland Independent, Uri Carruth. Carruth published that Landis wanted to commit his wife Clara to an insane asylum. Landis walked into Carruth’s office with the news article in his hand and shot Carruth in the head on March 18. Carruth did not die immediately from his injury, but rather experienced blindness and constant pain until he passed away seven months later due to abscess surrounding the wound. Landis’ murder trial was held in Bridgeton and was a major spectacle for the time. The jury found Landis not guilty by reason of insanity following the testimonies of his employees, doctor, and sheriff who detailed his erratic and uncommon behavior leading up to the shooting. Clara and Charles divorced and his sister Matilda Landis would go on to raise his sons, and Clara married a German nobleman. Following the trial, Landis set his sights on a new real estate opportunity on Ludlam Island in 1879, now called Sea Isle City. Charles K. Landis died in 1900 and in his will left his estate to his sister Matilda.

Source:
Falkner, Mirna. “Charles K. Landis.” Cumberland County NJ. Accessed May 12, 2026. https://www.cumberlandcountynj.gov/Charles-K-Landis.
“The Complex Life of Charles K. Landis.” Atlantic City Weekly, August 17, 2017. https://atlanticcityweekly.com/the-complex-life-of-charles-k-landis/article_ab932703-da12-5ee7-aa26-a1c425eb347d.html.

06/01/2026

Happening THIS WEEKEND!