Cumberland County Historical Society

10/18/2026

Tickets are still available for our Ghosts, Graves, & Greate Stories walking tour on October 31st! Join us for haunts and history, and end the night with a bonfire and refreshments. $10/person or $5/kids 12 and under!
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/ghosts-graves-and-greate-stories

The Cumberland County Historical Society invites you to celebrate Halloween 2026 with TWO events!

1. Trick-or-Treat on Ye Greate Street, 4 PM - 7 PM:
During Cumberland County’s trick-or-treating hours, visit our multiple historic sites and museums for tours and treats! (This includes Potter’s Tavern in Bridgeton, NJ, which will be open from 3 PM - 6 PM)

2. Ghosts, Graves, & Greate Stories, 7:30 PM - 9 PM:
Done trick-or-treating but don’t want the festivities to end? Join CCHS for a haunted history walking tour down Ye Greate Street full of stories, scares, and seasonal refreshments (while supplies last)! Be sure to bring a flashlight and comfortable walking shoes!
Tickets are required for the walking tour, and can be purchased by scanning the QR code, or paid by check (mailed to CCHS) or cash (delivered in person).

If you have any questions, call us at (856) 455-8580 !

10/14/2026

These portraits of Adrien Ogden and Eleanor Dubois Ogden are in Potter’s Tavern. Adrien worked at the Old Bridgeton Courthouse, which was next to Potter’s Tavern. There is also a portrait of Jane Potter Bowen, who was the wife of Matthew Potter, owner of Potter’s Tavern. The other portrait is of her son Smith Bowen, Jane’s son from a previous marriage. Smith Bowen was the stepson of Matthew Potter. Portraits were an integral part of proving your social and economic status in colonial times. Whereas we view portraits today for their aesthetic value, portraits were made for the purpose to promote one's own image of success, refinement, and affluence. The middle class was beginning to take shape leading up to the American Revolution, so these status symbols were important to the proud middle class individual in order to showcase their own wealth to those in the class below and above them. Middle class individuals were mainly visible through their possessions, so having a portrait commissioned truly separated one from the lower class and attempted to grasp the social status of the upper class. In Boston, which was one of the most affluent cities in colonial America, it is believed that only one percent of their population could afford to have a portrait commissioned. The portraits at Potter’s Tavern showcase the wealth of these families, and highlights the impact that portraits have aesthetically to us today as well as functionally to the portrait sitters in the colonial era.

Source:
Haulman, Kate. “History in Context: Portraits and Perspectives.” NBMAA. Accessed September 29, 2026. https://nbmaa.org/portraits-perspectives.

10/11/2026

The Wood Family would reside in the Gibbon house for nearly two hundred years after Grant Gibbon sold the house to Richard Wood in 1758. The Wood Family’s life in the house would be deeply affected by the emerging republic and new nation forming in front of their eyes. The Early Republic was a uniquely important period in American history because it transformed the ideals of the Revolution into the foundations of a functioning national government while simultaneously revealing the deep contradictions within those ideals. Beginning with the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, Americans entered largely uncharted political territory as they attempted to create a republic capable of governing a large and geographically dispersed population. George Washington and the leaders who followed him established many of the political traditions and institutions that continue to shape the United States, including the presidency, political parties, executive departments, and peaceful transfers of power. At the same time, the new republic struggled with issues that challenged its claims of liberty and equality, particularly slavery, the treatment of Indigenous peoples, women's legal inequality, and the exploitation of working people. Political disagreements between Federalists and Republicans further demonstrated that Americans were still debating what republican government should look like and how much power the federal government should possess. Despite these conflicts, the peaceful transfer of power from the Federalists to Jefferson and the Republicans in 1800 demonstrated that the new political system could survive intense partisan divisions without collapsing into revolution or violence. For these reasons, the Early Republic can be understood as more than simply a period between the Revolution and the War of 1812. Rather it was the era in which Americans established the political structures, social inequalities, territorial ambitions, and cultural ideas that would influence the nation's development for generations.

Sources:
Lurie, Shira. “The Early Republic: What’s in an Era?” Organization of American Historians. Accessed September 8, 2026. https://www.oah.org/tah/the-american-republic/the-early-republic-whats-in-an-era/.
Ellis, Joseph J. “The Early Republic .” Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Accessed September 8, 2026. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/early-republic.

10/10/2026

The Cumberland County Historical Society invites you to celebrate Halloween 2026 with TWO events!

1. Trick-or-Treat on Ye Greate Street, 4 PM - 7 PM:
During Cumberland County’s trick-or-treating hours, visit our multiple historic sites and museums for tours and treats! (This includes Potter’s Tavern in Bridgeton, NJ, which will be open from 3 PM - 6 PM)

2. Ghosts, Graves, & Greate Stories, 7:30 PM - 9 PM:
Done trick-or-treating but don’t want the festivities to end? Join CCHS for a haunted history walking tour down Ye Greate Street full of stories, scares, and seasonal refreshments (while supplies last)! Be sure to bring a flashlight and comfortable walking shoes!
Tickets are required for the walking tour, and can be purchased by scanning the QR code, or paid by check (mailed to CCHS) or cash (delivered in person).

If you have any questions, call us at (856) 455-8580 !

10/08/2026

10/06/2026

The tavern was the epicenter of socialization and social gatherings during the colonial period. Taverns were places to eat, drink, sleep, dance, exchange news, debate politics, hear the latest pamphlets and declarations, and conduct business. However, tavern life was far from the idyllic vision we all expect. Taverns were exclusively enjoyed by white men, while women could lodge, dine, and attend public events at taverns but respectable women were not meant to drink alongside men. Some women, mainly widowed women, held tavern licenses, and many wives ran the day to day operations of their husbands’ taverns. Enslaved people regularly worked in taverns alongside the family running the taverns, and sometimes taverns were spaces where enslaved people were bought and sold. In taverns, alcohol, gambling, violence, inequality, and exploitation existed alongside friendship, entertainment, and community. The colonial tavern was a mirror of society, where social and political issues of the nation affected the life inside the tavern. While taverns have faded from the epicenter of American life, its purpose lives on in other spaces. Today, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, libraries, community spaces, and social media carry aspects of what the colonial tavern provided. These spaces continue to give people a place to gather, exchange ideas, share stories, and make sense of the world together, carrying on the legacy of taverns.

Sources:
Levins, Hoag. “How Colonial Taverns Were like a Physical Internet.” Gloucester County Historical Society, October 7, 2024. https://www.gchsnj.org/how-colonial-taverns-were-like-a-physical-internet/.
Scribner, Vaughn. “A Time Traveler’s Guide to Early American Taverns.” Colonial Williamsburg, March 21, 2025. https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/discover/historic-area/historic-places/a-time-travelers-guide-to-early-american-taverns/.
Struzinski, Steven. “The Tavern in Colonial America.” The Gettysburg Historical Journal 1 (2002): 29–38.

10/04/2026

*NEW HOURS*
Our Gibbon House museum is now open on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 12pm to 4pm, and by appointment.

09/29/2026

Life in Colonial America for the Gibbon and Wood families who resided in the Gibbon House was defined by the world emerging around them. Colonial America was a diverse and regionally divided society whose people did not initially think of themselves as Americans, but instead identified primarily with their local communities, colonies, religions, and cultural backgrounds. The thirteen colonies developed distinct regional economies, with New England relying heavily on trade and fishing, the Middle Colonies becoming an agricultural and commercial “breadbasket,” and the Southern Colonies depending largely on plantation agriculture and enslaved labor. At the same time, the colonies contained a wide variety of European ethnic groups and religious traditions, including English, Dutch, German, Swedish, Quaker, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Jewish, and other communities, as well as Native American and African religious and cultural influences. Family connections were especially important in maintaining wealth, property, and community relationships, while social roles for men, women, and children were generally defined by expectations surrounding work, education, marriage, and family. Although the colonies shared British political institutions, English legal traditions, and protection from the British Empire, they remained geographically and culturally isolated from one another for much of the eighteenth century. Events such as the Albany Congress of 1754 represented early attempts to create greater colonial cooperation, but a unified American identity would not fully develop until later. Ultimately, the combination of regional economies, religious diversity, ethnic communities, family networks, and British political influence created a complex colonial society that would eventually provide the foundation for the culture and political identity of the United States.

Sources:
“Everyday Life in Colonial America.” American Battlefield Trust, August 9, 2024. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/everyday-life-colonial-america.
Zielinski, Adam E. “Life in Colonial America Prior to the Revolutionary War.” American Battlefield Trust, July 24, 2024. https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/life-colonial-america-prior-revolutionary-war.

09/27/2026

The weather may be dreary, but The Griffin is still stocked with vintage finds for the weekend. If you're in the area, stop by! We have tents outside and a wider selection inside the store.

While you're in Greenwich for the Craft Faire this weekend, be sure to check out our Yard Sale at The Griffin, 1197 Sheppards Mill Road! Collect some vintage goodies while supporting the Cumberland County Historical Society!

09/27/2026

The United States can be understood as a maritime nation at its founding because the early republic’s economy, foreign policy, and national security were deeply dependent on the sea. Although Americans would later turn increasingly toward westward expansion, agriculture, and industrialization, the Founding generation lived in a world where coastal ports, rivers, shipbuilding, fishing, overseas trade, and maritime commerce connected the new nation to global markets. American merchants quickly expanded trade across the Atlantic, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Baltic, and Asian markets, while privateers and the emerging U.S. Navy helped protect American commerce during conflicts such as the Revolutionary War, the Quasi-War, and the War of 1812. The government also recognized that a strong merchant marine was not merely an economic asset but a component of national defense, as demonstrated by policies favoring American shipping and by repeated reliance on civilian mariners for wartime sealift. Over time, however, the United States became increasingly continental and industrial, and the American-flag merchant fleet declined relative to foreign competitors. Nevertheless, the historical record shows that maritime commerce remained closely tied to American prosperity and military power, particularly during major conflicts when ships and civilian mariners transported the overwhelming majority of personnel, equipment, fuel, and supplies overseas.

Sources:
“The History of the Maritime Industry.” Transportation Institute. Accessed September 8, 2026. https://transportationinstitute.org/know-our-industry/maritime-history/.
Byers, Samuel. “Maritime America: Sea Power, the Early Republic, and America’s Lost Maritime Strategic Tradition.” Alexander Hamilton Society, November 24, 2025. https://alexanderhamiltonsociety.org/journal/1776-journal/maritime-america-sea-power-the-early-republic-and-americas-lost-maritime-strategic-tradition/.