WENONAH, NEW JERSEY
HISTORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS

History | Wenonah Ticket House | Wenonah Park
Wenonah Memorial Presbyterian Church | Photographs

NOTE: All of the photographs on THIS page are the property of Janice Brown. You are not authorized to use the photographs FOR ANY REASON without her express WRITTEN permission. Please contact her at the webmasters link or from the "Contact" page before use. These photographs are protected by U.S. Copyright law.

Prior to Wenonah separating as a borough, it was formerly a part of the township of Deptford. For early history see that of Deptford Twp.

---

HISTORY OF WENONAH NJ
*NOTE: For the early history of this township, see DEPTFORD in the "Municipalities" section of this web site.

According to the former Roy Duffield Realty Web site:
"In 1872, a hotel and four cottages were erected in a scenic area near the Mantua Creek only a few miles south of Woodbury, and the village of Wenonah, named for the mother of Hiawatha in Longfellow’s poem, was born. A year later, in 1873, it was incorporated, and in 1896, it officially became a borough.

Exerpts from "Under Four Flags," Old Gloucester County 1686-1964
by Hazel B. Simpson, Editor, Woodbury, N.J., Board of Chosen Freeholders,
Gloucester County, N.J.; 1965 Page 35 -- WENONAH
Reportedly the name, "Wenonah," is of Native American origin, and signifies "West Wind" . In 1965 it had a population of 2100 people. [NOTE: my thanks to Pamela Cappello for the following information: "The Song of Hiawatha, the 1855 epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Wenonah is detailed as Hiawatha's mother, and daughter to Nokomis. Mudjekeewis, the West Wind, is Hiawatha's father. Further details describe Wenonah as the Lily of the Prairie. Hence, from the original complete text of the poem, it is safe to say that Wenonah does not mean West Wind, but was actually called 'The Lily of the Prairie'. Rather beautiful and befitting a charming borough!" ]

The town of Wenonah was surveyed during the spring of 1871 by the Mantua Land Improvement Company and it was officially incorporated as a borough in April 1883, although it was not officially separated from Deptford Township until 1894. In 1928 additional land was acquired from Deptford Township to increase the area of the township to 1.66 square miles.

In 1902 the Wenonah Military Academy was opened (it was a private military school). In 1873 the Presbyterian Church was started there, followed by the Methodist Church. The Wenonah Volunteer Fire Department was organized in 1888, and borough-controlled water services began in 1912. (The sewer system became property of Wenonah in 1949, and was extended and modernized during 1956-1958).

Warner Lake, under the direction of the Wenonah Playground Assocation, was the former mill pond of the old mill where grist and flour were once ground.

The Stone House Inn, 100 S. West Avenue in Wenonah, was on the Old Bark Bridge Road and was built in 1773 by Samuel Moffett and was reportedly used during the American Revolution was a meeting place for patriots. Near here there was a skirmish at the old Bark Bridge between Tories and Patriots. This building was also known as the Ballinger House.

Population (year 2000): 2,317, Est. population in July 2002: 2,301

For more information contact:
Wenonah Historical Society
300 East Mantua Ave.
Wenonah, NJ 08090
(856) 468-9555

---

WENONAH TICKET HOUSE (now "The Wild Iris") on 8 N. West Avenue in Wenonah, NJ. (see photograph below)
This old ticket station was originally located near the fire house on West Avenue (below Mantua Avenue) and moved to its current location where is it a floral shop

Information about "The Wild Iris" - The finest in Floral and Gift Items for All Occasions
Location: 8 N. West Avenue, Wenonah NJ 08090
Telephone: *856) 468-6060
Owners; Terry and Tom DeGeorge

---

WENONAH PARK
The sign (see photograph below) at the entrance to Wenonah Park states:
----------------------------------
ERECTED ~ DEC. 1912
BY THE CITIZENS,
IN COMMEMORATION
OF THE GIFT OF THIS
PARK TO THE BOROUGH
OF WENONAH ~ 1883
~ BY THE DIRECTORS OF~
THE MANTUA LAND & IMPROVEMENT CO.
ISAAC C. STEVENSON -- HORATIO J. MULFORD
THOMAS W. SYNNOTT -- BENJAMIN C. REEVE
GEORGE W. BAILEY -- WILLIAM F. ALLEN
STEPHEN GREENE -- WILLIAM J. SEWELL
---------------------------------

---

WENONAH MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH - circa 1873
Visit their web site

From" Absegami : annals of Eyren Haven and Atlantic City, 1609 to 1904: being an account of the settlement of Eyren Haven or Egg Harbor, by Alfred M. Heston; Camden, N.J.: A.M. Heston, 1904; page 285

"Thomas W. Synnott (a descedant of Col. Thomas Heston) erected a Presbyterian Church at Wenonah as a memorial to his mother, who was Hannah Heston Whitney before her marriage. Colonel Thomas Heston was a brother to Colonel Edward W. Heston, another "fighting Quaker" of the Revolution, who founded Hestonville, now a part of Philadelphia.
--------------------

From: "Sinnett genealogy : Michael Sinnett of Harpswell, Maine, his ancestry and descendants : also records of other Sinnetts, Sinnotts, etc. in Ireland and America," by Charles N. Sinnett
Concord, N.H.: Rumford Press, 1910, 142 pgs.
page 122

Mr. Thomas W. Synnott, Wenonah NJ gives the following sketch of his family line:

(1) Martin Synnott, b. Wexford, Ireland 1775; d. in New Jersey, 1812; studied in Wexford (Ireland) College; merchant; cmae to America about 1793; lived at Mary's Landing, N.J. and in Philadelphia PA; m. 1804, Hannah Scull, b. 1780; d. 1840. His brother, John Synnott, lived near Wexford, Ireland in 1832, his mother with him.
    (2) Dr. Miles Synnott, b. 1806; d. 1867; lived Glassboro, N.J 1833-1867; graduated 1831 from Jefferson Medical Colege, Philadelphia pA; m. 1842 Harriet Heston Whitney, b. 1814; d. 1854; the daughter of Eben Whitney, who was descended from Eben Whitney who came to New England in 1640, and of Bathsheba Heston, the daughter of Col. Thomas Heston, an officer in the Revolutionary War, and who in 1784 began the manufacture of glass at what is now known as Glassboro, N.J.
        (3) Abigail Whitney Synnott, b. 1843; m. Isaac Mofett.
            (4) Herbert N. Moffett, b. 1877
        (3) Thomas Whitney Synnott, b. 1845; resides Wenonah NJ; a very efficient elder in the Presbyterian Church; trustee of Princeton Theological Seminar and of Lincoln University; member of Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath School work; member of the General Assembly's Committee on Evangelization; president of the First National Bank, Glassboro NJ; retired from active business ome years since; m. July 1872 Mary D. Eldridge, b. Philadelphia PA 1848, the daughter of Septimus T. Eldridge and Mary Pierce; these parents lived at Wilmington DE and at Philadelphia PA
            (4) Clayton E. Synnott, b. 1876; m. 1897 Faith Botsford
                (5) Marion B. Synnott, b. 1898
                (5) Thomas W. Synnott, b. 1906
         (3) Fannie W. Synnott, b. 1847; unmarried
    (2) Margaret Synnott, b. 1808; deceased; m. Rev. John Crouch
    (2) Catherine Synnott, b. 1810; deceased; m. John Porch
    (2) Dr. Martin Synnott, b. 1812; d. 1871; graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia PA, 1839; no male heirs

---

PHOTOGRAPHS OF WENONAH, NEW JERSEY

Historic Buildings	Wenonah NJ Library on Mantua Ave.	Wenonah Railroad Ticket House, now "The Wild Iris" on East Avenue	Tenant House of Stone House Farm, Mantua Ave, Wenonah NJ circa 1800
Close up of Tenant House of Stone House Farm, Mantua Ave, Wenonah NJ	House Built 1904 in Wenonah NJ, East Avenue	House Built 1870's in Wenonah NJ, East Avenue	Roy Duffield Realty Building on corner of Mantua Ave & East Ave
Memorial Presbyterian Church	Memorial Presbyterian Church on Mantua Ave in Wenonah NJ	Front View of Memorial Presbyterian Church, Wenonah NJ	Another view of Memorial Presbyterian Church, Wenonah NJ
Wenonah Park	Entrance to Wenonah Park, Mantua Avenue in Wenonah NJ	Commemorative Sign at Wenonah Park, Wenonah NJ	View of inside Wenonah Park, Wenonah NJ
Train Station	Railroad Depot at the corner of Mantua and East Avenue, Mantua NJ	2nd view of Wenonah Railroad Depot	Third View of Wenonah Train Station in Wenonah NJ
	Veterans memorial at the Wenonah NJ Train Station	Fourth View of Wenonah NJ Train Station	Fifth View (from across Mantua Ave) of Wenonah NJ Train Station
Views of Wenonah NJ	View of East Street looking toward Mantua Avenue, Wenonah NJ	View of Manuta Ave at the corner of East Avenue looking west	View of the Wenonah Train Station taken from Wenonah NJ Park Entrance
	Wenonah NJ Town Buildings (newer) on corner of East Avenue and Mantua Avenue	Old Postcards of Wenonah NJ from the "West Jersey Project" Page #1 Page #2	.

---