![]() Under a Lease System, unique to New Jersey, the settlement developed south from Raccoon Creek to the present center of Swedesboro, as it came to be known in 1765. ![]() There they formed the settlement of Raccoon (from the Lenape word “narraticon”). Instructed to treat the Indians fairly and to buy any land that they would sell, settlers purchased land from the Mantua Creek to the Raccoon Creek, further tributaries running from the area’s interior to the Delaware. The decision was prompted in part by the arrival in 1642 of Swedes, who were themselves anxious both to trade with natives and to establish a new-world outpost, which they christened New Gothenberg. Establishing a base at the Big Timber Creek, a tributary entering the Delaware across from Philadelphia, they built Fort Nassau for defense, only to abandon it in 1651 for a location on the other side of the river. Dutch traders arrived in 1623, seeking to trade with the Lenape for furs. The 337-square-mile territory was first inhabited by the Lenape, who formed villages along the county’s many creeks. He based the artwork on a photograph of pastures in Gloucester County. American realist Thomas Eakins painted The Meadows, Gloucester from 1882 to 1883. ![]() With a mix of farms, suburban settlement and industry, the county represents a complex mix of historic practices and modern adaptations. ![]() Formed in 1686 with the intention of establishing townships and jurisdictional courts and named for Gloucestershire, England, the county originally stretched from the Delaware to the ocean, encompassing what later became Camden and Atlantic Counties. Strategically located along the Delaware River opposite the southern portion of Philadelphia, Gloucester County played an important role in the region, as a location for waves of settlement, industry and recreation, and even defense during the American Revolution.
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