Jericho, Cumberland County, New Jersey

Jericho, New Jersey
Unincorporated community
Jericho Hotel, circa 1890
Jericho Location in Cumberland County (Inset: Cumberland County in New Jersey) Show map of Cumberland County, New Jersey Jericho Jericho (New Jersey) Show map of New Jersey Jericho Jericho (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 39°28′12″N75°21′06″W / 39.47000°N 75.35167°W / 39.47000; -75.35167
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Cumberland
Township	Stow Creek
Elevation [1]	30 ft (9.1 m)
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (EDT)
GNIS feature ID	877447 [1]

Jericho is a community located within Stow Creek Township, in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Stow Creek, a tributary of the Delaware River, flows through the settlement, and a pond and dam are located there. ^{[4] [5]}

Jericho was at one time an important mill town in the history of Cumberland and Salem counties. ^[6]

History

Originally called "Gravelly Run", the settlement began to flourish in 1680 when John Brick purchased 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land bordering Stow Creek, and erected sawmills and gristmills. ^{[6] [7]} The Jericho Hotel was built, and in 1818, a distillery located in Jericho was converted into a woolen factory. ^[6]

The geologic area around Jericho contains Miocene epoch marl, and it is rich with fossils. ^[8] In the early 1800s, farmers near Jericho began using the mudlike marl found along Stow Creek as fertilizer, and commercial marl pits were built. ^[6]

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Jericho
2. Locality Search, State of New Jersey. Accessed December 28, 2014.
3. Gannett, Henry (January 28, 1895). "A Geographic Dictionary of New Jersey". U.S. Government Printing Office – via Google Books.
4. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Jericho Pond
5. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Jericho Pond Dam
6. Harrison, Charles (2013). Cumberland County, New Jersey: 265 Years of History. History Press. pp. 144, 145. ISBN   9781609497767.
7. Shourds, Thomas (1876). History and Genealogy of Fenwick's Colony, New Jersey. G.F. Nixon. p. 165.
8. Dana, James Dwight (1880). Manual of Geology: Treating of the Principles of the Science with Special Reference to American Geological History. Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor and Company. p. 495.