The unusual topography in the McLaughlin-Norcross Dell area of the Camden County Park dates to the Colonial period. The steep slopes were related to King’s Run, a navigable waterway that provided the area’s first means of transportation in the 17th Century when European settlement in West Jersey began.Until the 1920s, a brick and stone mill stood on the opposite side of the stream behind the stage of the Dell. This mill housed machinery to clean cloth and make it thicker by controlled shrinking and beating, called fulling. When John Glover built his mill in 1773-76, he dammed King’s Run and diverted water from just behind the dam through a channel called a headrace to run the mill’s waterwheel. The force of the flowing water as well as the weight of the water falling from above turned the wheel and its axle that moved wooden hammers to beat the cloth in a water-filled trough. After being fulled and dyed, the cloth was suspended in open fields for stretching so that it would dry evenly and square. A tale race carried water away from the mill, depositing it back in King’s Run.
Betsy Ross was a customer of the Glover Mill and tradition says that the fabric for the American flag was processed here. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1822 and was rebuilt later that year. However, by the second half of the 19th century, the industrial revolution had begun and steam-powered textile mills had taken over the manufacture of cloth. After the Civil War the mill quietly passed out of production. The property was sold to the Borough of Haddon Heights in 1911 and although the mill was soon torn down, portions of the tail race, dam embankments, and the mill foundation survive. The current path of the stream reflects the old dam’s location.
You are also standing near the site of a Revolutionary War skirmish with British General Cornwallis after the Battle of Red Bank in 1777. A cannonball found by the Works Progress Administration when creating the Camden County Park in 1937 is now located at the Haddon Heights Library.
(Colonial Era • Industry & Commerce • War, US Revolutionary) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
The stone mill was an important part of the Peirce family's business. Like most farms of the 1800s, this was also a diversified and constantly evolving operation. The family managed hundreds of acres devoted to fields, pastures, and orchards. A sawmill, a nursery, barns, and bee hives dotted the landscape. The Peirce estate also contained housing for the large family, enslaved people, and tenants who made the business a success.
This small stone structure was built by Isaac Pierce in 1801. Constructed around a natural spring, it was used as a cooling place for cheese, milk, and butter products, during the hot summer months. It also provided a clean water supply. 
The Peirce Still House, built between 1796 and 1811, was part of a large plantation owned by Isaac Peirce, a Quaker from Pennsylvania and slave owner, who purchased the property in 1795. Much of the Peirce Estate became part of Rock Creek Park when it was created in 18990.
Site of Asbury
Methodist Church
1840- 1907
Home in the wilderness 1821-1870. Built in 1821 downstream a quarter mile on the Auglaize west bank by Sebastian Sroufe, War of 1812 veteran, and wife Mary, this home was postal stop Sugar Grove on the Ft. Recovery-Ft. Defiance route and in 1828, Perry Township organization meeting site. On January 24, 1829, Sebastian was appointed the first postmaster in Putnam County.
In memory of PHT adn the Hawg Creek Shawnee. This area was their home until the 1830's when they were forcibly removed by the U.S. government. Some stayed and their descendants live here to this day. Chief PHT died before the removal and was buried near this site. may we honor these people today and forever. Dedicated by the "People of Turtle Island" October 2000
The Samuel Myers, Sr. Grist Mill 1834-1860 After Christmas Day 1833, Samuel Myers, Sr., a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, and Margaret (Hardin), first couple wed in Putnam County, moved ito their log home on the Auglaize River west bank. Because settlers were boating their grain to mills in Brunersburg, or Piqua, Ohio, Samuel built a grist mill here on the east bank and a dam across river by 1840. These remained in operation until the 1913 flood. The sugar maple grove behind the mill became a popular picnic area, now Cascade Roadside Park.
The Great Chicago Fire in October eighteen hundred and seventy-one devastated the city. From its ashes the people of Chicago caused a new and greater city to rise imbued with that indomitable spirit and energy by which they have ever been guided.
Here • Stood
Stiltsville got its start in the 1930s, when "Crawfish" Eddie Walker set up a bait shop on the bay.
Nathan Towson, born 1784 in the area named for his family, served in the U.S. Army for 42 years. He enlisted in 1812 when war with Britain seemed imminent. As an artillery captain, Towson distinguished himself in nearly every major engagement on the Niagara Frontier.
Events here October 4, 1808, known as “Gin Riots” were more rallies than riots. Some 1,300 horsemen, 400 sailors, and thousands of civilians paraded to Hampstead Hill to destroy 720 gallons of Dutch gin.
After the stinging defeat at Bladensburg and invasion of Washington, Americans rallied to save Baltimore. All available able-bodied men were called to build defenses. Black and white, slave and free, united to dig earthworks across Hampstead Hill and adjacent heights. 
English: 
English: 
English: 
English: 
This talented author was born here July 22, 1898; died in New York March 13, 1943. “John Brown's Body” and his other poems and stories give vivid expression to the best in American spirit and tradition.
