Bargaintown is about ten miles west of Pleasantville, near route 662. (It's actual location is 39°21'45"N 74°34'53"W if you prefer lattitude and longitude). Evidently it is still an inhabited town, unlike many of the 'ghost towns' featured on this site.

Map of Bargaintown drawn in 1963

According to this site, some of the Van Sant family detailed elsewhere on this site lived in Bargaintown:

"Captain John, born about 1726-28, was married three times: 1. to Sarah Dale 2. to Polly Bowen, 1775 3. to Rebecca Simpkins, a widow, in 1787. According to several written records, Captain John had numerous children. We have records of only four sons. Christopher Van Sant, born Dec. 10, 1769, by Capt. John's first wife, Sarah Dole. Joel Van Sant, born about 1785, probably by the second wife Polly Bowen. John Van Sant, born, probably to Polly Bowen; no date available. John married Elizabeth Bradley in Gloucester County, NJ April 13, 1812. They lived in Bargaintown, NJ. Nicholas Van Sant, born Nov. 9, 1788 to Captain John and his third wife, Rebecca Simpkins. Nicholas married Mercy Davis Moore Dec. 23, 1808 at Pleasant Mills, Atlantic City, NJ. in a ceremony performed by the Rev. Lionel Lukens. About 1815 Nicholas and Mercy moved to Wrangleboro, where he established his boat business. Apparently Nicholas' father, Captain John, moved with him and died there about 1820."

Click on the link above to read more about this family.

In October, 1999 a genealogy query was posted at another site concerning the Cook family of Bargaintown:
"My great grandfather was named Charles Anthony Cook and he was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1863 or 1864. It is known that he married Katherine Kelly of Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1902. Sometime before 1905, they moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rumor has it that Charles Anthony Cook was sort of the black sheep of the family as he liked his booze and his parents gave him money to relocate. Katherine and Charles Anthony Cook relocated to Bargaintown, New Jersey where they spent their last years. He died in June 1926 at the age of 62 and was buried in Pleasantville, New Jersey. Can anyone tell me anything about Charles Anthony Cook. I would especially like to know who his parents were. I am trying to trace my ancestry back to Francis Cook, a Mayflower passenger."

If you can help this fellow, he gave his e-mail as: [email protected].

According to a visitor to this site that grew up in Bargaintown:
It borders Steelmanville, Linwood, English Creek, Northfield and other small municipalities and is located in Egg Harbor Township, Atlantic County. Three of the main roads in the area are Ocean Heights Ave, Zion Rd and Bargaintown/Steelmanville Rd. Zion Church and Zion Cemetery are both at the intersection of Zion and Old Zion Roads approxiamtely 1 tenth of a mile from the Garden State Parkway overpass. The original Bargaintown school (which is now a charter school) sits next to the Egg Harbor Township police station at the intersection of Bargaintown Rd and Central Ave. And approximately 1000 to 1500 ft up Central Ave is where the originial Bargaintown post office was (which is now a private residence) and Bargaintown Lake which borders Bargaintown and Linwood.

"Bargaintown (Cedar Bridge) in Egg Harbor Township, 4 miles from Egg Harbor Bay, contains 2 taverns, 1 store, a gristmill, a Methodist Church, and about 30 dwellings ....(From Gordon's Gazetteer of N. J. 1838.)" (This is the first time I've seen Bargaintown referred to as Cedar Bridge. Is this the same Cedar Bridge that appears elsewhere on this site, or were there two such places? I'm not sure myself at this point.).

Whatever the justice or injustice of the treatment of the Lenni Lenape, they were the first residents of Bargaintown, making summer camp on the high ground around the cedar swamp that is now Bargaintown Lake and along the banks of Patcong Creek. All of the South Jersey Shore was used by the Lenape as a sort of summer resort camp. They spent the season digging for shellfish, picking wild berries, hunting for bird eggs, catching and drying fish and collecting those particular shells for carving beads to be used as wampum. Arrowheads in quantity have been found in Bargaintown and if you don't mind a kink in the neck from peering downwards, you have a good chance of finding one. Indian pottery was also unearthed along Patcong Creek. Wherever you walk in this area, an Indian walked before you. Their footpaths became our roads and their land, our homes. There is no record of there ever being a war-like incident toward the white settlers by the Lenni Lenape Indians. It is a nice thought that even in the beginning, Bargaintown was a friendly place.
There were no famous Revolutionary battles fought in Bargaintown, nor did any of her men become well known heroes, but they served with honor and as always, it is the unpublicized ranks that fight a war and win it. Whatever personal emotional stress and individual sacrifice felt or endured by the early residents of Bargaintown during the Revolution is lost in time. Names that appear on the lists of "Officers and Men of the Revolutionary War, Gloucester County"; Somers, Smith, Price, Ingersoll, Adams, English, Frambes, Garwood, Ireland, Lake, Tilton, etc., appear today on the mailboxes throughout Bargaintown. If Bargaintown cannot claim a great Revolutionary battle or hero - she can absolutely claim that George Washington did not sleep here.
When and how Bargaintown received its name depends on which version you choose to believe.
From the "History of Bargaintown" (Unpublished) by William Lake, 1918:

"Tradition informs us that Bargaintown received its name as early as 1760 by the acts of one David Howell, a Blacksmith, who had a shop at this place. He being the owner of a number of acres of land in that locality employed a surveyor to lay the same off in tots, these lots were two perches wide and four deep (or 33ft. by 66ft.). He had a locust tree set out at the corner of each lot, (who the surveyor was that did the work I know not, as the old map has neither name nor date marked upon it), but it has plainly marked upon it the name of Water Street and Second Street, each street is 24ft. wide. It is said of Mr. Howell that when any one came to his shop to have any work done he labored as hard to sell one of his lots as he did to do the work, hence the name Bargaintown."

By far the most appealing and persistent version of the origin of the name is that of the bargain made between James Somers, a large landholder, and his slaves. James Somers lived on the East side of the swamp that is now Bargaintown Lake and found it both inconvenient and difficult for himself and his associates to traverse to the West side and vice versa. He offered freedom to his slaves if in their spare time they would build a road across the swamp. After performing a full days work for their owner, the women would carry sand and gravel in their aprons or baskets and the men hand hauled stones and timber, laboriously building a passable road through the cedar swamp by lantern light. When the road was completed, Mr. Somers true to his word, granted the slaves their freedom and a piece of land to till. The bargain successfully accomplished, the village became known as Bargaintown.

Though it cannot be proven that James Somers was responsible for building of the road across the swamp, which became Central Avenue, we do know that he built the Grist Mill on Patcong Creek side east of the dam and a Saw Mill west of the dam. The Grist Mill that is pictured and remembered today was the second gristmill erected some thirty feet to the westward by Japhet Ireland to replace the deteriorated first mill building. The old grinding wheels from the original mill were incorporated into the masonry wall of the second mill. In 1918, Mr. William Lake wrote this nostalgic paragraph concerning the Grist Mill.:

"The old grist mill still stands as of yore but the grinding therein has nearly ceased; here too, the old undershot wheel and cogger have given way for the turbine wheel and belts--the old stones that crushed the grain, the bolt that bolted the fine flour for the wedding cake at the marriage bell have almost ceased to turn. The old willow trees that stood by the side of the pond, under which the farmer drove his horses on a hot summer day whilst his grists were being ground, have also passed away."

Mr. Somers in his last will and testament dated April 20th, 1758,bequeathed to his son, James Somers, Jr., among other possessions, the grist mill, saw mill and one acre of land, purchased from Netum Babcock, adjoining the saw mill property to be used as a log bank. He also bequeathed an acre of land to the Quakers. This ground is across from Central Methodist Church, Linwood, and is used as a cemetery.

Concerning Netum Babcock from whom James Somers purchased the one-acre of land for a log bank, William Lake wrote,
"Netum Babcock was a seafaring man, frequently making voyages to different parts of the world. On one in the Mediterranean Sea, in company with a number of other merchant ships trading in that sea, they were attacked by a number of pirate ships, a battle ensued. Cap't. Babcock fought them to the last - he was finally captured, his vessel robbed by the pirates and them ran upon an island where himself and crew were driven on shore. The pirates decided that the man that had fought them so bravely should not at once lose his life; his right arm should be cut off between the shoulder and elbow. After this barbarous act was done the captain was left to bleed to death. One of his sailors seeing the condition his captain was in, went on board their ship, got some pitch and a kettle, brought them on shore, warmed the pitch in the kettle and then had the captain to plunge the stump of his arm in warm pitch, which soon stopped the flow of blood and by so doing saved the life of Cap't. Babcock. When I was a young man, one Mrs. Holdcroft, an estimable old lady, and a daughter of Colonel Doughty, frequently said to the boys that met at her place to get cake and beer; that when she was a young woman she had frequently seen Cap't. Babcock with his right arm off; as the Captain frequently came to her father's place."

Mrs. Holdcroft's father, Colonel Doughty was the genial host and proprietor of the establishment known as Doughty's Tavern located on what is now Delaware Avenue. Before the building of the old Bargaintown School in 1873, the tavern was used as a town hall and voting center for all of Egg Harbor Township. Voting was practical and open. A moderator and clerk were chosen. The moderator mounted a wagon to address the assembled crowd. A line was drawn in the dirt and ayes and nays were counted by the voters stepping across or remaining behind the line. Officers were elected and monies voted for the expenses of the Township. School taxes were levied so much per child between the ages of five and eighteen years. The number of sheep killed by dogs during the year determined the amount of dog tax. It is worth considering for a moment that this method of handling government affairs may be superior to the ponderous procedures employed today.

In 1873, a school was constructed on Bargaintown Road. Children from the ages of seven attended from nine until four o'clock with all eight classes being taught in one room by one teacher. Township meetings were there after held in the school instead of Doughty's Tavern, which pleased David and Simon Lake. Township Officers and temperate souls, who positively refused to vote public monies for the purpose of purchasing intoxicating liquors for the Township Officers or anyone else attending Township meetings. In 1914, a new brick school was built next door and the old building renovated and renamed Egg Harbor Township Hall, which is still the center of Township government and voting.

Prior to-the Bargaintown Road School, an earlier one-room schoolhouse existed on Mill Road near the standpipe and is remembered by William Lake.

The old school house, where the boys and girls learned their A.B.C.'s stood in the edge of the woods on the west side of the road that leads from the village of Bargaintown to once Risley's Mills, where now stands a water tower one hundred feet high; this building stood near the head of the Mill Pond. This building was 18 feet in length, 16 feet in width and 9 feet posts; it had 8 windows, three on each side and one on each end; the eight were 8 by 10 inches. The writing desks were on the four sides of the building, set against the wall; in using these desks, the scholars always sat facing the wall, with their backs to the Master." "The room was heated by a large tin plate stove set in the middle of the room, a cord of wood stick four feet long when cut in two made two sticks for the stove. On three sides of the stove were arranged three low benches without any backs, for the small girls and boys to sit on. On a cold morning the older ones always crowded the smaller ones off. Well do I remember the low bench on the boys' side. It was made of an oak slab, in the same condition it came from the saw mill, not even the stub shot cut off."

The religious and social center of Bargaintown was Blackman's Meeting House built in 1764 by the Presbyterian residents and the special efforts of John Brainard, a patriot of the Revolution. After 1789, the Methodists shared the building and in 1814 purchased it. Needing more space for a growing congregation, a brick building was erected in 1822 close to the original meetinghouse. $1525.95 was pledged to the building fund, which seems ridiculously low, but so were the invoices tendered:

  Digging well 18ft. deep           $6.50 
  Laying 54,050 brick              135.12 1/2 
  Painting and glazing 364 lights   18.00 
  Two bundles of lath                 .20 
  3355 feet of frame stull          31.87 
  500 feet of 5/8 cedar boards      7.50 
  Carting 13,600 brick              8.50 
  Two days work painting            1.50 

"Anyone looking at the remains of the old saw mill and stream at the present day would say it looks very much like a fairy story to say that one day they built vessels by the side of this old mill site. Job Ireland, the old sawyer, frequently told us boys, that he had sawed deck plank in the mill and shoved them from the saw to the deck of the vessel. Sad was the day to the old sawyer, when a vessel named the "Miller" was launched from this yard - as she slid off the ways she listed to one side, one of his sons being on board fell down the mast-hold and was killed. The second shipyard, known as early as 1803, in after years at Jole's Landing, is about one-eighth of a mile below the mill. In building a vessel at this yard, the adjoining landholders got into a dispute as to the correct location of their partition line. A surveyor was called upon to locate the line; it was found that the line crossed the keel of the vessel. To adjust the matter the keel had to be moved some 15 or 20 feet to the southwest.
The third yard was about one-fourth of a mile below the sawmill and is known at this day 1918, as the old shipyard. The dock in which the vessels were launched, can be plainly seen at this date and very plainly marks the historical spot.
Nicholas Frambush (Frambes) was the owner of this yard, with the assistance of his three sons, namely, Job, David and Andrew and his son-in-law, Daniel Edwards, a blacksmith. They always had a vessel on the stocks. In the winter of 1856-7 I was in New York keeping ship, our vessel having been frozen up and navigation almost at a standstill. Here I became acquainted with an old sailor, by the name of John Lee from English Creek, who informed me that he had made a voyage from New York to the West Indies in a Brig built at Bargaintown."

Bargaintown's blacksmith shop was built by David Howell and was located on the west corner of Water Street and Central Avenue on property that is now owned by Mr. Francis Sutton. Daniel Edwards, Nicholas Frambes's son-in-law, served his apprenticeship under David Howell, eventually becoming owner. Business increased until the old shop was torn down and a larger one built on the same site containing two forges. Enoch Ingersoll became owner after serving his apprenticeship and 1834 conveyed ownership to Mark Lake. These men over the years kept the shipyards on Patcong Creek and various others on Atlantic and Cape May Counties supplied with iron fittings. The making and repairing of carpenter tools, farming implements, nails, horseshoes, etc., made the blacksmith shop indispensable to the progress and convenience of the Community.

Besides the grist mill, saw mill, blacksmith shop, shipyards, church, schools, tavern, plantations and residences, the village of Bargaintown boasted a shoe shop, general store, post office, custom house and an ice business. The general store stood some three hundred feet from Cedar Bridge off Zion Road where the present day home of Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Lister is located.

The post office was established in 1807, with Samuel Somers as the first Postmaster. The last Post Office was located on Water Street and still stands as the residence of Mr. Francis Sutton and his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. David Clayton. Mail was picked up and delivered by stagecoach. Bargaintown was also a main stagecoach stop on the route to John Knisell's ferry in Camden.

In the late 1800's, Daniel S. Collins ran a prosperous ice business with storage buildings at both ends of Bargaintown Lake. A narrow canal was cut through the ice the length of the lake. Cakes of ice were hand cut and floated with the aid of hooked poles along the canal to either building where they were stacked and covered with sawdust to await the summer demand.

The Custom House stood on the lake side of Central Avenue on property that is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. John H. Dilks and was enacted into being by a document dated the 8th day' of February, 1845, and signed on the 12th day of February, 1845, by John Tyler, President of the United States and George M. Bibb, Secretary of the Treasury, appointing Robert B. Risley Collector of the customs for the District of Great Egg Harbor and Inspector of the Revenue for the Port of Bargaintown on the State of New Jersey. This remarkable document is owned by Mrs. Marie Cavileer Gandy of Linwood, New Jersey and is in perfect condition including the metal tube in which it was originally delivered.

The natural assets of Patcong Creek and the old cedar swamp must be credited for the prosperity of the early Village of Bargaintown. Damming the creek provided timber for the building of homes, businesses and ships. If you enjoy a relaxing, spellbound hour, pick a calm, sunny day in early spring or late fall when the water is cold and clear. Beg, borrow or rent a boat and row out upon Bargaintown Lake. Wear sunglasses to dissipate the sun's glare on the water surface and the visual effect is the same as a glass bottomed boat. You cannot help but be fascinated by the skeletal remains of the once spectacular stand of grandiose cedar trees. Water worn and eerie in their shapes and unusual positions, huge stumps, logs and branches populate the lake bottom. Many stumps are three to five feet across. Stripped tree tops twenty to thirty feet long and a foot to two feet across lay where they were discarded. Branches twine in tangled confusion. The entire lake is a watery graveyard for a butchered forest primeval. There is nothing from the past I would have rather seen than these straight, towering cedar giants. Trees of size and dimension such as will never be seen in this area again. The scene will haunt you.