The following article was sent to me by another visitor to this site. It was written by someone named Jack Cervetto, of Warren Grove NJ.
Sim place was named after an Indian Chief by name of Sim. Sim was Chief of the Oswego Tribe that lived there. This high piece of ground of about twenty acres was an 'ideal location for a village.' There is a fresh water stream nearby and wet cedar bottom almost surrounds it, which was a protection from forest fires. Their burial ground was about a hundred yards north of the present Big Red House. They had a path made through the south swamp and came out where.the Allen Road ends at the swamp. This gave them a direct path to the bay to gather their clams and oysters. The only means of transportation for all the Indian tribes in this region was walking. During and after the Revolutionary War there were four settlements in the vicinity of Sim Place: The Parker Place on Sim Place Road before the main dam, the Penn Farm west of Sim Place, now Penn State Forest; the Rossell Place southeast of Sim Place opposite the blueberry patch and the Kilpatrick Place north of Sim Place on Stephenson Road. These people produced charcoal and cedar for Martha and Stafford Forges and Furnaces; as well as for many other people living in the Pinelands. About the middle of the 1800's a Mr. Webb set out a patch of wild cranberry vines in a cedar swamp that was cut off. This experiment was so successful that by 1900 thousands of acres of cut off cedar swamps were converted into cranberry bogs. It was in this period that the Sim Place bogs were developed. The owners were Millard Howard, James Lippincott and Richard Harrison.
These men set out the nine bogs at Howardville also. I believe that the village was named after Mr. Howard. About 1860 the bog operation was quite active. The Indians moved northwest of Sim Place approximately five miles, not far from Winding PEII Road. At this time a medium size log cabin was built in Sim Place. For several years the owners used it to oversee and plan out their operation. During this period they hired John Bowers to take care of the work. Mr. Bowers was bom and raised in Cedar Grove (now Warren Grove). [CORRECTION: See bottom of page for more information on his birthplace] He lived at Howardville for twelve years before moving to Sim Place in 1872. He moved into the Log Cabin, the only dwelling there at this date. At this time a steam powered saw mill was erected in the field behind the shanties along the road. He would manage the cranberry bogs for over 50 years. Mr. Willet Caywood of Chatsworth was the operator of the mill. He moved to Warren Grove until a place was built for him in Sim Place. This mill produced all the lumber needed for water control gates in bogs, and also lumber for storage sheds and new dwellings. The 25 acre bog and the 3 5 acre bog were the first planted. The first to produce though was the Forty Acre Bog. All cranberries were hand picked until 1920.
For a number of years there were enough people in the area to gather the cranberries, but as more bogs produced, more help was needed from the outside. A small piece of land was the place for the outside help to live during the cranberry picking season. They constructed two 2 1/2 story buildings and a few years later two more buildings of the same size were constructed. The pickers lived on the outside as a camp or picnic area. The buildings were only used in bad weather and to retire for the night. John Bowers was in charge of operations in Sim Place and Howardville for well over fifty years. He died in 1912 and was buried in Warren Grove Cemetery.
In 1912 there were eight families living in Sim Place, and each family was provided with a house. The two-family red Big House was completed at this time. The Penn Producing Co. was organized and Isaac Harrison was appointed sole manager.
After Mr. Bower's death, Hilliard Corlis was appointed as foreman in Sim Place and Thomas Sweeney as foreman in Howardville. Corlis moved in one side of the big house and his brother Hank lived on the other side. The serious problem facing Mr. Harrison was a lot of cranberry bogs and no water reservoir. He decided to build the road and dam across the swamp that created an entrance to the village on the north side. Prior to the construction of this new dam, the old road went through the Sixty Acre Bog to the old Red Bridge and entered the village on the south side. Ira Couch was Mr. Harrison's skilled construction man. He built the two concrete bridges with control boards to raise or lower the water as needed. He also built a bridge with water control boards across the road going north to the Stevenson Road. He dug a canal from this bridge to supply water to bogs below. After this new road was completed, Mr. Harrison started to clear the ground for the Sixty Acre Bog and the Reservoir east of the bog. Then the dam was built and the bog was planted. This work was completed about 1910. Not long after this new time, a new road was finished. Mr. Harrison gave Howard Brown permission to set up a sawmill for himself just across the dam before you turned left to enter the village. Howard had several acres of cedar in Plains Branch of the Oswego River and operated the mill here for about twenty five years. After Mr. Brown moved his mill from Sim Place, Harrison built a new saw mill just west of the site of Brown's mill and about a hundred yards south towards the red Big House. This mill was operated by a gasoline motor until 1940. Electricity was brought in from Hog Wallow and the mill was operated by electric power. William Giberson was the principal saw man in this mill.
During the 1920's, the local men of the village could scoop cranberries but most of them were hand picked by outside help. Hand picked berries need not be cleaned but the scooped berries had a lot of dirt in them. Scooping cranberries was something new and the cranberry growers did not know what effect scoops would have on the vines. In a few years they improved on the style of scoops. The growers convinced themselves that this was the best way to gather their berries and it could be accomplished in a shorter time. This fact prompted Harrison to build a cleaning house or sorting house with the proper sorting equipment inside. Mr. Ira Couch was placed in charge of this construction.
The people that lived in Sim Place proper at this date were:
In May of 1912 a forest fire was headed straight for the village and bogs. The weather was hot and dry with a good breeze blowing. The fire was getting closer and closer. Finally Harrison, seeing little hope and in desperation fell on his knees and prayed to God that if the village and bogs were saved he would build a church in Sim Place to serve God. As Richard Harrison, rising from the prayer, heard someone say: "Look at that black cloud coming up". It was a fast moving shower and the fire was getting closer. The village was getting thick with smoke. The rain and the fire approached the edge of town the same time and it rained so hard that it put the fire out before any damage was done. The church was soon built and Mr. Harrison hired Rev. Woodmansee of Barnegat to conduct services there for the duration in which the church held services which was about twenty five years. Church members held their annual Camp Meetings in the Pine Grove at the Parker Place. Theodore Holloway died in 1961, and Charles Dennis was placed in charge of the work.
In the next ten years several major changes were made. Mr. Dennis eventually moved to Forked River and Raymond Cranmer was placed in charge of both Howardville and Sim Place. Then Howardville was sold to Kupire Corp. of Trenton. They sold it to the State of New Jersey as a Fish and Game Wildlife Management Area. Raymond Cranmer died and James Beebe was placed in charge of work at Sim Place. In this period, Isaac Harrison died and his son-in-law William Shaw managed the operation for a few years. The Kupire Corp. purchased Sim Place. At this writing of December 1985 they still own Sim Place and continue to produce cranberries. The late Jack Cervetto worked for many years to keep the local history and culture alive. He worked for many years at cutting and milling cedar, raking moss and decoy carving. He served as Mayor of Stafford Township and wrote a book about the history of Stafford Township.