Raccoon Removal in Haddonfield, NJ

The Haddonfield area was occupied by the Lenape Native American tribe, but they largely disappeared from the area when settlers arrived. Arrowheads and pottery shards have been found by residents by the banks of the Cooper River, hinting that there was a Native American settlement in Haddonfield at one point in time.

On October 23, 1682, Francis Collins, an English Quaker and a bricklayer by trade, became the first settler within the boundaries of what today is Haddonfield. Collins soon built a house, “Mountwell,” on a tract of 400 acres (160 ha). Haddonfield was further developed by Elizabeth Haddon (1680-1762), whose Quaker father, John Haddon, bought a 500 acres (2.0 km²) tract of land in the English colony of West Jersey to escape religious persecution. Elizabeth set sail alone from Southwark, England to the New World in 1701. Shortly after her arrival, she made a marriage proposal to John Estaugh, a Quaker minister, and they were married in 1702. The town was named for John Haddon, though he never came to America.

The Indian King Tavern, built in 1750, played a significant role in the American Revolutionary War. During that war, the New Jersey Legislature met there, avoiding British forces, and in 1777, declared New Jersey to be an independent state. Today the tavern is a state historical site and museum. Nevertheless, since 1873, Haddonfield has been a dry town where alcohol cannot be sold though it can be brewed and distributed in town.