Burlington County Guide
Explore Burlington County’s colonial roots, Quaker meeting houses, Revolutionary War landmarks, courthouse history, historic homes, museums, and village centers from Beverly and Bordentown to Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, Medford, Moorestown, and Springfield Township.
Historic Overview
Burlington County reaches back to New Jersey’s earliest colonial period. The original page notes that the county’s court dates to 1681 and that Burlington County was formed on May 17, 1694 by the union of the First and Second Tenths. Today, the county’s historic places include colonial-era churches, Quaker meeting houses, Revolutionary War markers, courthouse and prison history, women’s rights landmarks, and preserved village settings.
Meeting houses, early homes, Burlington City history, and rural settlements reflect the county’s deep West Jersey and Quaker heritage.
Bordentown, Mount Holly, Mount Laurel, and Moorestown-area sites connect visitors to troop movements, local families, and wartime occupation stories.
Mount Holly anchors many civic landmarks, including the courthouse, prison museum, Relief Fire Company, and early homes.
Paulsdale in Mount Laurel honors Alice Paul, one of the central figures in the women’s suffrage movement and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Local History Resource
Burlington County Historical Society
457 Lawrence Street
Burlington, NJ 08016
609-386-4773
The historical society is a useful starting point for researching Burlington County’s colonial, Revolutionary War, civic, architectural, and family history. It also provides context for the older river towns and historic districts that shaped the county’s identity.
Plan Your History Trip
Courthouse, Prison Museum, Shinn-Curtis Log House, Relief Fire Company, Girard House, and other county-seat landmarks.
Clara Barton, the Clock Tower, the Gilder House, and the Wright House highlight one of the county’s most walkable historic towns.
Paulsdale, Evesham Friends Meeting House, and General Clinton House connect colonial, Revolutionary, and women’s-rights stories.
Historic houses, schools, meeting places, and village landmarks provide a strong South Jersey town-history trail.
Historic Places by Area
Beverly
Warren Street and Wilmerton Street, Beverly, NJ
Beverly’s first church community grew from a request by local families to the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey in 1837. The original frame church stood on Copper Street with a cemetery nearby, and the congregation became one of Beverly’s early civic anchors.
Historic Places by Area
Bordentown
Crosswicks Street, Bordentown, NJ 08505
The clock tower honors William F. Allen, a Bordentown native and the designer of Standard Time. The Seth Thomas clock dates to 1888 and remains one of the city’s familiar historic markers.
Bordentown
Crosswicks Street and East Burlington Street, Bordentown, NJ 08505
A historic school associated with Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. The site is tied to one of New Jersey’s early free-school efforts, established in 1852.
Bordentown
Crosswicks Street and Gilder Park Drive, Bordentown, NJ 08505
The Gilder House is part of Gilder Park and the Bordentown Historic District. The Gilder family gave the park to the city in 1935, with the house intended for public cultural use.
Bordentown
Farnsworth Avenue and Park Street, Bordentown, NJ 08505
Associated with Patience Lovell Wright, often recognized as America’s first professional sculptress, who lived here before moving to Great Britain in 1772.
Historic Places by Area
Mount Holly
High Street and Union Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
Built in 1796, the historic Burlington County Courthouse is one of Mount Holly’s key civic landmarks and part of the county seat’s historic core.
Mount Holly
High Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
A mid-19th century Mount Holly house associated with attorney John R. Slack, with a date marker of circa 1856.
Mount Holly
128 High Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
Designed by Robert Mills and completed in 1811, this National Historic Landmark served as a prison until 1965. The building is notable for early penal-reform ideas, fireproof construction, and its unusually intact exterior.
Mount Holly
Park Drive and Commerce Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
A preserved early log house associated with Thomas Shinn and dated circa 1712, making it one of Mount Holly’s oldest surviving structures.
Mount Holly
Pine Street and Church Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
Founded in 1752, the Relief Fire Company is recognized as one of the oldest active volunteer fire companies in the nation.
Mount Holly
Mill Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
Stephen Girard lived here in 1777–1778 before becoming a prominent merchant, shipowner, financier, and philanthropist.
Mount Holly
High Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060
A historic Mount Holly residence associated with the Langstaff family and later purchased for library use. The site reflects the town’s long civic and cultural history.
Historic Places by Area
Mount Laurel
Moorestown-Mount Laurel Road and Hainesport Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054
One of Burlington County’s oldest Friends meeting houses. Built in 1760 with an addition in 1798, it was used as barracks by General Clinton’s troops in June 1778.
Mount Laurel
Hainesport-Mount Laurel Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054
The oldest portion of the General Clinton House was built by Thomas Smith Sr. in 1738, linking the property to Burlington County’s colonial-era landscape.
Mount Laurel
128 Hooton Road, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054
The birthplace and family home of Alice Stokes Paul, a national leader in the fight for women’s suffrage and author of the Equal Rights Amendment. The site is now stewarded as a National Historic Landmark by the Alice Paul Center for Gender Justice.
Historic Places by Area
Medford
Jennings Road, Medford, NJ 08055
A patterned glazed-brick homestead built in 1785 and representative of several Wilkins-family properties from this period in the Medford area.
Medford
Mill Street and Enclave Court, Medford, NJ 08055
Built by Lester Gager in 1857 and later moved by the township in 1976. Former students called the one-room school the “Knowledge Box.”
Medford
North Main Road and Cedar Street, Medford, NJ 08055
A finely crafted 2½-story home built by Dr. Henry P. Ely around 1844. Its mansard roof was added after a fire in 1893.
Medford
Bank Street and Charles Street, Medford, NJ 08055
Built by Jacob Prickett in 1827, the house retains early glass and original corner fireplaces in the living and dining rooms.
Medford
Filbert and Mulberry Street, Medford, NJ 08055
Built in 1842 by Mahlon Reeve and later purchased by Everett Mickle in 1955.
Historic Places by Area
Moorestown
East Main Street and Schooley Street, Moorestown, NJ 08057
A Moorestown historic house whose oldest portion is associated with Joshua Bispham and dated circa 1735.
Moorestown
East Main Street, Moorestown, NJ 08057
A Moorestown landmark with an oldest section built by Joshua Borton circa 1800. Later owners and uses included a general store, post office, and community-related functions.
Historic Places by Area
Springfield Township
Highland Road and Springfield Meeting House Road, Springfield Township, NJ 08041
Located at the intersection of two early Indian trails, this meeting house and cemetery is one of Burlington County’s oldest Quaker landmarks.