STAFFORD FORGE WMA
Eagleswood and Little Egg Harbor townships, Ocean County
2,788 acres

Directions:

West of the Garden State Parkway near Stafford Forge. Route 539 runs through part of the area. Route 539.

(For maps see: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/wmaland.htm)

History:

1797  --  John Lippincott builds Stafford Forge on the north branch of  West Creek. (Miller, 2000:102-103; 164) It was also known as the Westecunk Forge.  He also built an iron forge on the Metedeconk River. The forge provided pig iron that was sent to Martha Furace and Speedwell Forge in Burlington County.

1838  --  the furnace went out of blast.

Daniel R. Gowdy ran the 150 acre Stafford Forge Cranberry Plantation Bog on the site of the old Stafford Forge. He had learned the cranberry business in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. He began growing cranberries in Ocean County in 1855. (Miller, 2000:306)