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Welcome to
 Tabernacle Township
"GATEWAY TO THE PINES"
 
163 Carranza Road
Tabernacle, NJ 08088

                            
This website was created to help Tabernacle reach its citizens in a convenient and effective manner.
 
Please browse through the website. You will find information that answers many  important questions you may have as a Tabernacle resident.

Township Offices
Open Monday through Friday 8AM to 4PM
                                
Public Works Department
Open Monday through Friday 7AM to 3:30PM
(Summer Hours: 6AM to 2:30PM)
                                
Municipal Court
Call ahead for days and hours at: 609-268-0363
                                 
Construction Office
Monday: 8AM-1PM
 and 6-9PM
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday:
8AM - 1 PM
Wednesdays: 8AM - 4PM
Township Offices, Public Works Department, Construction Office, and Municipal Court Offices will observe the following holidays :
 
NEW YEARS DAY:
JANUARY 1                   
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY:
JANUARY 21
PRESIDENTS DAY:
FEBRUARY 18
GOOD FRIDAY:
MARCH 21
MEMORIAL DAY:
MAY 26
INDEPENDENCE DAY:
JULY 4
LABOR DAY:
SEPTEMBER 1
COLUMBUS DAY:
OCTOBER 13
VETERAN'S DAY:
NOVEMBER 11
THANKSGIVING DAY HOLIDAY:
NOVEMBER 27TH & 28TH
CHRISTMAS DAY:
DECEMBER 25
  
 
 
 
 
Click here   for links to recent township information you may “Need to Know” about.   This information is updated with periodic information that may be helpful to Tabernacle residents, however, may only be applicable for specific dates or times. Every effort is made to keep this information up to date and accurate so that the information is easily accessed as needs and concerns arise. Take a few minutes to check out this information should you have a question. You just may find your answer there.
 

Senior citizens and residents with special needs may wish to address their concerns with the Office of Emergency Management. Click here for more information.
 
When you walk into Town Hall you will probably see some friendly and familiar faces. You will also see a list of familiar titles, but the functions of these people and their responsibilities may be far broader than you imagine. Tabernacle is led by people, both elected and appointed, who have one purpose in mind: to keep Tabernacle as a great place to live, work and thrive in. Our hard-working employees and citizens make Tabernacle Township a "Center of Good Living". Click here for demographics.
 

Tabernacle Township is a rural area with features to attract the nature lover in everyone. This rural feeling is immediately felt when you come to the Town Hall at 163 Carranza Road. The building was donated to Tabernacle Township by the Tabernacle Council No. 49 Junior Order of United American Mechanics on October 6, 1966 with the agreement that they be allowed to use the building for their meetings and activities. The agreement continues to this day.
 

 
The Township is located entirely within the borders of the Pine Barrens Region as well as the Pinelands National Reserve. Ninety percent (90%) of the Township lies on top of the Cohansey Aquifer and the other 10% obtains its water from the Kirkwood Aquifer. Tabernacle Township is lucky to have five relatively undisturbed ecosystems:
  • Goose Pond are in the Wharton State Forest
  • Pine Tree Environmental Center of the Burlington County Council, Boy Scouts of America
  • The area around Butterworth Bogs, some of which is contiguous with
  • The Pine Tree Center and
  • Camp Inawendiwin of the Camden County Council, Girl Scouts of America in the Friendship area of Tabernacle.

Another important resource is the extensive wooded areas comprised of oak-pine and pine oak forests. Pitch pine, black oak, white oak, post oak, chestnut oak, blackjack oak, scrub oak and sassafras trees are also quite abundunt. The ecological systems located within the boudaries of the Township are also part of the Wharton State Forest.
 
(Sources: Burlington County Planning Board 1973. Natural Features in Burlington County. Mt. Holly and Conservation & Environmental Studies Center 1979. An Environmental Resource Inventory of the Township of Tabernacle, Burlington County, NJ.)

When you walk into Town Hall you will probably see some friendly and familiar faces. You will also see a list of familiar titles, but the functions of these people and their responsibilities may be far broader than you imagine. Tabernacle is led by people, both elected and appointed, who have one purpose in mind: to keep Tabernacle as a great place to live, work and thrive in. Our hard-working employees and citizens make Tabernacle Township a "Center of Good Living". Click here for demographics.

 
 
 
HISTORY OF TABERNACLE TOWNSHIP
 
Originally, this entire area was known as Northampton Township, but was later divided to include parts known today as Tabernacle, Southampton, Shamong and Woodland Townships. A large portion of the township was purchased by Joseph Wharton in 1873. By an Act of the New Jersey Legislature, Tabernacle Township was incorporated on March 22, 1901.
 
Tabernacle Township was orginally known as "Tabernacle In The Wilderness" due in fact to the establishment of a log church by a missionary named John Brainerd. Although the church is no longer in existence, Tabernacle continues to have a rich history and many interesting places to visit.
 
You can click here for a link on an article written by the Courier Post Newspaper that has a lot of interesting information.
 
PLACES OF INTEREST:
 
The Tabernacle Cemetary located directly across the street from Town Hall is also in the history books as the resting place for the "Last of the Delawares", Indian Ann who was buried there in 1895.
 
An interesting legend deals with the meeting of 2 little girls, a girl named Mary and an Indian girl named Princess Ann (later known as Indian Ann). Mary shared her lunch with Ann by a small stream now known as Bread and Cheese Run. Ann took Mary to her father, the Chief. The Chief then escorted Mary back to her father and explained Mary's kindness. The area became known as Inawendwin, which is the Indian word for friendship. Today, the Girl Scout camp still carries the name of Inawendwin.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Every year the Mt. Holly Post No. 11 of the American Legion celebrates a service for Captain Emilio Carranza whose plane crashed in the New Jersey Pines in July, 1928 while on a goodwill flight commissioned by the government of Mexico. A violent storm is assumed to have been the cause of the crash and when Captain Carranza failed to arrive in Mexico City, the Mt. Holly Post set out to recover the young airman's body. They had to cut across almost 25 miles of dense underbrush in order to carry his body out. On July 12, 1929 the Legion held the first memorial Service where Captain Carranza crashed. They have continued to hold a yearly service ever since. A memorial monument built of stones quarried near Mexico and paid for by the children of Mexico City was erected in 1933. The Carranza Memorial is located on what is today Carranza Road. Visitors from all over the United States and Mexico continue to visit each year.
 

THE PEPPER-KNIGHT HOUSE
 
The Pepper-Knight House, located on Carranza Road, was built around 1860 by Gilbert Knight who had a blacksmith shop. The other half of its name is taken from the last owner of the property, Arthur "Skinner" and Clara Pepper. The building was purchased by the Township after Clara's death in 1987. The Tabernacle Historical Society leased it and had it declared an historic site with the idea of creating a museum for the area.  To date, the Tabernacle Historical Society has raised money to shore up the foundation and add siding, put in new windows, doors, security bars and has renovated the interior as well.
 
Meetings of the Tabernacle Historical Society are held the second Thursday of each month at the Sequoia Transition High School at 7:30 PM. If you are interested in learning more about the Tabernacle Historical Society, please call their President, Dorothy Yates at (609)268-0664. (Phone number printed with permission.)
 
Decorative plates commemorating local historical landmarks are available through The Tabernacle Historical Society. Please click on link for photo of these plates.
 
 
 
FRIENDSHIP SCHOOL
Through the efforts of the Tabernacle Historical Society, a one room school house has been carefully preserved since it was first built in 1856.  It was originally built on Powell Place Road, but the little school is now located next to the Sequoia Transition High School Building on Carranza Road.

 
 
Sequoia Transition High School building is historic to our region. A missionary, John Brainerd, established a one room church at the present site of the Tabernacle Cemetary in 1778 that also served as a school house for settlers. Native Lenni-Lenape children and early settlers attended this school. This building did not survive, however, a one room school was built in 1860 on Mill Road near Tuckerton Road and was called the Union School. In 1935 Union School moved to its present location on Carranza Road and two rooms were added. The school was offcially renamed Tabernacle Intermediate School in 1986, but was forced to close in 1998. In 2001 Lenape High School District rented this school for 10 years and the facility became known as Sequoia Transition High School after having gone through extensive renovations.
 
Copyright 2007 Tabernacle Township. All Rights Reserved.