There really is a Timbuctoo in New Jersey

Whenever you hear the name Timbuctoo you think of someplace far away and hard to find. The original Timbuctoo is a city in the western African nation of Mali and is spelled Timbuktu.

This being Black History Month it's a good time to shed light on a town in South Jersey that was part of the Underground Railroad leading slaves to safety here in the North. Timbuctoo is an unincorporated village in Westampton Township in Burlington County and was one of those stops in that journey.

The village is on the north banks of the North Branch of the Rancocas Creek, which made it an accessible place for runaway slaves to settle once they reached the free state of New Jersey.

SEE MORE: New Jersey is more down home than you would think

Timbuctoo began in 1826, when four African American men, all believed to be escaped slaves from Maryland, purchased parcels of land from a Quaker businessman. They were Wardell Parker, Ezekiel Parker, David Parker and Hezekiah Hall. They purchased the land from a Quaker named William Hilyard.

The parcels ranged from one-half acre to one-and-a-half acres in area, costing between $8.33 to $24.05. The name Timbuctoo first appeared on a deed in 1830, when just a handful of households had been established.

At its peak in the nineteenth century, Timbuctoo had more than 125 residents, a school, as well as Zion Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal African Church and cemetery.

It's now just basically one dead-end road that trails off into the woods off of Rancocas Road but also includes present-day Church Street, Blue Jay Hill Road, and adjacent areas. 

If you like New Jersey history, you might be interested to know that New Jersey was the last Northern state to pass a gradual manumission law regarding slavery in 1804, thanks in large part to the Quaker community in the southern counties of the state.

At that time, roughly 82% of African Americans in the southern counties were considered free, while only 15% held that designation in the northern counties. There isn't a whole lot to see if you go there but it's an important part of history here in New Jersey. When someone tells you that something is way out in Timbuctoo, you now know that it's not too far off Exit 5 of the Jersey Turnpike.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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