Department of Environmental Protection

New Jersey State Park Service

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Whitesbog Village Historic Site Overview

Whitesbog Village is a historic company town and farm with 25 historic buildings. It is listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Sites. This is where Elizabeth White, in collaboration with Dr. Frederick V. Coville developed the first cultivated blueberry in 1916!

For more details and program information, visit the official Friends group website Whitesbog Preservation Trust

Whitesbog area history begins with the 18th and 19th century iron furnace industry. In the mid-1800s, James A. Fenwick purchased 490 acres of land formerly utilized by Hanover Furnace and began a farm of successful cranberry production. Fenwick’s son-in-law Joseph J. White took over production of cranberry farming in 1882, upon Fenwick’s death. White began adding land to the acreage of the farm. In 1893, White’s daughter Elizabeth began working on her family’s farm and experimenting with blueberry production to compliment the already flourishing cranberry industry. In the early 1900s, the White property was the largest cranberry farm in New Jersey. In 1916, while collaborating with Dr. Frederick V. Coville, Elizabeth developed the first cultivated blueberry and began to market them to the world. Her test fields remain at the site to this day.

Whitesbog is an important part of New Jersey history and the history of the blueberry and cranberry culture in the United States. It is listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Sites. Whitesbog includes the village and the surrounding 3,000 acres of cranberry bogs, blueberry fields, reservoirs, sugar sand roads and Pine Barren’s forests.

Into the 1970s, a few employees from the J.J. White company town continued to live in the village even though the NJ Department of Environmental Protection purchased the village in 1967. The state incorporated the land into Lebanon State Forest (now Brendan T. Byrne State Forest) and the NJDEP and the Division of Parks and Forestry administers the land.

The Division of Parks and Forestry is not alone in administering Whitesbog. The Whitesbog Preservation Trust, created in 1982, leases Whitesbog from the state in order to preserve Whitesbog. Specifically, the Trust restores, protects and enhances the lands, sites (and sights!) and buildings at Whitesbog so that it can continue to provide educational programs and materials about the history, culture and environment that create Whitesbog.

Year round we provide:

  • Monthly Moonlight Walks during the full moon of every month
  • Volunteer Workdays
  • History Hikes
  • Blueberry Music Jams
  • Gallery submissions & openings

Specialty events include:

  • Mother’s Day and Cranberry Harvest Tea
  • Plant walks in Elizabeth White Gardens
  • Vintage Day
  • Maker’s Day
  • Superhero Run
  • Egg Hunt
  • Blueberry Festival
  • Blueberry Living History
  • National Trails Day
  • Blueberry Tastings
  • Cranberry Harvest
  • Garden and Nature tours
  • Campfire Evenings and Spooky History Tours
  • Wagon Tours
  • Halloween Craft & Trick-or-Treating
  • Cranberry Living History
  • Haunted History Tours
  • First Day Hike
  • Handmade Holiday Craft Fair
  • Tundra Swan Tours
  • Holly Holiday Tours

P.I.N.E.S. provides Natural and Environmental Programming to school groups. Rowan College previously offered this programming at the site and Whitesbog was passed the torch in 2019. Educational programs are tailored to accommodate grades K-12. There is a fee associated with the program. For additional information or to book a program, please call 609-893-1765 or email pinelandsintitute@gmail.com

The village is comprised of historic dwellings. Some of them are accessible to those with disabilities. Driving tours and maps are available at the kiosk. Restrooms are presently unavailable due to COVID restrictions.

Facilities for People with Disabilities
We encourage people with disabilities who require special considerations to contact the historic site / park at the phone number listed in the general information on the home page of the historic site / park. The staff will assist with arrangements. Text telephone (TT) users, please call the NJ Relay Services at (800) 852-7899.

For the Comfort and Enjoyment of All
This historic site / park is part of the NJ State Park system and your cooperation with the following will help ensure the survival of the museum collections, historic structures & features and surrounding property for the enjoyment and education of future generations!

  • Keep your historic site / park and surrounding property clean and green! Protect this site by taking your trash with you. Whatever you carry into the site, plan on carrying it out too. Bring a bag or two for trash, recycling and cleaning up after your pet. There are no trash receptacles at this site. Thank you!
  • No Smoking on NJ State Park Service Property. Pursuant to N.J.P.L.2005, c.383 (C.26:3D-56)
  • Alcoholic beverages are not permitted at state historic sites [ N.J.A.C. 7:2-2.6]
  • The collection or removal of any object from State Park property is prohibited without written permission from the Superintendent.
  • Use of metal detecting devices on or unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) on or over the property is not permitted without a special use permit (SUP) from the State historic site / park.
  • Commercial photography is not permitted on the property without a special use permit (SUP) from the historic site / park.
  • Interior photography, videotaping or audio taping are not permitted in the historic structure / visitor center / museum, except by prior written permission and for educational purposes only.
  • Non-commercial photography is permitted on the property (outside), but please help preserve the historic site / park and any surrounding property by not attaching anything to, climbing or sitting on historic structures and features or disturbing any plants, wild or cultivated. Photography may not interfere with other visitors to the historic site / park or impede site operations.
  • Food and beverages; pets/animals, except for service animals, are not permitted in the historic structure / visitor center / museum.
  • Please refrain from touching objects/furnishings in and building components of historic structures and museums, except where invited to do so by staff.

Please contact this historic site / park with specific inquiries about any of these restrictions, as there may be some variations at this specific historic site / park.

Related Links

Brendan T. Byrne State Forest
Whitesbog Preservation Trust
P.I.N.E.S. at Whitesbog
Home 2020 | Pine Barrens Native Fruits (pbnf.com)

General

Phone Number
Visitor Center: 609-893-4646
Phone Archives: 609-283-0255

Address
799 Lakehurst Rd., Browns Mills, NJ 08015

Mailing Address
120 W. Whitesbog Rd #34, Browns Mills, NJ 08015

Historic Site Hours

Grounds Hours Dawn to Dusk
General Store 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Tour Hours Please call site for hours of operation

Historic Site Fees

Entrance Fee None. Additional programming & event fees may apply.

Other Related Fees
Map / Directions

GPS Coordinates
39.959692, -74.509749