1890 Map of Salem

About this map

The Salem waterfront and its surrounding farm townships reflect a landscape deeply integrated with the rail networks of the late nineteenth century. Surveyed by C.C. Vermeule under the direction of George H. Cook, the sheet details an era when local commerce moved via the Swedesboro and Woodstown and the Philadelphia and Salem Branch railroads. The topography is dominated by the meandering course of Salem Creek and Alloway's Creek, which carve through the lowlands of Mannington and Alloway. Notable elevation is found at Big Mannington Hill, providing a rare vantage point over a region otherwise defined by its tidal marshes and fertile creek-bottoms. Small clusters of industry and settlement are evident at locations like Avis Mills and Hancock's Bridge, showing the distribution of rural life before the twentieth-century expansion of the Delaware River industrial corridor.