Liberation In Our Back Yard

Bill Trimble, who works in our Accounts Payable department, is an amateur historian.  He recently shared some remarkable history that took place just a few miles from his home in New Jersey.  He recommends it as a great historical day trip for local residents.

Just outside of Mt. Holly, New Jersey in Burlington County, is a small unincorporated settlement named Timbuctoo.  It is home to a little-known but important chapter in the U.S. struggle for freedom for all our people.

In 1820, with the support of local Quakers, the village of Timbuctoo was founded by free African Americans and former slaves.  They established their own community where they were free to own land, build homes and farms, and establish churches, schools and businesses.  Because it was easily accessible from the Delaware River, Timbuctoo was also a strategic location for the Underground Railroad.  The local population also included a few immigrants and Native Americans who joined the community.

In 1860 the "Battle of Pine Swamp" took place in Timbuctoo, which involved armed residents of Timbuctoo preventing the capture of Perry Simmons, a fugitive slave living in Timbuctoo, by a southern slave catcher.

Timbuctoo survived through the end of slavery in New Jersey, the Fugitive Slave Act, and the Jim Crow era. The last families didn't leave until the 1950s. At its peak, Timbuctoo was home to more than 150 people.

Today, there are a handful of families in the town of Westampton and throughout the surrounding region that are true descendants of the early Timbuctoo settlers.  A cemetery containing the graves of African American Civil War veterans is the only visible above ground remnant of Timbuctoo’s presence. 

Westampton celebrates Timbuctoo Day each May.  During this town wide celebration, guests are invited to explore the original Timbuctoo village site; a Civil War reenactment by the Sixth Regiment U.S. Colored Troops; walking tours of the 19th century village; visits to the church’s burial grounds with graves of Civil War soldiers; an archeological exhibit and music by local church groups.

Learn more about Timbuctoo here and here.