Alloway, NJ History

05/06/2026

Can you identify anyone?

05/06/2026

Lots of stuff happening!

Today the Salem County Historical Society hosts its Spring Open House Tour with 23 homes and sites throughout Salem County! If you haven't gotten your tickets yet stop at the Society this morning to purchase before the tour! There are a number of other upcoming events also happening throughout May as well!

05/02/2026

Today is the Salem County Historical Society open house tour - there’s still time to get a ticket! Also, there are lots of things to do in May!

Today the Salem County Historical Society hosts its Spring Open House Tour with 23 homes and sites throughout Salem County! If you haven't gotten your tickets yet stop at the Society this morning to purchase before the tour! There are a number of other upcoming events also happening throughout May as well!

04/10/2026

Tomorrow!

Salem Community College will host a screening of the film “1776” as part of countywide observances of the nation’s upcoming 250th anniversary, inviting community members to reflect on the origins of American independence.

Released in 1972 and adapted from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, “1776” dramatizes the debates of the Second Continental Congress and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. The film focuses on the challenge of forging consensus among thirteen colonies with competing interests and sharply differing views on independence. Through humor and music, it highlights both the ideals behind the Declaration and the compromises that shaped its final form.

Coordinated by Salem County 250, the screening is part of series of events celebrating the nation’s milestone anniversary and local history.

The event is free and open to the public. The film will be shown Saturday, April 11, at 3 p.m. in Davidow Hall. Beginning at 2:30 p.m., attendees may visit the lobby to gather information about local history and learn about upcoming events. This screening was rescheduled from earlier this year due to poor weather.

01/19/2026

St. John’s Church…

Countdown to 250: Salem County & America’s Journey
Early Episcopalians in Salem County
The Story of early Episcopal worship in Salem County likely began with the earliest Anglicans coming over with John Fenwick and gathering in homes and borrowed spaces, led first by Swedish Lutheran clergy and eventually Anglicans themselves from elsewhere in the Delaware Valley. These early English settlers laid the spiritual groundwork for what would become a network of Episcopal congregations that continue to shape the county today.
In 1722, the Church of England’s Society for the Propagation of the Gospel officially designated Salem as a “mission station.” Five years later, on February 5, 1727, an acre of land on Market Street was officially deeded to the 1st church and its wardens. There, a modest but permanent chapel was constructed and dedicated on June 24, 1727, St. John the Baptist Day, giving the parish its name: St. John’s Episcopal Church. Measuring just 28 by 40 feet, the first St. John’s was chapel-like, with a belfry, side porches, and a stone wall enclosing the yard. Though modest, it marked the first formal Church of England structure in Salem County. The original land deed for the church is now held in the archive of the Salem County Historical Society. During the American Revolution, the Church of England found itself in a complicated position as it was tied to the British Crown but supported by local patriots. St. John's suffered for its perceived loyalties and British troops used it as a stable for their horses during the war.
While St. John’s in Salem remains the oldest, it was far from the only Episcopal congregation to take root here. As the county’s towns grew, so too did the Episcopal presence. Re-organized as an Episcopal congregation in 1850, St. George’s in Pennsville served a growing industrial and riverfront population. The church played an active role in Pennsville’s spiritual and civic life and is still one of the oldest continually operating Episcopal churches in the area.
Over time, the Episcopal churches in Salem County went from loyalty to the Crown to a post-Revolutionary revival and rural expansion and the story of Episcopal faith here mirrors the journey of our nation itself. The congregations that began in homes grew into lasting institutions, many of which still welcome worshippers today.

01/13/2026

Does anyone know when the Ewen family closed Alloway Merchandise? I know it was empty when Bob and Sandra Dorrell purchased it in 1984 but am curious to know how long it had stood empty. Thanks!

01/12/2026

Salem County history!

Countdown to 250: Salem County & America’s Journey

Lutheran Roots & the Friesburg Story
While Quakers shaped much of Salem County’s early identity, another early religious group was
already quietly taking hold among the region’s Swedish settlers: the Lutherans.
In 1643, Swedish chaplain Reverend Israel Fluviander conducted services for soldiers at Fort
Elfsborg in what was likely the first recorded Lutheran worship on New Jersey soil. From the
1660s until the 1700s, the South Jersey Lutheran congregants worshipped at St. George’s in
today’s Pennsville Township and at Trinity Church in Swedesboro where both of these early
churches thrived. Their early beginnings opened the door for more German-speaking Lutherans
and led to the foundation of Friesburg Emanuel Lutheran Church. Tucked away among Alloway
Township’s many farm fields stands a congregation that was born when German immigrant
Jacob Fries donated land to build a log meetinghouse in 1726. His gift eventually led the
surrounding crossroads village to soon take the name of Friesburg. In 1739, Fries’s son deeded
additional acreage to the congregation and a larger frame church rose on the site. By 1768, the
brick sanctuary you see today replaced the earlier structure and it still hosts worshippers to this
day. The adjoining graveyard is home to the final resting place of Jacob Fries, his wife Margaret,
and generations of the family rest there, along with many Revolutionary-era parishioners. From
Jacob’s act of generosity grew a multigenerational group of worshippers that helped keep the
church open through wars, economic depressions, and denominational mergers. Family reunion
minutes from the 1800s recall Judge Henry Freas praising the church as the “perfect joy” of the
countryside.
Today, Friesburg Emanuel Lutheran Church is celebrating its 300 th anniversary and is one of just
five pre-Revolutionary Lutheran congregations in New Jersey that have worshipped
continuously since the colonial era.
As we mark 250 years of American Independence and Emanuel Lutheran celebrates 300, we
recognize the church as a lasting testament to religious freedom in Salem County.

12/01/2025

Stay tuned!

10/25/2025

The museum is open this morning - come visit! Room 216 of the Municipal Building/Senior Citizen complex.

10/13/2025

The Alloway History Museum will be open this Friday, October 17, from 9 AM - noon. Stop by and say hi! It is located in Room 216 in the Alloway Municipal Building.

10/05/2025

Emanuel Lutheran Church in Friesburg is celebrating its 300th anniversary with a series of events leading up to the big celebration in June 2026. On Sunday, October 12, the Church will honor the legacy of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, a former pastor of the church and the ”father of the Lutheran Church in the United States”. He is the person for whom Muhlenberg College in Allentown is named.