| New Jersey was THE original Quaker colony and traces of them are still prominent all over the Southern half of the state. One such is Quaker Bridge.
The Quaker Bridge
Back in the 1700's, devout Quakers from Gloucester County who wanted to attend Meeting in Tuckerton had to cross the then wide and wiley river Batsto. This caused so many problems that in 1772 it was agreed that the entire Quaker community would come together and erect a bridge, aptly named Quaker Bridge. Since it was the only way across the river in those days, it soon became frequently traversed by stage coaches.
The White Stag
The story is often told that one stormy night a coach was traveling along, hoping to reach an inn before all the roads washed out. They reached the bridge only to have a white stag jump out in front of the coach. It reared up in the air and refused to budge. The horses were so frightened that they wouldn't move an inch. Then in the next instant the Stag was gone. When the coach driver went up to look for him, he found that the bridge had washed out. Had they continued to drive they would have surely went into the river having never seen that the bridge was gone. From then on White Stags were never shot in that part of the Pines.
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