Middle Township, New Jersey

Episode 93 / 8 November 2018 / 133 min / full

Perverted, Depraved & Mom Approved

"We're going all the way to Middle Township, New Jersey, which is at the very bottom of Jersey; it's in Cape May County." about 0:06:17

The case: Murder of Josephine Trombetta (December 1980). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2018

Population

18,778

Median age

44.6

Median household income

$57,394

Median home value

$333,500

Two-bedroom rent

$1,350 a month

Cost of living

$125 out of $100

Religious

54%

Property crime

▲ about 20% higher

Violent crime

▲ about 20% higher

History, in brief

• Native Americans used the area to hunt and fish during the summer before Europeans arrived. about 0:11:37
• The area that is now Cape May County was claimed at different times as part of New Netherlands, New Sweden, the province of New Jersey under the British crown and later West Jersey. about 0:11:49
• On August 28th, 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson entered the Delaware Bay and stayed one day on land at what is now Cape May Point. about 0:12:31
• Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobson May sailed the New Jersey coastline from 1620 to 1621. about 0:13:51
• The Dutch West India Company purchased 16 square miles of land from the indigenous people along the Delaware River, then bought more land about 11 years later. about 0:14:33
• The Dutch founded a town bank in the area in 1640 around the Delaware Bay because it was a whaling village. about 0:15:36
• Whale numbers declined by 1685, the bank lost its money, and by 1750 most of the town was gone again. about 0:15:56
• The first water mill in the county was constructed in 1699 in Cold Spring. about 0:18:13
• The first Baptist church was built in 1712. about 0:18:19
• The first Cold Spring Presbyterian church was built in 1718 and served as the centre of early local government. about 0:18:25
• The first jail and courthouse were built in 1764. about 0:19:12
• In 1750 the population was around a thousand. about 0:19:17
• The area grew as what the hosts call America's oldest bathing resort, or in the town's preferred phrase the nation's oldest seashore resort. about 0:19:50
• During the Revolutionary War two British ships pursued and attacked the American brig Nancy, which fled into an inlet; the abandoned and sabotaged brig exploded after the British boarded it, killing 30 British sailors. about 0:21:13
• Cape May County was split into three townships, lower, middle and upper, in 1798. about 0:21:42
• During the War of 1812 British raids forced farms in the area to supply food and water. about 0:21:50
• Cape Island Borough was the oldest independent borough in the county and became part of Cape May in 1869. about 0:22:01
• Ocean City, in Lower Township, was founded as a religious retreat. about 0:22:07
• A land development company established Avalon in Cape May County in 1887. about 0:22:33
• Woodbine was founded in 1891 as an agricultural settlement for Russian Jews fleeing religious persecution. about 0:22:40
• North Cape May was founded in 1928 and dissolved after it failed to attract development. about 0:23:27
• The area floundered until the Garden State Parkway was built in 1955 and tourists could get down there. about 0:23:37
• The town's motto is 'where New Jersey truly meets Panhandle'. about 0:11:15
• Middle Township covers 82 square miles, 70 of them on land. about 0:09:25

The reviews read out

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