Privately Owned yet Historically Significant: Cobb’s Mill Lake
Cobb’s Mill Lake is a privately owned, man-made reservoir located in Alloway Township, NJ at N39.52873° W75.32130° (NAD83). Its altitude is 59 feet and the pond is fed with water from a natural spring. It is one of the few ponds in all of New Jersey that is its own supply source and doesn’t have any other pond or body of water emptying into it. A New Jersey State analysis concluded that Cobb’s Mill Lake was the coldest of any pond water in all of South Jersey! Not only does this reservoir have unique natural features but also has a very rich history!
Geography and Hydrology
The waterway in which Cobb’s Mill Lake belongs to starts at the lake and then runs to Hazelhurst Pond, Houses Pond, Blackwater Pond (which no longer exists), down to Elkinton Pond, then flows through the western end of Alloway into the Alloway Creek. This waterway is known as Deep Run and is one of the main reasons of the success of Alloway’s commerce because of the numerous mills built along the waterway.
Calm water at Cobb’s Mill Lake in Alloway Township, New Jersey, reflecting trees along the shoreline near a small dock on the privately owned, spring-fed reservoir.
Native American History
Located on a cross-road between Alloway-Friesburg Road and Peck Corner-Cohansey Road (Cobb’s Mill Road), the area known as Cobb’s Mill was originally a Lenni-Lenape village. It is said that 15 yards northwest of the lake was where the Native American camp was located. Supposedly, the grave of Chief Alloway, who the town was named after, is located at the site! Relics from Native Americans have been found in abundance throughout the treasured site.
The Dilks Era
In the early 1800’s, Calvin Dilks returned home from working out at sea and settled in a spot about 4 miles outside the town of Alloway. Dilks dammed the two streams running through the area which created Dilk’s Lake (now Cobbs Mill Lake). Calvin and his father then built a water powered sawmill off of the lake which has been passed down through the familyfor generations and is still owned by a descendent of Calvin. Of all the old mills in Alloway still in existence, Cobb’s Mill is the oldest.
The Legend of the White Pines
One of the most unique characteristics of the lake and the land surrounding it is the multitude of white pine trees that exist. The trees are a mystery and cover an area of 100 acres. Legend had it these trees, which are alien to the natural ecosystem, were planted by Elisha Dilks back in the mid 1800’s. She was a traveler and a tree enthusiast. These white pines began to cause a problem though.
During Christmas time each year, people would travel from all over to ice skate on the lake. Once the alien trees became known to the public, vandals would come during the day to spot the location of trees and then would return at night to cut them down in order to sell them to families for Christmas trees. A beautiful white pine more than likely is still highly admired by the Cobb family to this day. In order to protect the marveled tree from human destruction, it is said that the Cobb brothers made an oath to protect the white pine that, allegedly, sits at the forks of the pond and will for as long as their family owned the land.
Industrial Heritage
Calvin was a man ahead of his time. He established Dilk’s Mill in the early 1800’s and invented a turbine water wheel and patented in Washington D.C. The United States’ government made Calvin an offer of the patent but Dilks refused the offer because he preferred to make and install the turbines himself. After his death his daughter Fannie and her husband Thomas Cobb purchased the mill and its property and continued the business.
The mill continued to supply lumber to local glass houses, lumberyards, and provided custom sawing of trees that individuals would haul in themselves. Dilk’s Mill (now Cobb’s Mill) furnished the famous Gaynor Glass Works with posts for well over a half a century, and also furnished The Bridgeton Glass Works with board boxes for numerous years. With the growth of technology, the mill continued to evolve and thrive. The mill is now a store that provides many services and sells items such as chainsaws lawnmowers, rotary tillers, hardware, etc. but a new location on the other side of the lake continues the rich tradition of the family’s mill business.
Link to Google Maps Location of Cobb’s Mill Lake: http://goo.gl/76nuEM
Sources:
Alloway Remembers: Tales of Town and Township