Editing Collingswood, New Jersey (section)

==History==
[[File:Stokes-Lee House 07.jpg|thumb|Stokes-Lees House, on the 600 block of Lees Avenue]]
[[File:Collings-Knight Homestead Collingswood NJ.jpg|thumb|Collings-Knight Homestead]]
The land in what is present day Collingswood was originally inhabited by [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. [[Quakers]] from [[England]] and [[Ireland]] settled along Newton Creek and [[Cooper River (New Jersey)|Cooper River]] in the late 17th century, establishing what was known as the [[Newton Colony, New Jersey|Newton Colony]] and eventually [[Newton Township, Camden County, New Jersey|Newton Township]]. Much of what is now Collingswood was a farm owned by members of the Collings family during the 18th and 19th centuries. Later a section of [[Haddon Township, New Jersey|Haddon Township]], Collingswood was incorporated as a borough by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on May 22, 1888, based on the results of a referendum held that same day.<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. [https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf ''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''], Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 104. Accessed October 4, 2012.</ref> That same year, town resident Edward Collings Knight, a wealthy sugar, real estate and railroad magnate, donated the land that became Knight Park. Knight was a descendant of the Collings family for whom the borough is named.<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=11 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed August 28, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.collingsknighthouse.org/ Home Page], Collings-Knight House. Accessed July 9, 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.collingswood.com/node/8418 Caretaker's House preview event] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927085731/http://www.collingswood.com/node/8418 |date=2013-09-27 }}, Borough of Collingswood. Accessed July 9, 2013. "The Borough of Collingswood and Knight Park Trustees are planning a restoration effort for the only historic house associated with the park's 1888 opening."</ref>

Collingswood has several historic homes including the 1820s-era house of the Collings family, known as the Collings-Knight homestead, which stands at the corner of Browning Road and Collings Avenue, shadowed by the Parkview at Collingswood apartment homes. The Stokes-Lees mansion located in the 600 block of Lees Avenue dates back to 1707,<ref>[http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMBWW8_Stokes_Lee_House_Collingswood_NJ Stokes-Lee House - Collingswood, NJ]</ref> making it one of the oldest houses in [[Camden County, New Jersey|Camden County]]. Sections of [[Harleigh Cemetery, Camden|Harleigh Cemetery]], the location of poet [[Walt Whitman]]'s tomb, are in Collingswood.<ref>[http://www.harleighcemetery.org/ Harleigh Cemetery : Camden County Cemetery and Crematorium : Camden NJ]</ref>