Editing Lower Township, New Jersey (section)

==History==
Before the region was settled by Europeans, the [[Kechemeche]] tribe of the [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] inhabited [[South Jersey]], and traveled to the barrier islands during the summer to hunt and fish.<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. [https://nj.gov/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. 118. Accessed May 29, 2024.</ref><ref name="his">Holden, Robert F. [https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/currents_gazettes/upper_township/history/history-of-the-ten-villages-of-upper-township-the-island/article_b84c47fe-3b16-58b8-af80-bc7f46143e34.html "History of the Ten Villages of Upper Township: The Island Village of Strathmere, Part 1"], ''[[The Press of Atlantic City]]'', August 9, 2017. Accessed October 27, 2019.</ref><ref name="och">[https://www.ocnj.us/History/ A Brief History of Ocean City New Jersey], Ocean City, New Jersey. Accessed December 23, 2017.</ref> On August 28, 1609, English explorer [[Henry Hudson]] entered the [[Delaware Bay]] and stayed one day on land, north of what is now [[Cape May Point, New Jersey|Cape May Point]].<ref name="getnj">[http://www.getnj.com/historicroadsides/capemay.shtml "Cape May County"], from ''Historic Roadsides of New Jersey by The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New Jersey, 1928''. Accessed October 27, 2019.</ref> In 1630, representatives of the [[Dutch West India Company]] purchased a {{convert|16|mi2|km2|abbr=on}} tract of land along the Delaware from indigenous people, and additional land in the county was purchased 11&nbsp;years later.<ref name="getnj"/> Due to the large number of whales in the region of [[Cape May]], Dutch explorers founded Town Bank around 1640 as a whaling village in what is now Lower Township. It was the first European settlement in Cape May County. The village once functioned as the [[court house]] for the county, along with Coxehall, built by Dr. [[Daniel Coxe]] to be a center for a [[manorial court|manorial]] style of government.<ref name="proposed">[https://capemaycountynj.gov/DocumentCenter/View/422/Comprehensive-Plan-2002-PDF?bidId= ''Cape May County Comprehensive Plan''], [[Cape May County, New Jersey]] Planning Board. Accessed October 27, 2019.</ref><ref>[https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/currents_gazettes/cape_may/bizarre-history-of-cape-may---town-bank-was/article_cf00f5e8-fdb6-5481-8c92-2c59b1e282b7.html "Bizarre History of Cape May --Town Bank was once touted as a whaling town"], ''[[The Press of Atlantic City]]'', August 1, 2012. Accessed October 27, 2019.</ref><ref>[http://capemaycountynj.gov/394/Lower-Township Lower Township], [[Cape May County, New Jersey]]. Accessed October 27, 2019.</ref> The sole remaining section of the original structure, which was moved several times during its history, is now preserved as Coxe Hall Cottage at [[Historic Cold Spring Village]], a 19th-century living history museum in Lower Township.<ref>{{cite web |date=2016-08-22 |title=Coxe Hall Cottage |url=https://hcsv.org/coxe-hall-cottage/ |access-date=2021-03-10 |website=Historic Cold Spring Village |language=en-US}}</ref>

Lower Township was formed as a precinct on April 2, 1723, and was incorporated by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on February 21, 1798, as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships established by the [[Township Act of 1798]].<ref name=Story/> The township's name came from its location when Cape May was split into three townships in 1723 at the same time that [[Middle Township, New Jersey|Middle Township]] and [[Upper Township, New Jersey|Upper Township]] were created.<ref>Stevens, Lewis Townsend. [https://books.google.com/books?id=e5UvAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA92 ''The History of Cape May County, New Jersey: From the Aboriginal Times to the Present Day''], p. 92. L.T. Stevens, 1897. Accessed September 3, 2015. "The county of Cape May was divided into three townships, Upper, Middle and Lower, April 2, 1723, of which the official record says:"</ref><ref>Schaad Jr., Jacob [http://www.shorenewstoday.com/cape_may/history/bizarre-history-of-cape-may-lower-township-s-borders-have/article_fd720f3c-49df-5810-bff6-c098ca1f28be.html "Bizarre History of Cape May: Lower Township's borders have been constantly changing"], ShoreNewsToday, May 15, 2014. Accessed September 3, 2015. "Lower Township has long had an image problem, its name not helping. Middle Township and Upper Township have no problem because it's okay to be at the top or even in the middle, but how much lower can you get than lower?"</ref>

Portions of the township were taken to form Cape Island Borough (March 8, 1848; now known as [[Cape May, New Jersey|Cape May city]]), [[Cape May Point, New Jersey|Cape May Point borough]] (created April 19, 1878; restored to Lower Township on April 8, 1896; re-created April 6, 1908), [[Holly Beach City, New Jersey|Holly Beach]] (April 14, 1885, now part of [[Wildwood, New Jersey|Wildwood city]]), [[South Cape May, New Jersey|South Cape May]] (August 27, 1894; restored to Lower Township after the borough was dissolved on April 30, 1945), [[Wildwood Crest, New Jersey|Wildwood Crest]] (April 6, 1910), and [[North Cape May, New Jersey|North Cape May]] (March 19, 1928; restored to Lower Township after it was dissolved on April 30, 1945).<ref name="Story"/>