Editing Pilesgrove Township, New Jersey (section)

==Geography==
According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the township had a total area of 35.17 square miles (91.09&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), including 34.94 square miles (90.48&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of land and 0.23 square miles (0.61&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of water (0.67%).<ref name=CensusArea/><ref name=GR1 /> The [[Salem River]] flows through the township.<ref>[[DeLorme]] (2005). ''New Jersey Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. {{ISBN|0-89933-324-9}}.</ref>

The township borders the Salem County municipalities of [[Alloway Township, New Jersey|Alloway Township]], [[Carneys Point Township, New Jersey|Carneys Point Township]], [[Mannington Township, New Jersey|Mannington Township]], [[Oldmans Township, New Jersey|Oldmans Township]] and [[Upper Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey|Upper Pittsgrove Township]]. Pilesgrove Township also borders [[Gloucester County, New Jersey|Gloucester County]].<ref>[http://chnj.njpn.org/salem-county/ Salem County Map], Coalition for a Healthy NJ. Accessed March 2, 2020.</ref><ref>[https://www.state.nj.us/transportation/gis/maps/polnoroads.pdf New Jersey Municipal Boundaries], [[New Jersey Department of Transportation]]. Accessed November 15, 2019.</ref> The Borough of [[Woodstown, New Jersey|Woodstown]] is an independent municipality completely surrounded by Pilesgrove Township, making it part of 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" in the state, where one municipality entirely surrounds another.<ref>DeMarco, Megan. [http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/princeton_merger_voters_to_dec.html "Voters to decide whether to merge two Princetons into one"], ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', November 3, 2011. Accessed January 8, 2017. "There are 22 sets of 'doughnut towns' in New Jersey, those where one town wraps around the other town". Note that following voter approval of the Princeton merger, 21 pairs of "doughnut towns" remain.</ref> Woodstown serves as the more densely settled commercial core of the paired communities, while Pilesgrove is more agricultural.<ref>[http://www.dvrpc.org/reports/05030.pdf ''Environmental Resource Inventory for the Borough of Woodstown and the Township of Pilesgrove, Salem County, New Jersey''], [[Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission]], September 2005. Accessed November 8, 2015. "Woodstown is representative of a 19th century commercial center, which supported its agricultural hinterlands and linked to other commercial centers of varying size from Salem City in the south to Camden City in the north.... Since Woodstown is surrounded by Pilesgrove and is considerably denser, the borough's population has remained stable over the last decade."</ref>

[[Local government in New Jersey#Unincorporated communities|Unincorporated communities]] in the township include Avis Mills, Courees Landing, East Lake, Eldridges Hill, Fenwick, [[Friendship, New Jersey|Friendship]], Milltown, Paulding, Point Airy, Richmanville, Sharptown, Union Grove and Yorktown.<ref>[http://www.state.nj.us/infobank/localnames.txt Locality Search], State of [[New Jersey]]. Accessed November 26, 2014.</ref> The [[census-designated place]] of [[Auburn, New Jersey|Auburn]] is in the northwest part of the township, extending into [[Oldmans Township, New Jersey|Oldmans Township]].

The [[Pilesgrove Solar Farm]] is one of the largest in the state, covering {{convert|100|acres}} with 71,000 solar panels that generate 20 megawatts of electricity, enough to provide power for more than 5,000 homes.<ref>Dunn, Phil. [http://www.nj.com/salem/index.ssf/2010/10/ground_broken_in_pilesgrove_fo.html "Ground broken in Pilesgrove for what may be largest solar farm in the Northeast"], ''[[Today's Sunbeam]]'', October 20, 2010. Accessed June 3, 2015. "A groundbreaking ceremony was held here near Robbins Road Wednesday morning to mark the beginning construction phase of the largest solar farm in the Northeast.The 20-megawatt solar electric generating station is expected to house 71,000 panels and produce enough electricity to power 5,100 homes with clean, renewable energy."</ref>