Baker’s Acres
Campground was founded in 1968 by The Baker
Family. Read on to learn about the history
of our campground and the people who started
it!
A favorite
quote of Jack Baker is by the great Greek
philosopher, Plato. He once said "Necessity,
who is the mother of invention". That is
almost the perfect quotation to describe the
birth of Baker’s Acres. To fully describe
it, you must add a few other words, such as
desperation, determination and passion. All
that and then you have to add a touch of
insanity, as well.
Anne and her
family came from a very modest home on a
farm in Cranberry, NJ. All sixteen of the
children worked the farm, and many of them
had jobs off the farm as well to help
support the large family. John “Reds” Baker
and Anne Cier’s meeting was an arranged
meeting, thanks to Anne’s sister. Reds was
stationed at an Armory/Ammunitions Plant
where Anne had just started working as a
receptionist. She was still a senior in high
school, on the cusp of graduation. Anne’s
two sisters also worked at the Ammunition
plant. Maggie, Anne’s older sister,
introduced Anne to Reds. Reds also came from a
modest background.
After only a few meetings, Reds was sent to
war. In World War II, Reds was in the 3rd
Armored Division and drove a tank. The 3rd
Armored Division is now known to have lost
more tanks than any other Division during
the war. While in Germany, he drove his tank
during the Battle of the Bulge and lost a
lot of brave friends and comrades to the
war. All during his deployment, Anne and
Reds sent letters regularly. Even having
only dated a few times, Anne and Reds knew
they were meant for each other. After the
battle, it is said that his Unit was
scheduled for Japan, and all expected that
he would be heading there next. However, one
day Anne received a call from Reds saying,
“I’m home!”
In 1946 they
were married in Hightstown, NJ.
The next
several years would be full of trials and
hardships for the Bakers. Reds worked for
the Railroad out of Morrisville, NJ where he
was laid off every winter. After they were
married, they lived in Hightstown for a
while. It was there that the first of the
Baker children, Carol, was born. They would
move several more times; from Hightstown to
Metuchen to Massachusetts to Trenton and
then finally to Levittown in 1951. In
Levittown Anne and Reds purchased a house
and settled in. The rest of their children,
Gail, Jack, Rich and Debbie were born in
that little Levittown home. Striving to make
a better life for their family, they took up
an offer by Reds’ brother to move to the
state of Washington. Reds had been laid off
again, as was quite common for that era in
America. There wasn’t enough work to keep
him on. The promise of being able to build
homes and support his family was enough for
them to take the risk. The family rented out
their house in Levittown and made the trip
across country. Although the construction
promise didn’t work out, Reds got a job with
the Operating Engineers Union. He even
helped with the construction of the Seattle
Space Needle.
Although Reds
had found work in Washington, the family was
not happy. It seemed to rain more than
anything else and the little Baker children
were stuck in the house day after day. Anne
and Reds decided to move back to
Pennsylvania but there was no money to do
so. Anne, being a true entrepreneurial
spirit, took a class on making wood fiber
flowers. Reds would sell the corsages she
made to his friends and co-workers. By
pinching pennies, making those delicate
wooden flowers and even borrowing a little
where she could, they were able to finally
move back to their little house in
Levittown.
Desperation
set in when there seemed to be no end to the
lay-offs each winter and waiting in
government surplus food lines. One day, Anne
noticed an advertisement in the local paper
for a camping club right in Levittown. Their
limited income meant that vacations were out
of the option, as was any sort of frivolous
spending. By making her wooden flowers and
by direct-selling cloths such as Queensway
and Beesline, Anne was able to save enough
money for the family to buy a camping
trailer. In the summers the Bakers loved to
go camping, first in that little travel
trailer and then in a big old canvas tent.
That passion turned into a determination to
someway, someday have their very own
campground.
They would
discuss where their “campground” would one
day be. Should they buy in the mountains or
at the shore? The conversation would go
round and round. Anne’s mother wisely said,
“Go to the shore. There are a lot of
mountains between here and the other side,
but only two oceans.” The touch of insanity
mentioned earlier came in when they thought
they had a chance to buy acreage down at the
Jersey shore. They had no money to start a
business and even less experience. However,
it seems as if fate had plans when they had
a chance encounter with the Mayor of
Barnegat, NJ, Mr. Elmer Seaman. Reds and
Elmer became the greatest of friends. Reds
confided in Elmer of his and his family’s
campground dreams. As it turned out, Elmer’s
father owned land in Parkertown, just
minutes from the shore. Encouraged by
Elmer’s father, the two friends went to walk
the property. Reds instantly fell in love
with the old growth forest, the sandy soil,
and the pristine beauty of the land. The
Seamans’ loved the Bakers’ family values,
vision and determination. It was settled.
They sold the land on a handshake. Being
good people, the Seamans’ set the price fair
and held the mortgage with no interest.
In 1965 Reds,
Anne and their five children moved into a
small house they had built on the new
acquired property and started working the
land with hand tools. Reds worked for Bass
River State Forest during the day, did as
much side work as he possibly could on his
own time, and with every other waking moment
he, Anne and family would work at the
campground. Anne continued to sell her
clothes and stretched every penny to its
fullest.
Baker’s Lane
was the first road to be completed. When
both ends of the road met it was a milestone
not to be forgotten and modest celebration
broke out. Reds and Anne even enjoyed some
Iron City Beer while they celebrated
alongside their family and friends. In 1968,
with only 46 campsites, an “Open” sign could
be seen hanging on the entrance gates for
the first time. Everyone was elated.
Families immediately started camping at
Baker’s Acres and there were smiles for
everyone. It seemed as if their dream had
finally come true.
Yet as with
most great stories, the happy times that
surrounded the grand-opening were short
lived, and that was in thanks to some local
politicians. They wanted the land where the
campground sat, but Mr. Seaman would not
sell it to them. The politicians told Reds
they would get the land, one way or the
other, and they meant it. After the Bakers
were given the “green light” from the
township to start the campground, they
quietly rezoned the land and closed the
campground down for non-conforming use.
Reds and Anne
were harassed and driven to the verge of
bankruptcy. They were forced to sell
everything they had just to pay court costs.
The fight against City Hall went on for two
very long years and seemed to be a losing
battle. If it wasn’t for Anne’s tenacity and
a great honest lawyer who took a stance
against evil to help the little guy, then
the township may have won and there would be
a sandpit in place of Baker’s Acres. That
lawyer was Guy Alamo from Toms River, NJ. He
worked for free, with a promise from Reds
and Anne that they would send small payments
when they could afford to do so. He saw the
shake down the township was putting the
Bakers through and after those two years of
hard fighting and gritted teeth the Baker
family won and reopened the front gates in
1970. But the fighting came at a cost; there
was no money, no equipment and no campers.
Once again,
the labor of love began. Sites were carved
out of the land with every free minute the
family had. Car lights and lanterns were
often used to extend the work well into the
night. Again, the family went without,
wherever possible, so that any penny saved
could be invested into the land. Slowly the
campground grew from the original 46 into
101 campsites. Along the way, every camper
became a personal friend and was considered
part of our extended family. Reds was known
to stop in at campers’ sites, sit with them
by the fire and take a moment to enjoy what
was finally achieved. Since moving to the
area, the family worked hard to become
active members in the community. Reds become
an upstanding member of the West Creek
Volunteer Fire Company, as did Jack. In
retrospect, those seven years must seem like
the golden hour. The family was together,
supporting one another, turning dreams into
something real. It was still a hard life,
but it was a happy, rewarding type of hard.
The kind of hard that you know blesses
people along the way.
July
of 1977 was a beautiful month, and the 22of
July was one of its nicest days. It started
with crystal blue skies and warm breezes.
The campground children were running about
and their voices were carried up in the air
with the song of the summer birds. Reds and
Jack were hard at work; Anne could be found
in the office. Everyone was going about
their normal day-to-day tasks. No one could
have ever guessed that fateful date would be
the darkest of our history. There was no way
to know. When the fire whistle was sounded,
Reds and Jack quickly responded. By day’s
end, four brave Firemen from Eagleswood
Volunteer Fire Company would fatally fall,
never to rise again. They were the victims
of a raging forest fire in Bass River State
Forest, the very place that Reds had worked
while the family established Baker’s Acres.
The fire was started at the hands of an
arsonist who has never seen the justice that
is so deserved. One of those four Firemen
was John “Reds” Frank Baker. Upon hearing
this news, the air was sucked out of the
Baker family forever. Never again would Reds
greet his beloved campers with that big
smile and shake their hands with his own
gentle, bear-sized hand.
The family
was devastated, but they were born strong.
They pulled together to pick up the pieces
the best they could, with Matriarch Anne
Baker leading the way through teary eyes.
The whole family did so much and worked so
hard; they gave all they could. Jack Baker
was 20 when they lost Reds. Jack grew up
working at his father’s side; Reds’ “little
buddy”. Now, he had to step into some very
large shoes. Gail Baker was by that time
Gail Brenner. She and her husband Conrad
were instrumental in the work and the
motivation the family needed. Jack and Anne
ran the day to day; Gail and Conrad would be
at the campground on weekends and as often
as possible. Carol and her husband Dave
Driscoll helped out a lot, too. Richard was
young, and helped for a while. Debbie was
only 14 at the time and did what she could.
Even through
the grief of their loss, the Bakers
continued to improve what was before them. A
few years later, Thomas Cramer, a long time
camper, began working with Jack and Anne to
increase the size of the campground to 250
sites. He also helped to add a new pool and
Recreation Hall. Tom was a motivated man
with big ideas for the campground. Although
he and Jack butted heads more often than
not, it was clear that Tom cared greatly for
the campground and for the Baker family.
In another
twist of fate, the Tindall family, from
Franklinville, NJ, had started camping at
Baker’s Acres when they were evacuated from
Bass River State Forest during that terrible
fire. Jerry and Marie Tindall immediately
made the campground their new “go-to”
destination. In 1981, Jack married Maureen
Tindall, their youngest daughter. She was a
natural fit and a huge asset to the
campground and to the family. She grounded
Jack in a way that he never knew he needed.
Maureen, or “Mo” as she is known to most,
learned the business from the bottom up and
excelled in it. A few years after she Jack
and were married, Tom and Anne retired.
After being “silent” partners for some
years, Anne sold the campground to Jack and
Maureen in 1991.
As the years
passed, Jack and Maureen had three children,
Monica, John and Jason. The three of them
would happily tell you that growing up in a
campground was the best gift their parents
could have ever given them. The friends they
have made and the people they have met along
the way have truly shaped them into the
adults they have grown to be. All three are
actively involved in the campground and have
their own dreams of continuing the
improvements that the generations before
them started. Johnny is a natural
“people-person” with patience and empathy.
He married Katie Kendra in April of 2014. Jason has spent is whole life
with a mission to make the people around him
happy and light their faces up with
laughter. Monica is now happily married to
Mike Frazer, originally from Cape May. They
even have three of their own little guys,
Michael,
Matthew and Malcolm, whose love for the campground is
already strongly present. They never tire of
being at Baker’s Acres, especially when they
get to be with their Grandparents and
Uncles!
Since Jack
and Mo purchased the campground, they have
continued to grow and expand the sites, the
activities and the amenities. One of Baker’s
greatest pleasures is seeing their return
campers every year. With over 250 camp
sites, one would think it would be hard to
keep track of the Seasonal and return
campers. But, it is not. The Bakers value
them all. They know that without the people
who call Baker’s Acres their “home away from
home” they would not be here. It is their
motto, “Where Friends Are Made for Life”
that they have been and continue to live by.
It is a blessing for them to see the faces
of the children who have spent their summers
at the campground, now adults, bringing
their own families to Baker’s Acres.
Memories have been made there. Friends have
been made there. Generations, new and old,
return there. God willing, Baker’s Acres
will see another 40 years, with new
generations, new memories and new friends.
As Abraham
Lincoln once said, “I like to see a man
proud of the place in which he lives.
I like to see a man live so that his place
will be proud of him.”
The Bakers
say, “We are proud of Baker’s Acres. We like
to think that Baker’s Acres is proud of us.”
History of Little Egg Harbor
Originally part of
Burlington County, Little Egg Harbor took
its name from the portion of a bay called
Egg Harbor (known today as Little Egg
Harbor) by the Dutch sailors because of the
eggs found in nearby gull nests. The first
known account of the town was made by
Captain Cornelius Jacobsen May in 1614.
The first European to
settle the township was Hendrick Jacobs
Falkenberg, who likely arrived by 1693 when
he does not appear on a census of the Swedes
along the Delaware River, where he had lived
for nearly three decades. Though he was from
Holstein (now in Germany), his first wife
was a Finn and part of the Swedish
community. Falkenberg settled on an 800-acre
tract of land that he had acquired from the
Lenni Lenape Indians in 1674, and a 1697
deed re-confirmed this earlier purchase.
This tract included the two islands of
Monhunk and Minnicunk later known as Wills
Island and Osborn Island.
Falkenberg was a
linguist, fluent in the Lenape language, and
was considered southern New Jersey's
foremost language interpreter involving land
transactions between the Indians and the
European settlers, particularly the English
Quakers.
In October 1778, the
Little Egg Harbor Massacre took place as
Patrick Ferguson was wreaking havoc on
Colonial shipping in the Mullica River.
Kazimierz Pułaski and his newly raised
forces were ordered to oppose his actions.
Pulaski's Legion, along with three companies
of light infantry, three troops of light
horse, and one artillery detachment, came
too late to be of great use against
Ferguson's operations. But their arrival did
stop Ferguson from raiding the iron works at
Batsto, and stemmed their attacks on
privateers at The Forks of the Mullica
River.
They then set up camp on
a farm. A deserter, Lt. Gustav Juliet, found
Ferguson and told him of Pulaski's
encampment; he mentioned that morale was
fairly low, and security almost nonexistent,
so that a surprise attack would be
devastating. Ferguson promptly loaded 250 of
his best men onto boats and rowed them, in
the dark, some ten miles (16 km) to Osborne
Island. He then marched them a further two
miles (3 km) to the site of the infantry
outpost, which comprised fifty men a short
distance from the main encampment. At first
light, Ferguson ordered the attack; only
five of his quarry were taken alive. Pulaski
eventually led his mounted troops up,
causing Ferguson to retreat to his boats
minus a few men that had fallen into the
colonists' hands. A memorial on Radio Road
commemorates the attack.
One of the first recorded
ships of the township was a sloop belonging
to Thomas Ridgway Sr. John Mathis Sr. also
had a ship which his son, Daniel, sailed the
West Indian routes. They made a profit from
selling clams and oysters.
The 825 foot Tuckerton
Wireless Tower (39.5585°N 74.3706°W) was
built in 1912 by the German "Hochfrequenzmaschin
Aktiengesellschaft Fuer Drahtlose
Telegraphie" company (The High Frequency
Machine Corporation for Wireless Telegraphy,
often referred to as HOMAG) when the
present-day Mystic Island was called Hickory
Island. The tower was used to communicate
with an identical radio telegraph station in
Eilvese, Germany starting on Jun 19, 1914,
less than two weeks before the assassination
of Archduke Ferdinand. The station continued
to communicate with Eilvese until America
entered World War I on April 6, 1917. It is
rumored that it was used to send the message
to order the attack by a German U-boat on
the RMS Lusitania. After President Wilson's
Declaration of Neutrality, the President
ordered the US Navy to take over the station
on Sep 9, 1914 to assure the neutrality of
messages sent to and from the station;
however, the station continued to be
operated by German nationals employed by
HOMAG and continued to communicate only with
the Eilvese radio station.
When America entered the
war, all U.S. radio stations were seized and
shut down by Executive Order. The remaining
German personnel at Tuckerton immediately
became war prisoners and were replaced by
U.S. Navy personnel. The Navy used the
Tuckerton Radio Station for transatlantic
communications while the naval radio
stations in New Brunswick, NJ and Sayville,
NY were undergoing major transmitter and
antenna upgrades. Tuckerton was used for
fleet broadcasts after installations of 200
kilowatt transmitters at New Brunswick and
Sayville were completed in June, 1918.
After the war,
the Tuckerton Wireless Station was included
in German war reparations paid to America.
Shortly afterwards, it was sold to RCA which
operated it until 1948 as a backup to their
famous Radio Central facility in Rocky
Point, New York. In 1921, RCA installed two
massive Alexanderson alternators, which were
removed in 1948. For transatlantic
communications, the radio station operated
under the call signs WCI and WGG. For
coastal communications, after World War I,
the station operated under the callsign WSC.
The 820-foot (250 m) steel tower, anchored
by three large concrete blocks, was taken
down on December 27, 1955. The three huge
anchor blocks still exist today, in a
backyard on North Ensign Drive and in the
middle of South Ensign Drive and Staysail
Drive. Many smaller anchor blocks providing
foundations for smaller towers visible in
this photo, that supported the umbrella
antenna are still visible in the lagoons.
Remains of the large tower can be seen in
scraps at the Giffordtown Museum.
~ courtesy of Wikipedia and www.leht.com.
