Going down Mill Road toward the bridge by the
spillway
at Evans Lake with the Mews on the right, the lagoon on the left,
and
the
lake directly ahead, it is difficult to realize that the areas
were so
different just some sixty years ago. In 1913 Mill Road was there,
but
on
the right were the woods with a standpipe standing just off Kings
Highway.
On the left, Cooper Creek ran through the cow pasture on its way
to the
Delaware River. High on the hill where the Parkway Apartments now
are,
was the Munn's farmhouse whose cows supplied Haddonfield with
milk. The
mill hole under the bridge by the dam was the fishing and swimming
spot
for the kids who would spend all day there during the summers. The
banks
were held in place by hard bags of cement. Charred embers of the
old
mill
were still in evidence and the old wooden spillway pilings were
still
there
under the water. With the dam gone, no lake existed; just a twelve
foot
stream ran through from the direction of the Batesville bridge.
That
this
was tidewater was proven by the presence of the river suckers that
could
be caught then all along the creek. On the right of Mill Road on
the
shore
of the lake was a house that was occupied by Mr. William Oakley, a
Civil
War veteran, who was an employee of the mill when it was in
operation.
In later years old Dave lived in the house, and for a few dollars
each
summer he was caretaker of the canoes that the young swains wanted
watched.
Across the bridge and farther up the road opposite John Croft's
farmhouse
which is still standing, stood an old two story wooden house where
the
miller lived who operated the mill. The barn near the house was on
the
boundary line with half of it in Haddonfield and half in Delaware
Township.
The mill was destroyed by fire which was blamed on an itinerant
umbrella
mender who had been given permission to sleep in it. In use it had
been
that largest flour mill in the area. Sam Patton did most of the
reminiscing
of this lake area, as in his boyhood he lived in the miller's old
house.
Sam also recalls that Cooper Creek was navigable from the Delaware
River
nearly up to Evans Lake because barges were able to unload cargoes
at
the
Grove Street bridge which was then know as Stoy's Landing.