Borough of Fieldsboro

Borough of Fieldsboro. Delaware River Heritage Trail. , Fieldsboro, incorporated in 1850, is the smallest municipality in Burlington County. Early land records identify the area as White Hill. One of its early settlers was Robert Field, who owned a wharf on the Delaware River, several businesses and a large farm., By 1750, White Hill was a small river port. White Hill is also the name of the second Field home, a large brick manor house which overlooks the Delaware River. During the Revolutionary War, when British forces controlled Philadelphia, American frigates and gunboats were stranded here. General Washington ordered the American fleet burned to prevent the British from capturing it., In 1804, entrepreneur Jonathan Rhea of Trenton purchased land from the Field estate, mapped out a town and began selling lots. His narrow alleys and closely spaced houses remain today. The area became known as White Hill Station when the Camden and Amboy, one of the nation's first railroads, arrived here in the 1830s. The C&A located its primary train shop, shipping wharf and repair facility between White Hill village and Black's Creek. Later in the century, other industries, including an iron works, were situated along the river., In the mid-twentieth century, a naval scrap yard was located just south of Fieldsboro, near Newbold Island. The Grille, the enormous 443-foot state yacht of the Third Reich, was scrapped here in 1951., [Caption:] , Iron works shipping dock at White Hill Station, c. 1880. Access to water and rail transportation and proximity to growing cities attracted many industries, including iron works, to the banks of the Delaware in the nineteenth century.