The top photo is my Uncle Jack Coffey with two other Hamilton Township Police officers; Uncle Jack was one the first Police Officers in Hamilton Township.
The bottom photo is my Uncle Jack and his wife Annabelle Coffey on their fiftieth wedding anniversary. I remember when they lived on Church Street, in the long apartment like house that was built for the workers of the Grist and Saw Mills.
When the highway bypass of Yardville was built, now known as Route 130, the house was torn down. It was then they moved to Crosswicks, on the Crosswicks – Hamilton Square Road, just around the corner from Ocker’s Barrel.
After Uncle Jack passed away I can still remember Aunt Bella (as I knew her), coming to church driving either a late 1940’s or early 1950’s faded blue four door Plymouth.
These photos were sent to me by Jack and Annabelle’s Great Granddaughter.
One of the last recollections of Uncle Jack was after his retirement he was the watchman when the development know as Groveville Gardens was built, in the 1950’s. As kids we would cut through the growing development to get to one of our favorite swimming spots on the Crosswicks Creek, known as Cold Spring. Somtimes Uncle Jack would see us and yell "Hey where are you kids going", then laugh because he knew where we were going.
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Cold Spring, at this point the creek made a turn and this caused it to have a nice Gravel bottom, coming in at this point there was a very cold and clear spring feeding the creek, hence the name, “Cold Spring”.
There were times we would sit in the icy water of the spring, just to see who could sit in it the longest, the water flowed icy cold even in the summer.
Cold Spring had a high bank on the Groveville side, perfect for jumping off into the creek. Back then you never had to worry about cutting your self on a bottle or can in the water, soda only came in glass bottles, there were no canned soda and the bottles were returned to the store for five cents for a large bottle and two cents for a small, no one would waste that kind of money by breaking it in the creek in the 1950’s. Besides, if anyone was caught breaking a bottle in the creek the punishment would be severe, from the other kids that swam there.
There were times we would sit in the icy water of the spring, just to see who could sit in it the longest, the water flowed icy cold even in the summer.
Cold Spring had a high bank on the Groveville side, perfect for jumping off into the creek. Back then you never had to worry about cutting your self on a bottle or can in the water, soda only came in glass bottles, there were no canned soda and the bottles were returned to the store for five cents for a large bottle and two cents for a small, no one would waste that kind of money by breaking it in the creek in the 1950’s. Besides, if anyone was caught breaking a bottle in the creek the punishment would be severe, from the other kids that swam there.
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