Timbuctoo Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Timbuctoo
In 1790, Burlington County had a bigger population of free blacks than any other county in the state of New Jersey. Timbuctoo was established in 1820 when Quaker abolitionists sold land to free blacks. In an 1860 census, Timbuctoo consisted of 150 residents and 37 dwellings. At one time, it also had a church and a school. Timbuctoo was a thriving community of free blacks and fugitive slaves, and its secluded location on the Rancocas Creek gave it the privacy it needed as a stop on the Underground Railroad. In 1860, the "Battle of Pine Swamp" took place here when armed residents successfully fought off efforts to capture a fugitive slave, Perry Simmons, "by a southern slave catcher aided by sympathetic local whites."*
Timbuctoo thrived until the 1930s, when residents started leaving to find jobs. Today, all that is left is the cemetery, where a number of black Civil War veterans are buried. Some descendants still live locally, and they aided the work of Temple University archeologists, who have done digs on the hill next to the cemetery with the help of local volunteers. It is sad that this once important part of our black county history is so little known.
Please respect the cemetery and especially, the grave stones as you search for this cache. Make sure to read the monument and the painted plaque as you wander around.
There is a scratch-off lottery ticket for the FTF!
*Quote from the Burlington County website on African American Historic Sites
Other information from the Washington Post, "Excavation sites such as Timbuctoo, NJ is helping to rewrite African American history" by DeNeen Brown, August 3, 2010
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