Did You Know? A Look at Lacey's History

This is a new feature that looks at five facts of Lacey’s history provided by “Forging Ahead: The 125th Anniversary of Lacey Township,” a book developed by the local historical society and stored at the library.

1. Lake Barnegat used to be a cranberry bog. Years back, anyone who had a good source of water on his or her property took up cranberry growing. Lake Barnegat was known as Job’s Bog until a Works Projects Administration project in the 1930s converted and enlarged the area into a lake.

2. The tombstone of Paul Potter, a drummer boy in the Revolutionary War, sits at Good Luck Cemetery. He died on December 6, 1853, at 89 years minus one day.

3. Prior to Lacey Township, the land was wilderness with deer, wolves, wildcats, bears, beavers and more that the Lenape Indians used for food and clothing.

4. In the 1930s, an Indian grave typical of Lenape burials and gravegoods was discovered at the Forked River beach.

5. Bamber Lake used to be a pond utilized by Revolutionary War General John Lacey, whom the township was named after, for Ferrago Furnace. The business fashioned bog iron into useful tools. The municipal complex, dating from 1970, features a centennial memorial to General Lacey. The memorial is shaped like a bog furnace and made of bricks from three historic Lacey buildings that were demolished.