"Nice Town, Friendly People" (Northeast) - Maple Shade, NJ
N 39° 57.418 W 074° 59.236
18S E 501087 N 4422981
This site marks the second of a series of Welcome signs which designates various portions of Maple Shade, a quiet, old and friendly community of hard working blue-collar families. The sign is northeast of the town center.
Waymark Code: WM620A
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 03/19/2009
Views: 8
This sign is located along the main drag of town, Main Street and designates a shared border with western Moorestown, NJ. The sign is sponsored by Century 21 Realtors and is not in a particularly scenic or attractive part of town.
I have counted 6 signs with this slogan placed on various entrance points to this very old town. Some are located at a suburban scenic area reminiscent of Main Street America. Some signs, like this one are not. From my experience, the town is true to its creed.
A little history (from the town's website):
Maple Shade Township was first settled by the Roberts family in 1682 and developed in the early years, before the independence of the colonies, as primarily agricultural. For its first one hundred years, only Kings Highway served the area, providing poor travel, and residents chose travel by boat rather than overland as a result, until 1794 when the road that was to be Main Street was constructed to connect Kings Highway with the Cooper River ferry. Afterwards, new settlers and the families of the original settlers encouraged the division and sharing of the large plantations into smaller holdings, still agricultural in nature.
I thought the best part of this town was along Main Street. I saw many turn-of-the-century structures, a town common, clock, local VFW, memorials and everything else you would expect to find reminiscent of old town America.