New Barbadoes
- Identifier
- NJS-PLC-00334
- Place Type
- City, Town, or Village
- Description
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New Barbadoes was a township that existed in Bergen County, New Jersey, from 1710 to 1921, in the area surrounding present-day Hackensack City. The name New Barbadoes first became associated with this area in the 1660s, when the English first took over the colony from the Dutch. Among the earliest English settlers in the region were several wealthy planters from the Caribbean island of Barbados, who began purchasing enormous tracts of land between the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers and bringing enslaved people from Barbados to labor in New Jersey. Due to the influence of these transplants from Barbados, the peninsula formed by the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers became known as New Barbadoes Neck. This peninsula’s southern tip is now Kearny.
The territory of New Barbadoes Neck was originally part of Essex County, and its municipal administration in the late 17th century was combined with the township of Acquackanonk. In 1710, New Barbadoes township was officially transferred to Bergen County and established its own separate township administration. This addition of New Barbadoes greatly expanded Bergen County territory, and a small village called Hackensack, which was located within New Barbadoes, now became the seat of Bergen County. By 1715, the first Bergen County Court and Jail were built in the village of Hackensack; this place remains the Bergen County seat to this day and is now known as the City of Hackensack. Originally, New Barbadoes township included all of present-day Bergen County west of the Hackensack River. It also included modern-day Kearny (which has since then moved to Hudson County) and the vast majority of present-day Passaic County, being that part of the county that lies north of the Passaic River.
By 1716, New Barbadoes township was subdivided, with all of the territory west of the Saddle River taken to form the new Saddle River township, and the territory between the Saddle River and Hackensack River remaining in New Barbadoes. In 1775, the northernmost part of New Barbadoes (that is, the area north of present-day Paramus) was taken to form Harrington township. Thus, during the Revolutionary era and for the next 50 years, New Barbadoes township stretched from modern-day Kearny Point to modern-day Paramus, bounded by the Hackensack river on the east side and Passaic and Saddle Rivers on the west side. In 1826, New Barbadoes township was subdivided again, with all of its territory south of the village of Hackensack taken to form Lodi township. After the Civil War, the remaining territory of New Barbadoes further splintered into smaller municipalities, until only a small portion of the original township was intact by the turn of the 20th century. In 1921, that small remaining portion of New Barbadoes was renamed Hackensack City, consistent with this small area's long history as Hackensack village.
Thus, the municipality of New Barbadoes ceased to exist in 1921. Hackensack City can be considered its most direct descendant, but researchers of slavery in this region should keep in mind that vast tracts of land in northeastern New Jersey once belonged to New Barbadoes township, and records mentioning New Barbadoes may point to one of the many North Jersey municipalities situated west of the Hackensack River. - Locality
- New Barbadoes
- County (Modern)
- Bergen County
- State or Province
- New Jersey
- Country
- United States of America
- Latitude
- 40.87904826273997
- Longitude
- -74.04137937240293
- References
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John P. Snyder, The Story of New Jersey’s Civil Boundaries, 1606–1968 (Trenton, Bureau of Geology and Topography, 1969; New Jersey Geological Survey, 2004), https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf. See pages 8, 12, 50, 54, 56, 58, 82.
- Record Contributor
- Jesse Bayker
- Linked Places
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Places formed from a portion of New Barbadoes or formerly associated with this place:
- Resource class
- Location