Fairton is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Fairfield Township, in Cumberland County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Vineland-Millville-Bridgeton Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area for statistical purposes. As of the 2020 census, Fairton had a population of 1,060.
History
This area was occupied historically by the Lenape and Nanticoke peoples, both part of the Algonquian languages family of the Atlantic coast. Their territory was encroached on by European-American settlers from colonial times.
The first industry in Fairfield was a mill, established by English settler Samuel Fithian. He owned part of the Grist Mill on Forke Creek before 1702. No information has been discovered on the other owners, but the shares were probably held in common. At some time before 1763, the owners moved the mill dam to near Clarks Pond Road. The mill was owned by David Clark from 1759 to 1843.
In the 1810s, a pork and beef business was the principal industry in this area. In the center of town was a busy public wharf, from which were shipped vegetables, fish and lumber to large city markets. Fairton was also active in the boatbuilding industry; between 1850 and 1897, its yards built three sloops.
In 1978, the Indigenous peoples based in Cumberland County reorganized as the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation. Their cultural center is based in Fairton, and their tribal headquarters in Bridgeton. The tribe said that in 2016 they had 3,000 enrolled members, whose membership is based on documented descent from core families and blood quantum. The tribe has not obtained federal recognition. They contend that a state resolution recognized them, but in March 2016 a state court of New Jersey said that the state has not officially recognized any American Indian tribe in its territory and had no process to do so. Tribal members have lived for centuries in Cumberland and Salem counties in present-day New Jersey.