Hamilton Township is a township in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 27,484, The Township of Hamilton was incorporated by the New Jersey Legislature on February 5, 1813.
Geographically, the township, and all of Atlantic County, is part of the South Jersey region of the state and of the Atlantic City-Hammonton metropolitan statistical area, which in turn is included in the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley.
History
Hamilton Township's origins are directly tied to the Great Egg Harbor River and its tributaries which run through it. George May, after whom the village of Mays Landing was named, built a shipyard and trading post near Babcock Creek in 1756. By the mid 19th century, Mays Landing reached the height of its shipbuilding.
From 1830 to 1880, more than 200 vessels were built along the Great Egg Harbor River with lumber from native forests and iron from Weymouth foundries. Half of them were produced at Mays Landing. But by the end of the century, wood shipbuilding began to disappear due to the lack of suitable timber. Iron was then substituted for hull construction.
Hamilton was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 5, 1813, from portions of Egg Harbor Township and Weymouth Township, while the area was still part of Gloucester County. Hamilton became part of the newly created Atlantic County in 1837. Portions of the township were taken to form Hammonton on March 5, 1866, and to form Buena Vista Township on March 5, 1867. The township was named for Alexander Hamilton.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 112.94 square miles (292.52 km<sup>2</sup>), including 110.90 square miles (287.22 km<sup>2</sup>) of land and 2.05 square miles (5.31 km<sup>2</sup>) of water (1.81%). Mays Landing has been the county seat of Atlantic County since it was formed in 1837.
Other unincorporated communities, localities, and places located partially or completely within the township include Mays Landing, the county seat of Atlantic County, and Bears Head, Carmantown, Catawba, Clarktown, Cologne, Dacosta, Emmelsville, Gravelly Run, Lake Lenape, Laureldale, Reega, Thompsontown, Weymouth, and Wilsons Landing.
The township borders the Atlantic County municipalities of Buena Vista Township, Egg Harbor Township, Estell Manor, Folsom, Galloway Township, Hammonton, Mullica Township and Weymouth Township.
Pinelands Reserve
The township is one of 56 South Jersey municipalities that are included within the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, a protected natural area of unique ecology covering , that has been classified as a United States Biosphere Reserve and established by Congress in 1978 as the nation's first National Reserve. Part of the township is included in the state-designated Pinelands Area, which includes portions of Atlantic County, along with areas in Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean counties.
The western three-quarters of the township is governed by regulation by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, which places major limitations on development in that portion of the township, which remains as pine forest with a distinctly rural character, with other portions designated as a Rural Development Area. Significant portions of the eastern quarter of the township are designated by the Pinelands Commission as part of the Regional Growth Area (RGA), in which development is "allowed and encouraged" in the area surrounding Atlantic City, New Jersey. The majority of the township's residents live in the area covered by the RGA, which has been developed in suburban fashion and includes shopping areas such as the Hamilton Mall, part of the township's of first class commercial retail properties.