Mullica 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 5,816, 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.
Mullica Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 13, 1838, from the western section of Galloway Township. Egg Harbor City was created from portions of the township on June 14, 1858, while the Town of Hammonton was created and split off on March 5, 1866.
The township and its river were named after Eric Pålsson Mullica, early Swedish settler (with Finnish ancestry) born in 1636 who founded a homestead on the river after moving there from the vicinity of Philadelphia, and who later moved to Mullica Hill in Gloucester County. When used as a common noun, ' is the Finnish term for a bull calf.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 56.84 square miles (147.22 km<sup>2</sup>), including 56.38 square miles (146.01 km<sup>2</sup>) of land and 0.47 square miles (1.21 km<sup>2</sup>) of water (0.82%).
Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Amatol, Colwell, Da Costa, Devonshire, East Hammonton, Indian Cabin, New Columbia, Pleasant Mills, Speedway, Weekstown, Wescoatville, West Egg Harbor and Woodland. Unincorporated communities in Mullica Township are largely identified by landmarks such as the Elwood Deli, the Sweetwater Casino, or the Weekstown Firehouse. The small unincorporated communities within the township engender a particularly high level of pride, and many Mullica Township residents refer to themselves as residents of their unincorporated community, before referring to themselves as residents of Mullica Township.
The township is located in the northwest portion of Atlantic County. It is bounded on the north by Washington Township in Burlington County (which is separated from it by the Mullica River); on the east by Egg Harbor City; on the south by Galloway Township and Hamilton Township; and on the west by the Town of Hammonton. The Township is approximately outside of Atlantic City and outside of Philadelphia.
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. All 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.