New Hanover Township is a township in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 6,367, The township, and all of Burlington County, is a part of the Philadelphia-Reading-Camden combined statistical area and the Delaware Valley.
History
New Hanover was originally formed by Royal charter on December 2, 1723, from portions of Chesterfield Township and Springfield Township. New Hanover was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial 104 townships by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. Portions of the township were taken to form Pemberton borough (December 15, 1826), Pemberton Township (March 10, 1846), North Hanover Township (April 12, 1905) and Wrightstown (March 4, 1918).
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 22.56 square miles (58.42 km<sup>2</sup>), including 22.33 square miles (57.84 km<sup>2</sup>) of land and 0.22 square miles (0.58 km<sup>2</sup>) of water (0.99%). McGuire AFB CDP is a CDP with a 2010 population of 3,710 located in portions of New Hanover Township (737 of the total) and North Hanover Township (2,973). Cookstown is a CDP with a 2020 population of 900.
Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Cranberry Hall, Cranbury Park, Fountain Green, Lewistown, Mahalala, Pointville, Shreve and Taylors Mountain.
The township borders North Hanover Township, Pemberton Township and Wrightstown in Burlington County; and Plumsted Township in Ocean County.
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 Burlington County, along with areas in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean counties.