Tavistock, New Jersey
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox settlement Tavistock is a borough in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,<ref name=LWD2020/> an increase of 4 (+80.0%) from the 2010 census count of 5,<ref name=Census2010/><ref name=LWD2010/> which in turn reflected a decline of 19 (−79.2%) from the 24 counted in the 2000 census.<ref>Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023.</ref> As of the 2020 census, Tavistock's population was the second-smallest municipal population in the state of New Jersey; Walpack Township had a population of 7.<ref name=LWD2020/>
Tavistock was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 16, 1921. Its territory was drawn from portions of the now-defunct Centre Township.<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 109. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref> The name of the borough came from the estate in England of a family of early settlers.<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed October 11, 2015.</ref><ref>Greenblatt, Sarah. "Tavistock: No golf on Sunday? Hah!"Template:Dead link, The Courier-Post, October 18, 2006. Accessed October 11, 2015. "1917: Two sons of the prominent Gill Hopkins family of Baltimore that established Johns Hopkins University inherit the property, which has by now become a summer home renamed Tavistock, in honor of a family estate in England."</ref>
The borough was formed in order to allow the members of Tavistock Country Club to play golf on Sundays by members of the Victor Talking Machine Company.<ref name=NJ2018>Duhart, Bill. "The smallest town in N.J. (just 3 houses!) is the epitome of home rule", NJ.com, May 2018. Accessed September 22, 2019. "That's where Frank Middleton came in. He was an executive of the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden two decades into the 20th Century.... Middleton — a member of the Haddon Country Club saddled with Sunday Blue Laws that prohibited sports — had a new plan. He bought a 180-acre stretch of former farmland just over the Haddonfield borough line in 1920, on the edge of what was then Centre Township."</ref> This was prohibited at the Haddon Country Club, which was governed by a local blue law prohibiting sporting activities on Sundays.<ref>Rothschild, Barbara S. "Haddonfield: Quaker roots run deep", Courier-Post, October 19, 2006. Accessed June 25, 2008. "Another ban, in the form of blue laws, prohibited Sunday golfing, which led to the incorporation of Tavistock -- primarily a country club -- as a separate borough in 1921."</ref> Tavistock's secession from Haddonfield, New Jersey, the original site of the club, is said to have been driven by the fact that Haddonfield was (and remains) a dry borough, though Tavistock was formed in 1921 during Prohibition when liquor would have been banned.<ref>Strauss, Robert. "Ready, Set, Get Ready", The New York Times, May 14, 2000. Accessed September 22, 2019. "Local legend has it that Tavistock, the club and the town (population 10), seceded from nearby Haddonfield in a dispute over whether the club could serve liquor in otherwise dry Quaker Haddonfield."</ref><ref name=CP2008>Staff. "No golf on Sunday? Ha! They fixed that fast"Template:Dead link, Courier-Post, May 4, 2008. Accessed June 25, 2008. "In their 1989 book, "Lost Haddonfield," the historians noted Tavistock was established in 1921, when Prohibition prevented alcohol from being sold anywhere legally.... The Haddonfield Public School District serves children who live in Tavistock."</ref> Members of the club included State Senator Joseph Wallworth and Assembly Speaker T. Harry Rowland, who helped push the bill that created the new municipality to unanimous approval in the New Jersey Legislature.<ref name=NJ2018/>
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 0.28 square miles (0.71 km2), including 0.27 square miles (0.71 km2) of land and <0.01 square miles (0.01 km2) of water (1.07%).<ref name=CensusArea/><ref name=GR1 />
The borough borders Barrington, Haddonfield, and Lawnside.<ref>Areas touching Tavistock, MapIt. Accessed March 14, 2020.</ref><ref>Municipalities within Camden County, NJ, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. Accessed March 14, 2020.</ref><ref>New Jersey Municipal Boundaries, New Jersey Department of Transportation. Accessed November 15, 2019.</ref>
Demographics
2010 census
The 2010 United States Census counted 5 people in 3 households. Two households consisted of married couples and the third was a male over 65 years of age living alone. The population density was 19.7 per square mile (7.6/km2). The borough contained 3 housing units at an average density of 11.8 per square mile (4.6/km2). All residents were white. Two residents were aged 25 to 44 and three were older than 65. The median age was 66.3 years.<ref name=Census2010 />
Government
Local government
Tavistock operates under the Walsh Act form of New Jersey municipal government. The borough is one of 30 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use the commission form of government.<ref>Inventory of Municipal Forms of Government in New Jersey Template:Webarchive, Rutgers University Center for Government Studies, July 1, 2011. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref> The governing body is comprised of three non-partisan commissioners, who are elected at-large on a non-partisan basis to concurrent four-year terms of office as part of the May municipal election. Each commissioner is assigned a specific department to head in addition to their legislative functions and one commissioner is chosen to serve as mayor.<ref name=DataBook>2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book, Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, March 2013, p. 33.</ref> Tavistock has been governed under the Walsh Act by a three-member commission, since 1928.<ref>"The Commission Form of Municipal Government" Template:Webarchive, p. 53. Accessed June 3, 2015.</ref><ref>"Forms of Municipal Government in New Jersey" Template:Webarchive, p. 8. Rutgers University Center for Government Studies. Accessed June 1, 2023.</ref>
Template:As of, Tavistock's commissioners are Mayor Joseph Del Duca, Colin Mack-Allen and Mindy Del Duca, all serving concurrent terms of office ending December 31, 2025.<ref name=WhosWho>Who's Who, Borough of Tavistock. Accessed June 8, 2023.</ref><ref>2023 Municipal Data Sheet, Borough of Tavistock. Accessed June 8, 2023.</ref><ref name=Camden2021>2021 General Election November 2, 2021 Official Election Results, Camden County, New Jersey, update November 15, 2021. Accessed January 1, 2022.</ref>
In 2018, the borough had an average property tax bill of $31,376, the highest in the county, compared to an average bill of $8,767 statewide and more than double the average bill of $15,182 in runner-up Haddonfield.<ref>Marcus, Samantha. "These are the towns with the highest property taxes in each of N.J.’s 21 counties", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, April 22, 2019. Accessed November 5, 2019. "The average property tax bill in New Jersey was $8,767 last year. But there can be big swings from town to town and county to county.... The average property tax bill in Haddonfield Borough was $15,182 in 2018, the highest* in Camden County.... *The average property tax bill in Tavistock, which was formed in 1921 so members of the Tavistock Country Club could play golf on Sundays, was $31,736 last year. Although, technically, it is listed as a municipality, with just three homes and fewer than a dozen residents who live near the golf course, it is in a unique category."</ref>
Federal, state and county representation
Tavistock is located in the 1st Congressional District<ref name=PCR2012>Plan Components Report, New Jersey Redistricting Commission, December 23, 2011. Accessed February 1, 2020.</ref> and is part of New Jersey's 6th state legislative district.<ref name=Districts2011>Municipalities Sorted by 2011-2020 Legislative District, New Jersey Department of State. Accessed February 1, 2020.</ref><ref name=LWV2019>2019 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters. Accessed October 30, 2019.</ref><ref>Districts by Number for 2011-2020, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed January 6, 2013.</ref>
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Politics
As of March 2011, there were a total of seven registered voters in Tavistock, of which none were registered as Democrats, six (85.7%) were registered as Republicans and one (14.3%) was registered as Unaffiliated. There were no voters registered to other parties.<ref>Voter Registration Summary - Camden, New Jersey Department of State Division of Elections, March 23, 2011. Accessed October 15, 2012.</ref>
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Education
Tavistock is a non-operating school district.<ref>13 Non-Operating School Districts Eliminated, New Jersey Department of Education press release dated July 1, 2009. Accessed December 26, 2009.</ref> Public school students in Tavistock are served by the Haddonfield Public Schools in the adjoining community of Haddonfield as part of a sending/receiving relationship.<ref name=CP2008/> As of the 2018–2019 school year, the district, comprised of five schools, had an enrollment of 2,749 students and 215.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1.<ref name=NCES>District information for Haddonfield School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed April 1, 2020.</ref>
Transportation
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Roads and highways
Template:As of, the borough had a total of Template:Convert of roadways, all of which is maintained by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.<ref>Camden County Mileage by Municipality and Jurisdiction, New Jersey Department of Transportation, May 2010. Accessed November 6, 2013.</ref>
Interstate 295 passes through but the nearest interchange is immediately over the border in neighboring Haddonfield.<ref>Interstate 295 Straight Line Diagram, New Jersey Department of Transportation, February 2008. Accessed November 6, 2013.</ref> The New Jersey Turnpike runs briefly through Tavistock, although the nearest exit is for Bellmawr and Runnemede.<ref>New Jersey Turnpike Straight Line Diagram, New Jersey Department of Transportation, January 1997. Accessed November 6, 2013. Both the Census Bureau map above and one provided by Google Maps shows the Turnpike passing through the southeast corner of the borough, but this is not shown in the diagram here.</ref> The road serving the borough's residences and the country club, Tavistock Lane, sits on the border of Tavistock and Haddonfield.<ref name=CamdenDOTMap>Template:Cite map</ref>
Public transportation
NJ Transit local bus service is available on the 451 route between Camden and the Lindenwold station.<ref>Camden County Bus / Rail Connections, NJ Transit, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 22, 2009. Accessed October 12, 2012.</ref><ref>South Jersey Transit Guide Template:Webarchive, Cross County Connection, as of April 1, 2010. Accessed October 28, 2014.</ref>
Notable people
Template:Category see also People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Tavistock include:
- John Aglialoro (born 1943), businessman and film producer<ref name=NJ2018/>
- Joan Carter (born 1943), businesswoman and philanthropist<ref name=NJ2018/>