Tavistock was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 16, 1921, from portions of the now-defunct Centre Township.[21] The name of the borough came from the estate in England of a family of early settlers.[22][23]
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.[24] This was prohibited at the Haddon Country Club which was governed by a local blue law prohibiting sporting activities on Sundays.[25] 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.[26][27] 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.[24]
Geography
Gill Homestead in Tavistock in 1936
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%).[1][2]
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.[17]
Due to the borough's population, the Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey did not include information about income and poverty for residents.[36]
2000 census
As of the 2000 United States census,[14] there were 24 people, 7 households, and 7 families residing in the borough. The population density was 94.3 inhabitants per square mile (36.4/km2). There were 7 housing units at an average density of 27.5 per square mile (10.6/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 91.67% White and 8.33% African American.[34][35]
There were 7 households, out of which 57.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 71.4% were married couples living together, 14.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 0.0% were non-families. No households were made up of individuals, and none had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.43 and the average family size was 3.43.[1]
In the borough, the population was spread out, with 37.5% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males.[1]
The median income for a household in the borough was $58,750, and the median income for a family was $36,875. Males had a median income of $76,250 versus $46,250 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $14,600. There are 20.0% of families living below the poverty line and 21.7% of the population, including 25.0% of under eighteens and none of those over 64.[1]
Government
Local government
Tavistock Borough Hall inside the confines of the country club
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.[37] 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.[6] Tavistock has been governed under the Walsh Act by a three-member commission, since 1928.[38][39]
As of 2023[update], 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.[3][40][41]
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.[42]
Federal, state and county representation
Tavistock is located in the 1st Congressional District[43] and is part of New Jersey's 6th state legislative district.[44][45][46]
Camden County is governed by a Board of County Commissioners composed of seven members chosen at-large in partisan elections for three-year terms on a staggered basis by the residents of the county, with either two or three seats up for election each year as part of the November general election. At a reorganization meeting held in January after each election, the newly constituted Board of Commissioners selects one member to serve as Director and another as Deputy Director, each serving a one-year term in that role.[52] As of 2025[update], Camden County's Commissioners are:
Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. (D, Collingswood, 2026),[53]
Commissioner Deputy Director Edward T. McDonnell (D, Pennsauken Township, 2025),[54]
Virginia Ruiz Betteridge (D, Runnemede, 2025),[55]
Almar Dyer (D, Pennsauken Township, 2027),[56]
Melinda Kane (D, Cherry Hill, 2027),[57]
Jeffrey L. Nash (D, Winslow Township, 2027),[58] and
Jonathan L. Young Sr. (D, Berlin Township, 2026).[59][52][60][61][62]
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.[70]
In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney received 66.7% of the vote (2 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 33.3% (1 vote), and other candidates receiving no votes, among the 3 ballots cast by the borough's 6 registered voters for a turnout of 50.0%.[71][72] In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 71.4% of the vote (5 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama, who received around 28.6% (2 votes), with 7 ballots cast among the borough's 7 registered voters, for a turnout of 100.0%.[73] In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 88.9% of the vote (8 ballots cast), outpolling Democrat John Kerry, who received 11.1% (1 vote), with 9 ballots cast among the borough's 11 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 81.8.[74]
In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 100.0% of the vote (1 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono and other candidates who received no votes, among the 4 ballots cast by the borough's 5 registered voters (3 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 80.0%.[75][76] In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 100.0% of the vote (5 ballots cast), ahead of both Democrat Jon Corzine and Independent Chris Daggett who received none, with 5 ballots cast among the borough's 7 registered voters, yielding a 71.4% turnout.[77]
Education
Tavistock is a non-operating school district.[78] 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.[27] 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.[79] Schools in the district (with 2018–2019 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[80]) are
Central Elementary School[81] with 419 students in grades K–5,
Elizabeth Haddon Elementary School[82] with 367 students in grades K–5,
J. Fithian Tatem Elementary School[83] with 422 students in grades Pre-K–5,
Haddonfield Middle School[84] with 659 students in grades 6–8 and
Haddonfield Memorial High School[85] with 869 students in grades 9–12.[86][87]
Interstate 295 passes through but the nearest interchange is immediately over the border in neighboring Haddonfield.[89] The New Jersey Turnpike runs briefly through Tavistock, although the nearest exit is for Bellmawr and Runnemede.[90] The road serving the borough's residences and the country club, Tavistock Lane, sits on the border of Tavistock and Haddonfield.[91]
^Greenblatt, Sarah. "Tavistock: No golf on Sunday? Hah!"[permanent 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."
^ abcdDuhart, 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."
^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."
^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."
^ abStaff. "No golf on Sunday? Ha! They fixed that fast", 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."
^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."
^Full Biography, Congressman Donald Norcross. Accessed January 3, 2019. "Donald and his wife Andrea live in Camden City and are the proud parents of three grown children and grandparents of two."
_between_Exit_4_and_Exit_3_in_Tavistock,_Camden_County,_New_Jersey.jpg)
