Town of the week:
Washington Township, NJ

Washington Township covers about 21 square miles of Gloucester County and counted 48,677 residents in the 2020 Census. Turnersville is part of the township. Many homes here have a Sewell mailing address, because the 08080 zip code covers much of the township, and Realtor.com ranked 08080 third on its 2026 Hottest ZIP Codes list. Route 42 runs through town, and Washington Lake Park covers 330 acres, the largest municipal park in the state by the township's count.

Schools, grade by grade

Washington Township runs its own schools from preschool through 12th grade. Bells, Birches, Hurffville, Thomas Jefferson, Wedgwood and Whitman elementary schools teach kindergarten through grade 5. Bunker Hill, Chestnut Ridge and Orchard Valley middle schools teach grades 6 to 8, and Washington Township High School teaches grades 9 to 12.

How the township took shape

Washington Township was formed from Deptford Township on February 17, 1836, at a meeting at the Green Tree Tavern, according to the township's history. It became part of Camden County in 1844, and most of it came back to Gloucester County on February 28, 1871.

Olde Stone House Village

The Olde Stone House Historic Village is at 208 Egg Harbor Road. Its Olde Stone House, the George Jr. and Sarah Morgan House, was built about 1765 of local ironstone and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2019. The village also includes Bunker Hill Presbyterian Church, which opened on June 14, 1869, for a congregation founded in 1849, and the Blackwood Railroad Station, built in 1891 in Blackwood and later moved to the village.