Dennisville is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

located within Dennis Township, in

Cape May County Cape May County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Much of the county is located on Cape May bound by Delaware Bay to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and east. Adjacent to the Atlantic coastline are fiv ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. It is part of the Ocean City

Metropolitan Statistical Area In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...

. Its postal ZIP Code is 08214. Dennisville is on the south side of

Dennis Creek Dennis Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of Delaware Bay in Cape May County, New Jersey in the United States.Gertler, Edward. ''Garden ...

and is the most important community within Dennis Township. The main transportation artery is

New Jersey Route 47 Route 47 is a state highway in the southern part of New Jersey. It runs from Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood, New Jersey, Wildwood, Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County north to U.S. Route 130 in Brooklawn, New Jersey, Brooklawn, Camden Count ...

(Delsea Drive).

Demographics

History

Dennisville was founded in 1726 by Anthony Ludlam. The first

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

in the area was Dennis Creek, established September 7, 1802, with Jeremiah Johnson as first postmaster. The name was changed to Dennisville in 1854. In the 1880s, a local industry sprung up—described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as "the like of which does not exist anywhere else in the world"—in which cedar trees that had fallen as much as decades earlier were recovered from under the surface of local swamps. The trees, ranging in size from in diameter, were first discovered in 1812 and became the foundation of a thriving economic boom in the area for shingles and staves.

Emergency services

Fire

Education

As with other parts of Dennis Township, the area is zoned to Dennis Township Public Schools (for grades K-8) and

Middle Township Public Schools The Middle Township Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in kindergarten through twelfth grade from Middle Township, in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2018–19 school ...

(for high school). The latter operates

Middle Township High School Middle Township High School is a four-year public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Middle Township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Middle Township Public Schools. In ...

. Countywide schools include

Cape May County Technical High School Cape May County Technical High School, located in Middle Township, which provides vocational and technical education to students in ninth through twelfth grades from Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Cape May ...

and

Cape May County Special Services School District The Cape May County Special Services School District (CMCSSSD) is a special education public school district headquartered in Middle Township, in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, whose schools offer educational and therapeutic services ...

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Dennisville include: * Jonathan Maslow (1948-2008), author who wrote extensively about nature, with a focus on obscure and little understood animals. *

Jarrett Porter Jarrett Porter (born 1993) is an American baritone known for his performances as an opera and lieder singer. Early life and education Porter was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in the Dennisville section of Dennis Township, New ...

(born 1993),

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

known for his performances as an opera and

lieder In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French sp ...

singer.Jarrett Porter

Opera Saratoga Opera Saratoga (until January 2011, named the Lake George Opera) is a professional opera company based in Saratoga Springs, New York. It performs an annual summer festival of three fully staged operas and operettas. The company and its associated ...

. Accessed December 25, 2022. "Hometown: Dennisville, NJ" File:Dennisville NJ Methodist.JPG, United Methodist Church on Main Street H Chester 1898 Dennisville HD NJ.JPG, Chester House

References

External links

The Cape May County Gazette
Local community newspaper {{Authority control 1726 establishments in New Jersey Dennis Township, New Jersey Populated places established in 1726 Unincorporated communities in Cape May County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey