Our Place in History and Impact on the Future

Our historic property includes Jacob's Chapel and the Colemantown Meeting House, which were stops for runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad.  In addition, many black Civil War Soldiers are buried in our Jacob's Chapel Cemetery, where Dr. James Still is also buried.  

Dr. James Still and the Still family are well-documented in New Jersey. Dr. Still was known as the “Black Doctor of the Pines” who maintained a renowned medical practice near our site in the nineteenth century.  Dr. Still was a self-taught, distinguished herbalist—a seller of botanical remedies of his own devising—the superiority of which gained him a large clientele. He also owned land and rented apartments in the Colemantown area, now known as Mount Laurel. Dr. Still and two of his brothers, William (the “Father” of the Underground Railroad) and Peter, wrote or contributed to three primary source, non-fiction accounts that give key insights to the life and times of African-Americans in the nineteenth century.  

Today, we preserve our past by providing Underground Railroad Tours and Reenactments to schools and groups.  Our programs are included in the Mount Laurel Schools System History curriculum. 

Our buildings and site are now listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Efforts to restore and expand awareness of the Colemantown footprint are on going. Join the Journey!