With a history that spans thousands of millennia, the mid-17th century arrival of European settlers seems like only yesterday. Soon after their boats hit shore, the new settlers constructed the Kings Highway which, a century later, General Washington would travel during his retreat from Philadelphia. Thankfully, the road has a new coating or two of macadam, but the route still winds through the historic towns of Salem, Swedesboro, Haddonfield and Moorestown, where charming Main Street shopping districts prosper.

As European settlers arrived, the Original People struggled to survive in their native land. The Powhatan Renape Nation miraculously survived disease and war and today, the tribe's Native American culture is preserved at the Rankokus Indian Reservation, which features a Native American Heritage Museum that celebrates the tribe's arts and culture, a traditional village and special events, including an annual arts festival that attracts visitors from all over the East Coast.

South Jersey continued to grow and by 1676, the Concessions and Agreements, the original laws of the region, were drawn up in the Surveyor General's office in the City of Burlington.

Despite the pacifist beliefs of its growing Quaker population, South Jersey became a hotbed of revolution. In 1777, the State Assembly gathered at the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield and publicly declared New Jersey to be a state and not a colony of the Crown, further fueling the call for war against the British.

Bordentown was home to a "Who's Who" of 18th century rebels, including Thomas Paine, whose fiery writings in "Common Sense," got a lot of people – including Thomas Jefferson -- thinking about independence. Paine's house survived the American Revolution and can still be viewed today from the outside.

Not all Bordentown residents were interested in overthrowing the government. Like most Quakers, the congregation who met at the simple brick Old Friends Meeting House, built by the town's original settlers in the 1740s, disapproved of violence. The Quaker philosophy of simplicity is also preserved today at the 1738 Smith-Cadbury Mansion in Moorestown, now serving as the town's historical society, which has preserved generations of quilts, samplers, clocks and other mementos of Quaker life.

But as the war dragged on, South Jersey bore the brunt of ferocious battles. The British-led massacre at the Hancock House in Salem County was a tragic affair, and legend has it the floor still bears traces of blood. From what is now Washington's Crossing State Park, General Washington crossed the Delaware River and launched a surprise attack on enemy troops encamped in Trenton, commandeering the Old Barracks for a field hospital for wounded soldiers. Oliver Cromwell, who joined Washington on that dangerous river crossing, was one of 5,000 African-American soldiers who joined in the fight against the British and the house where he spent his final days, still stands in the City of Burlington.

Meanwhile, Colonel Christopher Greene had his hands full at the 44-acre Red Bank Battlefield, fighting a British and Hessian coalition three times the size of the American troops. Despite the lopsided resources, the Americans won, although not before taking over Whitall House, a Quaker farmhouse, for use as a hospital.

Keeping the colonists equipped with ammunition kept the workers in the Iron Works at historic Batsto Village quite busy. With its restored sawmill, general store, grist mill, workers cottages and mansion, today's Village looks a lot like it did when it was founded in 1766.

South Jersey was there at the nation's start and continues to make history centuries later.