A fascinating ad appeared in the Courier Post on October 12, 1957.
The Edna Mae Lake Colony was a plan to build a HUGE resort community on 300 acres in the south end of Evesham, in the Jacques Bridges area - if you zoom in on the map below, you'll see Mill Road and Braddock's Mill Road.
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| Planned layout of resort - zoom in and you can see familiar streets |
Apartments and cottages would be available for rent "to fine, respectable people in the lower income groups, including Bachelors, Social Security and Retired Folks both married and single."
It is difficult to get a sense for the scale of the project. It was noted there would be 5,000 rocking chairs for the leisure area, 30,000 square feet for a dancing area, and 40,000 square feet for dining.
This picture has a lot of text too small to read, so I've typed it up below the photo. I want to join this club!
"Edna Mae Lake Colony… New Jersey’s original hotel apartment and cottage rental colony, by the Bachelors Club Inc, of New Jersey. This Company proposes to engage in building hotel apartments and cottages for rental to fine respectable people in the lower income groups, including Bachelors, Social Security and Retired Folks both married and single.
The biggest job over the past seven years was the selection of the proper location, to insure the proper atmosphere and at the same time not be isolated. In connection with the latter, Guest Membership was instituted to insure a background of activity and company for the members. Summer and Winter recreations to be available are swimming, dancing, ice skating, etc, with lockers, dressing rooms and showers, and under the Guest Membership Plan there will be no fee for these facilities. The Magnificent Guest and Administrative Building that will include 32,000 square feet dedicated to and for your dancing pleasure, also 40,000 square feet where the finest means will be served in a matter fit for a king and at prices that will fit every budget. For the rocking chair group an area with 5000 comfortable chairs to spend their leisure hours dreaming and enjoying life. Edna Mae Lakes afford MORE for you and your family…Come and See!
The Company land acquisition, when complete, will total approximately 300 acres with private lake situated in Evesham Township, Burlington County, NJ.
Land clearing and the lake project are presently under way and the buildings will be started early part of November."
While the ad notes that construction of the project had already begun with land clearing, it was never completed. I can't even confirm it was ever actually started. This newspaper ad is the only reference I can find to the "Edna Mae Lake Colony" in any newspaper, and Google comes up empty.
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