The New Jersey Department of Transportation is looking to make Route 55 safer after a string of fatal crashes on the highway this summer.
Juan Nordelo, NJDOT’s chief of staff, sent a letter to South Jersey legislators Wednesday detailing an action plan for the 40-mile highway running from Cumberland County up to the Route 42 entrance. The safety measures focus primarily on the stretch of roadway from Elk Township to Deptford, the letter says.
The department has already added four portable signs advising drivers to use caution on the highway and informing them that they are in a high-crash area, with two in each direction at mileposts 47.6 and 52.4, according to Steve Schapiro, an NJDOT spokesperson.
Staff recently put in a work order to install 75 new “wrong way” signs at five interchanges, including Exits 45, 48, 50, 53, and 56. Installation is set to begin in the next few weeks, Schapiro said in an email. NJDOT is also considering adding signs at three median U-turns in Millville and Vineland.
Next steps include a project set to begin next month to continue clearing vegetation on Route 55 to create zones where drivers can stop safely when needed, and more “guiderail” additions as safety barriers along the highway.
“The collective intent of the efforts is to ensure motorists accessing NJ-55 from Exits 45 to 56 have more guidance to reduce the chances of driving the wrong way. Additionally, the ultimate installation of [a] guiderail will also help to prevent vehicles from leaving the roadway and reducing the severity of impacts should they occur,” Nordelo wrote.
The plan follows four fatal crashes this summer on Route 55 that killed five people total. On July 5, two women died after the driver lost control of the vehicle, ran off the roadway, and struck a tree. A week later, a man died after he drove his pickup truck the wrong way down the highway and collided with a tractor-trailer. A week after that, a woman died after she crashed her vehicle into a tree while fleeing a police traffic stop.
After the first two crashes, nine state legislators united to request that NJDOT examine how Route 55’s design could have contributed to the tragedies.
That effort was led by Assemblyman Bill Moen, who grew up using Route 55 as his main traffic artery. Moen said that NJDOT’s letter was a good first step, but that the message does not “close the loop” on work to make Route 55 safer.
Of South Jersey’s limited-access highways, the majority of Route 55 is relatively safe, according to an Inquirer analysis of NJDOT fatality data over the last six years. That analysis found that seven South Jersey corridors are particularly problematic, with a 1.3-mile stretch of I-76 seeing 10 deadly crashes since 2019.
One new portable sign on Route 55 informs drivers that they’re in a “high crash area” in South Jersey.NJDOT
Last year, on another stretch in Elk Township, three teenagers died in a crash that also injured a woman and three children.
Moen said he hopes NJDOT considers adding more lighting to Route 55 to brighten the highway at night, and coordinating with local and state police to enforce traffic laws there.
Still, he said, the action plan proves that the public’s desire for a safer Route 55 is possible.
“It’s an example of government working,” Moen said.
After months of legal wrangling, the Washington Township school board has decided to part company with embattled Superintendent Eric Hibbs.
The bitterly divided board voted 5-4 at a sometimes contentious meeting Tuesday night not to renew Hibbs’ four-year contract when it expires in June. Hibbs has been the South Jersey district’s chief since 2023.
Before the vote during a three-hour meeting, Hibbs read an impassioned statement defending his tumultuous tenure in the district. He cited millions of cost savings, the largest pre-K expansion project in the district’s history, and facility upgrades.
The Washington Township school board voted not to renew the district’s contract with Superintendent Eric Hibbs.Melanie Burney
“The question that you should just be ready to answer is why. Just why?” Hibbs told the board. “I have tried every day to lead this district with integrity, accountability, and unwavering commitment to its students.”
Board president Pat Blome declined to comment on next steps for the district. She voted in favor of the motion to serve Hibbs with notice that his contract would not be renewed.
“This is a very emotional night for everybody tonight,” Blome said before casting the deciding vote. “But I feel it’s in the best interest of the district for me to vote yes.”
Five favorable votes are needed to adopt measures concerning the superintendent. The board has been divided by infighting and has not been able to agree on other matters involving Hibbs.
A motion to award Hibbs $27,000 in merit pay for the 2024-25 school year was defeated 5-4 Tuesday night. It was the fourth time that Hibbs has requested the bonus pay for performance.
Hibbs has said he met four of the five goals approved by the board and listed with his contract. He earned $220,375 during the 2023-24 school year, putting him among the highest-paid superintendents in South Jersey.
According to his contract, Hibbs is entitled to an annual merit bonus of up to 14.99% of his salary if he meets the goals, which were set by a previous board.
Hibbs’ goals include completing Google training presentations, taking online professional development courses, and beefing up security processes.
He received $25,000 in merit pay for similar goals for the 2023-24 school year, according to district records obtained by The Inquirer under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act.
Board member Scott Laliberte said a special committee composed of three board members without conflicts who discussed Hibbs’ request believed he had met the merit pay requirements.
“You did a great job and I appreciate all of your efforts. And you did all of that with the board fighting you on the majority of the way,” Laliberte told Hibbs.
Laliberte and the two other special committee members resigned Tuesday night. Laliberte expressed frustration that their recommendations were not followed.
The board had until December to notify Hibbs if his contract would not be renewed; otherwise, the contract would automatically renew for four years.
The board also rejected Hibbs’ five proposed merit goals for the 2026-27 school year. It agreed to allow Hibbs to carry over up to 20 unused vacation days.
The proposed goals were not made public Tuesday. Board member Julie Kozempel said she voted against them because she believed that “they were for things that a superintendent should already be doing.”
The decision to end ties with Hibbs was just the latest legal showdown between Hibbs and the board. He has a pending whistleblower lawsuit against several board members.
The nine-member board made few public comments Tuesday because of procedural rules. Six members were barred from commenting because they have a conflict of interest with Hibbs, whom they had suspended last year until he was reinstated by a judge.
In order to vote, the board had to invoke a rarely used “doctrine of necessity” because it otherwise would not have had a quorum. The six members either have family members who work for the district or are named defendants in Hibbs’ lawsuit against the district.
The doctrine of necessity allowed the conflicted board members to participate in the vote. But they were barred from any deliberations in executive session or public discussions.
Hibbs has been at odds with the board since last year, when local teachers union leaders filed a complaint against him with the New Jersey School Ethics Commission alleging that the superintendentprovided preferential treatment to a board member’s relative by changing a failing grade in September 2023.
The board suspended Hibbs in March 2025 and hired a conflict lawyer to investigate the allegations. Hibbs was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing and reinstated after a judge found that the board had violated the Open Public Meetings Act when it suspended him.
In his own ethics complaint, Hibbs accused Kozempel and board member Elayne Clancy of not following procedures when the board hired an insurance carrier in 2021, prior to his tenure as superintendent.
“I am proud that when I believed something needed to be said, I had the courage to say it,” Hibbs said Tuesday night.
In other business, the board agreed to reinstate the work schedule for nursing assistants whose hours were reduced because of budget cutbacks. Hibbs and business administrator Janine Wechter said the district will likely face a budget shortfall next year and cannot afford the additional expense.
“We can’t consistently adopt a budget and then turn around and change it. It’s alarming,” Wechter said.
For many, a quintessential South Jersey fall includes apple picking, a warm cider, and sugared doughnuts.
But fall in the Garden State might look a little different this year after a spring freeze left farms across the region with damaged apple varieties and huge crop losses — at least $300 million worth, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said in May.
At Russo’s Fruit & Vegetable Farm in Tabernacle, which typically attracts visitors for six weeks of picking, the apple cropwas decimated by the freeze. The farm had to purchase apples from a farm in New York to sell this year, the most local they could get.
Third-generation owner Joann Gsell, 59, said she won’t know the extent of their lost profit until fall is over, but the farmers are doing their best to fill in the gaps.
Russo’s staff planted sunflower fields and popcorn plants for picking instead, both new experiments, along with their usual pumpkins. Gsell planned new events, too, spread across the picking season to draw in more customers.
“Even if we get the same amount of customers coming out, the per-dollar sale won’t be what it was when apples were available,” Gsell said. “But we really don’t know until we’re past it.”
Jersey’s apple harvest season typically begins in mid-July and wraps up by the end of October, according to a report by the state Department of Agriculture, but local farmers, who are still recovering from a tough summer of sparse berries and higher prices, say the season will likely be much shorter and will rely on success in their pumpkin fields.
Still, fall must go on, farm owners say, starting with their apple festivals.
17-month-old Rome Imbesi bites into a big apple next to his mother Kristen Imbesi, 34, of Haddonfield, after picking apples at Duffield’s Farm.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer17-month-old Rome Imbesi bites into his apple.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
‘Figure things out’
Tracy Duffield, who has worked at Duffield’s Farm Market in Sewell for four decades, said the Gloucester County farm had to push back the start of apple picking by a month.
The freeze killed Duffield’s early apple cropplanted in January, and with half its crop remaining, it’s uncertain how long picking will last this fall.
But that didn’t stop Duffield’s from hosting its annual Apple & Food Truck Festival on Saturday, featuring apple picking, pony and hayrides, and face painting. It’s the official launch of the farm’s apple season this year.
“I compare it to COVID. You have to get creative and figure things out,” Duffield said. “It is what it is. You just make the best of it.”
Calah Donato, 26, of Port Elizabeth, N.J., holds her son Neo, 1, while he picks an apple off an apple tree at Duffield’s Farm.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Duffield’s will still carry its beloved apple cider doughnuts this year, along with new apple-cider-doughnut-scented candles. But they did have to switch cider providers this year, buying from a Central Jersey-based farm instead of Mood’s Farm, 20 minutes away in Mullica Hill.
Mood’s is not making fresh cider this year, said co-owner Patti Mood, but they’ll have frozen cider from past apple seasons to get them through.
“We’ll just see how long it lasts,” Mood said. “We’re not sure what next year will look like.”
Kristine Duffield (center), the daughter-in-law of farm owner Tracy Duffield, hosts an apple-themed story time at Duffield’s Farm in Sewell on Friday, Sept. 11.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
This fall, Mood’s doesn’t have enough quality apples to run its pick-your-own operation. At the farm’s own Apple Festival on Saturday, visitors gathered apples sourced from nearby states placed in bins in the orchard during discounted hayrides, instead of picking them off the trees.
Other farms have canceled their apple-picking operations this year. Neither Strawberry Hill Farm in Chesterfield nor Johnson’s Corner Farm in Medford have apples to pick.
Julian, who is two-and-a-half years old, makes a craft next to his grandmother Deb Carter, 69, of Washington Township, at Duffield’s Farm Market on Friday, Sept. 11.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Off the farm
Despite the shortage, apples are still being celebrated this year, on and off the farm. First Methodist Church of Moorestown is hosting its third apple festival on Sept. 18.
And Medford Historical Society will host its 47th annual Apple Festival on Oct. 10, their biggest fundraiser of the year.
Danny, 2, attempts to poke his sister Sosie, 4, with a piece of hay while being held by his great-grandmother Joan Ballah, 80, at Duffield’s Farm in Sewell on Friday, Sept. 11. The family is local to Sewell and comes to the farm often to participate in the farm’s activities and shop the farmer’s market.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Thomas Gerber, copresident of the historical society, said their usual supplier in Pennsylvania lost all their apples and couldn’t provide the 320 pounds needed for the festival, so they found a different farm in New Jersey.
Families wait to enter the hayride to pick apples out in the orchard at Duffield’s Farm in Sewell on Friday, Sept. 11.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
Amy Zorn, an eighth-generation owner of Hunter’s Farm in Cinnaminson, said their farm market has been able to buy Jersey apples from other farms, but they’ve had to pay higher rates for smaller apples compared to previous years. She hopes customers continue to support their local farms through this year’s challenges.
“There are still Jersey fresh items out there,” she said. “You might not see as many apples, but there are fall squashes, sweet potatoes, and other things coming to Jersey. I encourage people to go out to their farmers markets.”
Families exit Duffield’s Farm after the apple-themed activities concluded on Sept. 11.Aidan T. Gallo / Staff Photographer
‘For the long run’
Mario Caltabiano, 31, has been farming since he was 6 years old. As the owner of MC Farms in Pilesgrove in Salem County, Caltabiano grows 14 varieties of apples, Asian pears, and several types of vegetables.
He said he’s used to freezes that take out large sums of fruit, but apples, “the hardiest things,” usually power through.
Caltabiano said one of his farms saw a total apple loss, and the other lost 90% of its crop. With about 20 apples clustered on each tree, and thousands of trees, Caltabiano said he’s not sure how long it’ll take the public to pick them all. Either way, Caltabiano has to continue to tend to the orchards to make sure the trees stay strong enough to produce fruit next season.
“This year, when fruit is 90% of your business, you have the same amount of bills. You have to take care of the trees to the very end,” Caltabiano said. “How do you make up for that?”
In recent years, MC Farms has ventured into the agritourism world, offering hayrides, barrel train rides for kids, cut-your-own flowers, and a wine garden settled in the orchards. Rising prices for fuel and fertilizer are still making work difficult, along with the destruction of most of his crops.
But Caltabiano said he plans to make it to next fall, and the one after that.
“I’m in it for the long run,” Caltabiano said. “I’m in it till I croak.”
Alexus Mackenzye Dick and Trinity Jagdeo were 5 years old when they met on the blacktop at Mary F. Janvier School in rural Franklinville, Gloucester County.
While Dick isn’t around to tell the story anymore, Jagdeo remembers it well: They played hopscotch, but not in the traditional way. Dick zipped through the squares in her wheelchair. Jagdeo, a Vineland resident, said it amazed her.
“I’ve told the story 1,000 times,” said Jagdeo, 25. “But now that I think about it — and I’ve revisited the location — there was nothing else for her to do.”
The pair quickly became best friends. They bickered over the Justin Bieber tattoo Dick got at 15, gossiped at sleepovers, and traded lip gloss recommendations.
There’s a reason Jagdeo repeats those tales so often.
When they were still teenagers, Jagdeo founded a nonprofit, From We Can’t to We Can, inspired by her best friend. She has self-published comic books that turn local kids with disabilities into superheroes, hosted fashion shows for models with disabilities, frequented local TV stations, and gifted thousands of pieces of medical equipment to families denied by insurance or who can’t afford the supplies. Jagdeo has talked about Dick on social media for years, including to her nearly 50,000 TikTok followers.
The daily posts haven’t stopped since Dick died five months ago at 25 due to complications related to spinal muscular atrophy type 2, a genetic disease diagnosed in childhood that causes progressive muscle weakness.
“One of the things she said was, ‘I wish I could help people.’ … And so, in my heart, I knew that at that point, I wasn’t going to just let that conversation stay there,” Jagdeo said.
Now, another family is benefitting from the efforts to keep Dick’s memory alive.
Domenique Meyer, 33, lives in Aberdeen Township, Monmouth County, with her husband Mike and two children, Mikey and Mia. Born prematurely at 30 weeks, a lack of oxygen to Mikey’s brain left him with severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.
“He knows our voices, loves being talked to and cuddled, and has his own special way of showing us what he likes and dislikes,” Meyer said. “He has been fighting since the very beginning of his life.”
At 3 years old, Mikey is blind, nonverbal, unable to sit independently, and has multiple seizures per day. He receives his nutrition through a gastrostomy tube since he has a hard time swallowing. His disabilities mean a lot of time spent on care, and on one income, it’s been hard to get by, Meyer said. Their family fell behind on household bills as medical expenses piled up.
Mikey Meyer, 3, sits in a stroller given to him by From We Can’t to We Can in Aberdeen Township, Monmouth County.Domenique Meyer
“When you have a medically complex child, life does not stop because bills are due,” Meyer said. “There have been so many times when Mikey needed us at an appointment, in the hospital, or at home, and work simply had to come second.”
When Meyer reached out to From We Can’t to We Can for a medical stroller that would better suit Mikey’s needs, she explained their financial stressors to Jagdeo. Since the nonprofit had recently received thousands of dollars from anonymous donors, Jagdeo decided it was time to fulfill her best friend’s wish.
The Alexus Mackenzye Legacy Fund provided Meyer and her family with about $5,500 that went toward their mortgage and brought their utility bills up to date. And while times are still hard, Meyer said the foundation’s support gave them hope.
“For the first time in a while, it felt like we could breathe again and focus on our children instead of constantly worrying about what bill was coming next,” Meyer said.
The Meyers will attend Roar for a Reason at the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum in Mantua on Saturday, the first major event and fundraiser the nonprofit has hosted since Dick died. There, Jagdeo said she plans to release a hundred butterflies, Dick’s favorite, and read a letter addressed to her best friend. Kids with disabilities will walk the runway, and Jagdeo will introduce her newest book, Jaiyana and the Jainosaurus, which takes place at the museum and is based on the experiences of a local child with autism and a rare brain condition. She’ll introduce the new legacy fund to the public, which she said she hopes will support a family in need annually from now on.
Jagdeo has kept busy in the meantime. She still posts on social media every day, usually about Dick, and recently flew to Michigan to judge this year’s Miss Wheelchair USA competition. She’s been putting in hours on an outdoor memory garden for Dick in her yard, and she said she hopes monarch butterflies hatch this weekend in time for the celebration.
“Some people say, ‘This person was my world,’” Jagdeo said. “And for me, she wasn’t just my world. She was the world. I created a world because of her.”
A controversial Gloucester Township development plan for 743 residential units on the site of the nation’s first African American-owned, 18-hole golf course is scheduled before the zoning board on Wednesday.
Freeway Golf Course was purchased by four Black businessmen in 1967 and saw the last round of golf played in November 2015. The 154-acre property at 1858 Sicklerville Rd. was offered for sale in 2016.
Hamilton-based US Home LLC, doing business as Lennar, filed with the township as the developer of the $292 million project. Lennar Corp. is a national homebuilder founded in 1954 with national headquarters in Miami. Lennar is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The property owner is Black Horse Properties LLC of Blackwood, according to the application.
Some neighbors have banded together to oppose the development, posting their objections on the Friends of Freeway Facebook page. A post on Saturday with the agenda of the 7 p.m. meeting says “Don’t let this builder determine the fate of OUR community! He’ll make millions and leave us to deal with the mess.”
“We have our research, we have our facts, we have our attorney and planner! The last thing we need is your attendance,” according to the page, which also featured photos of wildlife asking: “We are taking their homes. Where will they go?”
The proposed development would be “a mixture of 177 single-family detached homes with an average sales price of $497,000, 67 (now 63) age-restricted single family detached homes with a sales price of $469,000, along with 222 traditional townhouse units and 168 stacked townhouse units with estimated sales prices of $430,000 and $365,000, respectively,” according to Lennar’s plans.
Estimated monthly rent for the 113 affordable housing rental apartments would be $1,240.
A fiscal-impact analysis by Richard B. Reading Associates submitted with the application states that the Freeway Pointe development would add 2,086 residents and require $1,698,000 in municipal services, which would be offset by the estimated $2,542,230 in municipal tax revenue from the homeowners.
The financial study also expects that 214 students would live in Freeway Pointe and attend the Gloucester Township School District and 101 students would attend the Black Horse Pike Regional School District. The higher costs from the new students would be more than offset by property taxes, according to the analysis.
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Fourteen people, including a dozen children, were sent to the hospital after a dump truck caused a chain-reaction crash involving a school bus in Monroe Township Thursday.
A dump truck driver traveling north on North Tuckahoe Road failed to brake for traffic caused by a stopped school bus and struck the back of a passenger vehicle with one adult and three children, according to a statement from Monroe Township police.
The force pushed that vehicle into the back of another passenger vehicle with an adult driver. The second passenger vehicle then struck the back of the school bus, which struck a second dump truck.
One child in the backseat of the first passenger vehicle got trapped and had to be removed by the fire department, according to police.
“A number of students were transported to the hospital for further evaluation. Parents of students riding the bus were immediately notified,” the statement reads. “The students were evaluated by medical staff at the hospital and subsequently released. Thankfully, the driver and students are safe and healthy.”
As of Thursday night, all 12 children and two adults sent to area hospitals for evaluation were either released or were “in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries,” according to police.
Monroe Township police are still investigating the crash, but said the commercial carrier associated with the dump trucks is cooperating and motor vehicle complaints are pending.
Five people, including four children aboard a school bus, were sent to the hospital Wednesday morning after a crash in Washington Township, Gloucester County.
And another school bus accident in Gloucester County was reported late Thursday afternoon, but the extent of injuries was not immediately known.
On Wednesday morning, the school bus headed to Bells Elementary School — a part of Washington Township School District — was driving through an intersection across Pitman Downer Road, a short walk away from Orchard Valley Middle School, when a vehicle traveling north struck the bus at 8:43 a.m., according to a release from the Washington Township Police Department.
The driver of the vehicle driving north was transported to Jefferson Hospital with minor injuries, the release said. Four children aboard the bus were also transported “as a precaution with suspected minor injuries.”
Christopher Tarasevich, a Washington Township police officer, is still investigating the crash.
All students were evaluated at the scene by emergency personnel, with additional support from two school nurses from Bells and Orchard Valley Middle School, according to a statement from Eric Hibbs, Washington Township School District’s superintendent.
The students who did not go to the hospital were transported to Bells on another bus.
Around 4 p.m. Thursday, at least one school bus was involved in a crash with a dump truck on the 700 block of North Tuckahoe Road in Monroe Township, which neighbors Washington Township, authorities said.
Multiple ambulances were called to the scene and police said that one child was entrapped because of the crash.
Christine Trampe, superintendent of Mantua Township School District in Gloucester County, announced Wednesday night that Thursday would be a staff in-service day and that the first day for Mantua schools would now be Tuesday.
The district’s first day was supposed to be this past Wednesday before downed trees, power lines, and debris meant families couldn’t make it to school safely.
More than 1,200 Atlantic City Electric customers were without power in Mantua Township Wednesday morning. That number was down to about 50 customers by Thursday morning.
Mantua Township in Gloucester County was hit hard by storms Tuesday night that swept through the Philly region, causing damage to homes, electric outages, and school closures.
By 2 a.m., the Mantua Fire Department had reported downed trees and wires, road closures, and power outages, with its crews working into the morning to make fixes.
The fire department has responded to 75 incidents since Tuesday night, with about a quarter of the township impacted by the storms, said Mantua Fire Chief Brian Hauss.
No major injuries have been reported, Hauss said, though one person suffered a minor injury after a tree fell through their house, leaving them stuck inside. That person is now staying with family in the neighborhood, he said.
Hauss said the township hoped to clear major roads by Wednesday night, and auxiliary roads within the next couple of days. About 25 roadways in Mantua were impacted, and two “cut crews” are working with Atlantic City Electric to cut down power lines intertwined with trees to get the streets operational again.
Mantua Mayor Bob Zimmerman posted Wednesday afternoon that residents without electricity should regain power by 11 p.m. Wednesday, though some areas may take longer. Zimmerman reported that the Mantua municipal building is closed due to the outages, and the township’s trash and recycling services are delayed due to debris.
The impacts forced Mantua Township School District to close Wednesday.
“We will reassess regarding school on Thursday, September 3rd,” a school district social media post reads.
The storm also took down the internet service for Mantua’s police department, meaning police could not provide copies of police reports or process firearms permits. The outage won’t impact emergency calls, according to a social media post.
Rick Sanderson, 43, just bought a home in Mantua last month. Now, the storms have left his sunroom and basement flooded, windows damaged, and his wood floors and couch ruined. He drove to his sister’s house to shower Wednesday morning, through powerless traffic lights, after dragging half a tree across his lawn to the curb. His neighbors have been working to clear their street of debris.
“I would just avoid Mantua altogether,” Sanderson said.
More Gloucester County municipalities posted about the storms’ impacts to their roadways and power lines. Deptford Township police said on social media that their department received multiple calls Tuesday night in the Oak Valley and Pine Acres sections of the township, and neighboring West Deptford Township reported “numerous” impacted roads.
“Please use caution when traveling, as there may be significant road debris, downed trees or tree limbs, low-hanging utility lines, and traffic light outages impacting our roadways,” the township posted.
There was also a chance of thunderstorms Wednesday after 8 p.m. and on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
Woodbury residents John Wagner and Colleen Gibson never planned to own a brewery.
But when the husband-and-wife duo heard that their local drinking spot, Eight & Sand Beer Co. at 1003 N. Evergreen Ave., was up for sale last September, Wagner said they didn’t want to see a place so close to home shut down for good. They spoke with their neighbor, Woodbury’s former mayor Peg Hertrich, who connected them with the 10-year-old brewery’s owners.
The exterior of the new Freckled Jawn Brewing on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026 in Woodbury, NJ.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“We never got an answer or a reason why not… so here we are,” Wagner, 53, said. “Fast forward almost a year later, and we’re getting ready to open.”
The couple, together for 12 years, officially closed on the 4,300-square-foot brewery (that includes the brewhouse) in Gloucester County in early August, months after Eight & Sand closed. The $730,000 sale, Wagner said, included brewery equipment and a vacant lot behind the building, which will help the couple expand the property’s beer garden come spring.
The in-progress interior of Freckled Jawn Brewing.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Wagner and Gibson hope to open Freckled Jawn Brewing in the first week of October. An official date will come in the next couple of weeks, as they continue $40,000 of renovations and add new furniture to make the space feel less industrial and more inviting. Details will include leather and wood accents, an electric fireplace, dim lighting, and hopefully a touch of Philly sports.
“I just want the community to have somewhere they can go that they’re excited and proud to have in the neighborhood,” Wagner said.
The new brewery acquired Eight & Sand’s liquor license within 17 days of closing on the property, Wagner said, so Freckled Jawn has been clear to brew beer since Aug. 21.
The in-progress interior of Freckled Jawn Brewing on Aug. 27, 2026, in Woodbury, N.J.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Three years ago, before their recent venture, the couple installed a basement bar in their South Jersey home for friends and family. They like to host St. Patrick’s Day parties.
They affectionately called the bar “Freckled Jawn Tavern,” Wagner’s 2 a.m. brainchild. The name was inspired by Gibson’s own freckles and the way she pronounces her husband’s name, John, as the multipurpose Philly term “Jawn,” a symptom of her Jersey accent. The new brewery kept it.
A Freckled Jawn Brewing tap in the in-progress brewery.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“He calls me his ‘freckled jawn’ because I’m his anything and everything,” Gibson, 44, said.
Plus, the couple has two freckled dogs, Neo and Trinity, adoptees named after The Matrix characters, who will be welcome in the brewery’s pet-friendly beer garden when it opens next year.
Neo (top) and Trinity (bottom) are the unofficial mascots of Freckled Jawn Brewing in Woodbury, Gloucester County, set to open in October 2026.Colleen Gibson
The brewery’s indoor tasting room has capacity for 77 people, while the expanded patio area will fit between 150 to 200 people, Wagner said.
Wagner and Gibson plan to run the brewery while continuing their jobs as managers in supply chain distribution and in transportation, respectively, in the Philly region, Gibson said. They’ll manage a staff under 10 to start, which will include some of their children, and head brewer Matt Karg.
The in-progress interior of Freckled Jawn Brewing.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Karg, 37, moved to Philadelphia with his partner in July to be closer to family, and the head brewer position happened to open at the perfect time. He started brewing when he got out of the U.S. Coast Guard and went to North Carolina’s Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College to learn brewing, distillation, and fermentation.
He previously brewed for Hickory Nut Gorge Brewery in Chimney Rock, North Carolina, before the spot was destroyed by Hurricane Helene in 2024, and then for Hi-Wire Brewing in Asheville. He said he’s eager to introduce people to Freckled Jawn’s Oktoberfest beer, made just in time for the fall opening.
“The New Jersey brewing scene is a close-knit community, which we’ve learned and loved. But everyone knows everyone,” Wagner said. “They almost know every brewer, so it’s exciting that nobody knows this guy.”
Ready for something new, Karg said his hope for the brewery is simple.
“Good beers and a good environment to sit and hang out for awhile,” he said.
The brewery started on an Oktoberfest lager, Wagner said, since it takes the longest to brew. Freckled Jawn will also serve a light lager, an IPA, a blonde ale, and a stout.
“We’ll continue to expand,” Wagner said. “But we don’t want to wait too long to open.”
Freckled Jawn Brewing’s hours will be 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday; noon to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
