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POMONA HALL
Eighteenth-Century Mansion
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Begun as a small wood-framed house in 1718, Pomona Hall evolved into a luxurious mansion by 1788 when it was the home of Marmaduke Cooper, one of the area's most prosperous businessmen. It has been declared "the finest example of a Georgian Style plantation house in New Jersey." Today, restored to how it would have looked in its heyday just after the American Revolution, the home allows visitors to experience a vivid sense of daily life in the eighteenth century. See Pomona Hall decorated for Christmas.
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DINING ROOM More than just authentically restored and furnished, Pomona Hall's rooms are creatively maintained with a "lived-in" feel. The dining room table, for instance, is set with china and dining accoutrements of the kind used by the Cooper family two centuries ago. In fact, the family might have just finished their meal and adjourned to another room of the grand residence.
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OPEN-HEARTH KITCHEN The spacious kitchen area is organized around a walk-in open-hearth fireplace. Fully functional, the kitchen is the hub of open-hearth cooking demonstrations that allow visitors to sample traditional foods prepared over wood fires and hot coals, just as in the 1780s. Visit the mansion's herb garden.
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PLANTATION OFFICE Marmaduke Cooper was the owner and manager of a 450-acre fruit, field crop and livestock plantation that sprawled over what is now the Parkside section of Camden. This is the Pomona Hall office from which he ran that operation and, from all appearances, he could have just stepped away from his paperwork for a moment.
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DOWAGER's BEDROOM With its ornately embroidered bed curtains and period furniture, this is the room of elderly Hannah Cooper. She has apparently left her day dress over the dressing table chair and her straw hat atop the bed chest before dressing for dinner.
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© 2001 - 2012, Camden County Historical Society | All Rights Reserved
Mansion page photo credits: Hoag Levins
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