Early in the nineteenth century, when rugged northerners came to the middle of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, they were met with sandy soil and little chance for survival. They then discovered that peaches, cranberries, and blueberries grew well in that sandy soil, and they made their fortunes. In time, Italians came to work the farms and wound up owning them. The unique combination of Yankee and old-world values-which had more in common than anyone imagined-created Hammonton, a community unlike any other. Hammonton is a town with a proud and diverse history. From its early days, carved out of...