Browns Mills offers military-friendly living near lakes and woods
Situated between a large military installation and New Jersey’s Pine Barrens, Browns Mills is a generally secluded town with plenty of outdoor recreation. The Pemberton Township community is home to about 10,000 residents, many of them active-duty or veteran members of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. A big draw to the area, however, is the accessibility to several small lakes. Locals can enjoy boating, swimming and fishing at Mirror Lake, the town’s main body of water, or travel south to Country Lakes, a more private option. In the town’s center, Deborah Hospital is world famous, and near the pinelands to the east, the historic Whitesbog Village brings cranberry and blueberry farming to the state. Browns Mills sits almost equidistant between Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore, and nearby State Route 70 helps to make commutes to each destination more manageable.
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst helps the local economy
Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, which sometimes goes by the abbreviation JB MDL, borders Browns Mills’ northern and western regions. The installation is home to more than 42,000 active-duty military members and is an economic pillar for the community, bringing in almost $7 billion annually and providing more than 60,000 civilian jobs.
JB MDL is the Defense Department’s only tri-service installation, established in 2009 when the Air Force base, Army base and Navy base were all combined. Each May, the joint base welcomes visitors to Power in the Pines, a family-friendly airshow with the USAF Thunderbirds and their F-16 Fighting Falcons, among other aerial performers.
Cool off on Mirror Lake and hike Pole Bridge while it’s still a forest
Outdoor enthusiasts living in Browns Mills have both aquatic and wooded options. The larger Mirror Lake extends from the center of town to the east end, and the smaller Big Pine Lake reaches from the same central location to JB MDL. Mirror Lake Beach has a playground area and a sandy beach divided by Lakeshore Drive. The lake itself is popular for bass, pickerel and yellow perch fishing, and there are recreational paddleboats and stand-up paddleboards available. During swim season, the family-friendly shores add a water trampoline and a waterslide. To the north, Diane P. Stinney Memorial Park offers a playground and a walking trail along Big Pine Lake. About a 3-mile drive south, Country Lake is a boating and swimming lake that’s also popular for fishing. “The lake is just small enough that it doesn’t attract people from out of town,” says Mark Schneider, a broker/owner with Schneider Real Estate Agency. “But anyone can come to the beaches all around the lake.” Some of these public beach areas provide playgrounds, while others have boat ramps.
Pole Bridge Branch Forest is an undeveloped forest that borders Browns Mills. With more than 700 acres of undisturbed woods, the land has been a topic of discussion in Pemberton Township for two decades. There are plans to develop the area into an adult community with retail pockets. “It’s not a matter of if it will happen, it’s a matter of when,” Schneider says. “It’s supposed to be 550 homes that border the Wissahickon Trail,” referring to the hiking trail through the preserved land. According to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, the development would further endanger many species that live in the woodlands.
Local eateries, churches and blueberry farms line Lakehurst Road
Residents can run errands around the Trenton Road and Broadway Street junction, where retail and a variety of cuisine are concentrated. Browns Mills Shopping Center features ACME Markets, convenience stores, fast-food chains and a few local eateries. Island Taste Fusion serves Jamaican food, and Brothers Diner is a town favorite for American breakfast, lunch and dinner. Located near this commercial section, Deborah Hospital offers specialty heart and lung care, as well as emergency services. Churches also dot the retail-heavy intersection of Trenton and Broadway, including historic establishments like Browns Mills United Methodist Church that was founded in 1873 and newer institutions like St. Ann’s Church that opened its doors in 2002.
Trenton Road turns into Lakehurst Road on the south side of town, leading to another commercial corner with popular restaurants. K & B Bagels is a bagel shop with patio seating, and Love Kiddo offers boba tea and acai bowls. Riccardo’s Restaurant is an Italian staple, offering pizza and Sicilian desserts. “Riccardo’s is well-loved,” Schneider says. “They just redid their menus, all homemade, and the place is always crowded.” About 2 miles further along Lakehurst Road, the Whitesbog Preservation Trust began as a 100-acre plot before it expanded into the 3,000-acre cranberry and blueberry farm that it is today. The birthplace of the blueberry industry, the historic farm hosts the annual Blueberry Summer Fest, a two-month farmers market where visitors can pick their own blueberries, listen to live music and bring home a freshly baked blueberry pie.
Browns Mills has quaint ranch-style homes and new Colonial Revivals
While parks, retail and other commercial space make up almost half of Browns Mills, the rest of the town is residential. In the more active town-centered areas, gridded neighborhood streets are densely shaded by oak and sweetgum trees, while in the quieter rural outskirts, winding backroads are lined with tall pine trees that usher residents to the nearby Pine Barrens region. Buyers can find manufactured homes and quaint ranch-style homes with around 1,000 square feet of space on the west side of town, usually priced from $120,000 to $300,000. Toward the center and east side of town, slightly larger 1,000- to 2,000-square-foot bungalows, split-levels and Colonial-styles on more than a quarter-acre of land typically cost between $300,000 and $475,000. There are also subdivisions with newer Colonial Revivals either built or renovated in the 2000s, as well as spacious rambling ranch-style houses on more than an acre around the outskirts. Sizes of these properties can reach upwards of 5,000 square feet, and price tags range from $465,000 to $635,000.
Pemberton Township Schools are named Purple Star Schools
Pemberton Township Schools is a public school district that has served the military community in Browns Mills for more than a century. Each school in the district has been named a Purple Star School by the New Jersey Department of Education for their commitment to the families affiliated with JB MDL. Students can begin at Denbo Crichton Elementary School before progressing to Marcus Newcomb Middle School for sixth grade and then Helen A. Fort Middle School for seventh and eighth grades, all schools receiving a C rating from Niche. Students can then transition to Pemberton Township High School, which receives a C-plus.
Local Route 70 run west to Philadelphia and east to the coast
Browns Mills’ main arteries are Lakehurst Road, which connects residents to State Route 70 about 5 miles away, and Pemberton-Browns Mills Road, which leads to U.S. Route 206 about 5 miles to the west. The highways help with bigger city commutes, as Trenton is 25 miles, Philadelphia is 40 miles west and Seaside Heights is about a 30-mile drive east to the Pacific Coast. The NJ Transit services part of the community, with Bus Route 17 stopping along Pemberton-Browns Mills Road. For further destinations, Philadelphia International Airport is about a 45-mile drive, located on the other side of Center City.
Written By
Mary Beth Greene
