TIMBUCTOO Background: Timbuctoo was settled in the mid-1820s by African Americans who, in gaining their freedom from enslavement, sought to establish a community in which they could, for the first time in this country, own their own land, build homes of their choosing and establish churches, schools and businesses.  Located along the north bank of the North Branch of Rancocas Creek in Burlington County the site of Timbuctoo offered its residents access to tidal waters and wetlands, upland woodlands and fields and to probable employment in two major brickyards located just north of the settlement.  The site consisted of a compact three acre “village” area on top of a rise of land near the creek that contained several small lots with as many as 20 houses as well as larger lots spread out along two or three adjacent roads.  Some of these larger lots are still occupied today by descendants of the original settlers while the village is now an open field with no standing structures.  This field offers one of the most promising opportunities in the region to study the life-ways of the Timbuctoo pioneers and their descendants.  The Timbuctoo Project seeks to learn through archeological investigation information about the houses, the use of the property, the diets and personal property.  Our goal is to understand as much as we can about these people and to honor their memory by educating others about this community.