In an imagined conversation with Stephen Greene, one of the founders of Wenonah, Mayor Jack Sheppard asked the following question.

How important were sweet potatoes to the area? Imagine the expense of the ads on page of the Gloucester County Democrat linked below as a PDF.

Question: I can understand the business investment attraction for you but you were in the printing
business in Philadelphia. Why did you become personally involved in the creation of a town where
nothing existed except for fields of sweet potatoes and a few farm houses?

Stephen Greene: Philadelphia where I lived at this time and had my business was not only
crowded but hotter than Hades in summer. I listened to the vision of Wenonah as expressed by
General Sewell and his engineer William Allen and believed this would be an ideal place not only
as an investment, but also as a cool and refreshing retreat for my family in the summer.