The Blue Line?

foofoo

Explorer
Sep 14, 2003
183
0
just past the old foundation to the cedar bridge fire tower off rt 539 on the way to the forked river mountain is a line of trees painted blue every couple trees or so. it is some kind of boundry marker for the owner. i met a surveyor out there and i cant remember the name of the owner of the property maybe DEMARCO? i walked this line quite a few years ago about a mile in or so and it gets pretty overgrown but dumps you into what looks like a huge swamp. it looks like maybe they use to cut cedar out of it. i wonder how long ago and is there a name or any history? its pretty big in size. i remeber seeing man made walkways through the swamp and my uncle who now lives in florida seems to remember an old sign saying what it was but i never found it. i know the road that goes behind the old foundation of the fire tower goes back to a hill you cant get around. i think that was an old gravel company. just wondering?
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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foofoo said:
just past the old foundation to the cedar bridge fire tower off rt 539 on the way to the forked river mountain is a line of trees painted blue every couple trees or so. it is some kind of boundry marker for the owner. i met a surveyor out there and i cant remember the name of the owner of the property maybe DEMARCO? i walked this line quite a few years ago about a mile in or so and it gets pretty overgrown but dumps you into what looks like a huge swamp. it looks like maybe they use to cut cedar out of it. i wonder how long ago and is there a name or any history? its pretty big in size. i remeber seeing man made walkways through the swamp and my uncle who now lives in florida seems to remember an old sign saying what it was but i never found it. i know the road that goes behind the old foundation of the fire tower goes back to a hill you cant get around. i think that was an old gravel company. just wondering?

BobM will be able to help you with this one, but I would assume it is the Clayton Sand company who owns it. But that may not be correct since much of that area is private property with various owners I believe.

Guy
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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The wide roads that traverse the area were made by the sand company in the late 70's. I have photo's of the roads as they were being built, and one showing a very large hole they dug doing what appears to be testing of the soil. Those roads were not there in the mid 70's.

Guy
 

foofoo

Explorer
Sep 14, 2003
183
0
i kinda remeber when they did the work on that road early 80-s?. they made it ridiculously wide for some reason. we use to call it the super hi-way. i remember the gravel trucks running also.i forget who told me but the reason why they dont mine anymore was something about the pinelands protection laws that said if you stop activity for a time period(a year) you couldnt start up again at all. i was always curious about the huge low lying swamp you could kinda see in the distance. was cedar logging a big thing and when did it begin and end. i just love the old side overgrown roads that are everywhere and yet seem to go nowhere and have no purpose .
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,231
4,321
Pines; Bamber area
Foo,

I am almost certain that blue line is the property line of the man that owns the Forked River Mountains. His name is Brunetti, and he owns Brunetti Construction company. He owns thousands of acres.

The swamp is the Factory Branch headwaters. The Factory Branch is a major tributary of Cedar Creek. I have been down in that swamp. It is a real no-mans land down there. And yes, there used to be logging of cedar. In fact, when I moved to Bamber in 1982, they were still cutting cedar out of the Chamberlin and Webbs Mill Branch, so they were probably also cutting in the Factory Branch. I think the cedar logging finally stopped by 1984 on Cedar Creek, but it is still being done on the Forked River.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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This line says it all.

Fire is particularly important in the establishment and persistence of
Atlantic white-cedar forests.

Guy
 
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