All,
I am working on a stone searching project for the fall and winter and while doing so I have decided to look for a few old stones I have neglected or failed to find along a tributary of the Chamberlain Branch. This is not the time of year to search but with Jessica busy today I decided to go anyway even though the area this time of year is very dense and also remote. I parked at this rye field and walked a half mile down an overgrown road that was certainly plowed before September 1959.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.8691377825833&lng=-74.36326224010469&z=18&type=hybrid&gpx=
My first stop was to search for the beginning stone of this cedar swamp tributary. Usually, but not always they are the most interesting as they sometimes are inscribed or large in size. On arrival at the location I wanted to look it seemed promising. The area was dense but not overly overgrown. Round and round I went until....
My walking stick next to it.
I could not find anything inscribed on it. The back was blocked by branches and I have some slight injuries to my fingers so I was not able to properly look. In any event, this stone most likely has been there since before 1860. And I suspect that more than likely with the last survey of this property being in 1959, I am the only person alive who has viewed it.
I then worked my way back looking for state monuments that were placed on corners where the stones had been removed somehow in the past. Looking at old aerials I suspect the stones were destroyed by logging which obviously happened. This one was actually in the cedar swamp and not on the upland as they usually are. Very easy to see ... I entered the cedar swamp and there it was. Again, 1959.
This one was much harder to find. I crawled around on my hands and knees for what seemed like forever.
While looking over old aerials I noticed what appeared to be an old gun club tucked away in a remote spot along the Chamberlain. Yesterday, Jessica and I tried to find the old road in but it is completely overgrown. So today I forged a stream and entered that way.
The chimney almost intact. It fell and has been almost undisturbed since.
Evidence of the road in can still be viewed at the club itself.
Guy
I am working on a stone searching project for the fall and winter and while doing so I have decided to look for a few old stones I have neglected or failed to find along a tributary of the Chamberlain Branch. This is not the time of year to search but with Jessica busy today I decided to go anyway even though the area this time of year is very dense and also remote. I parked at this rye field and walked a half mile down an overgrown road that was certainly plowed before September 1959.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.8691377825833&lng=-74.36326224010469&z=18&type=hybrid&gpx=
My first stop was to search for the beginning stone of this cedar swamp tributary. Usually, but not always they are the most interesting as they sometimes are inscribed or large in size. On arrival at the location I wanted to look it seemed promising. The area was dense but not overly overgrown. Round and round I went until....
My walking stick next to it.
I could not find anything inscribed on it. The back was blocked by branches and I have some slight injuries to my fingers so I was not able to properly look. In any event, this stone most likely has been there since before 1860. And I suspect that more than likely with the last survey of this property being in 1959, I am the only person alive who has viewed it.
I then worked my way back looking for state monuments that were placed on corners where the stones had been removed somehow in the past. Looking at old aerials I suspect the stones were destroyed by logging which obviously happened. This one was actually in the cedar swamp and not on the upland as they usually are. Very easy to see ... I entered the cedar swamp and there it was. Again, 1959.
This one was much harder to find. I crawled around on my hands and knees for what seemed like forever.
While looking over old aerials I noticed what appeared to be an old gun club tucked away in a remote spot along the Chamberlain. Yesterday, Jessica and I tried to find the old road in but it is completely overgrown. So today I forged a stream and entered that way.
The chimney almost intact. It fell and has been almost undisturbed since.
Evidence of the road in can still be viewed at the club itself.
Guy
