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It's exciting to see this appreciation of Cape May County's trees. The forgotten work of Lyman Hoffman comes to mind in this old thread— https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/new-jersey-big-tree-program.6058/#post-134355 Let's see if I can get permission to post his works, or at least get...

Bob, many thanks for posting this excellent account of Isaacson's work. There is some irony here. The reason why hydrogeologist Ed Rhodehamel worked with foresters like Little, Little, and Doolittle was not to bolster pine pulpwood production as reported, but to increase water infiltration into...

Can you tell a spung from a cripple? Are blue holes real? Ever wonder what this place was like during the ice age? I'll be giving a talk about a new book that details the Pine Barrens physical, cultural, and environmental dynamics of paleoperiglacial landscapes. It is written for Pinelands...

Mankiller Branch is a westward tributary of Babcock Creek's East Branch located just above Jack Pudding Branch. Mankiller Meadow is a dried up spung in Mankiller Swamp along that tributary. Purportedly, a mankiller is a shaman and/or a military rank— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilma_Mankiller

I believe that wetland is called Maple Swamp along Maple Swamp Branch. I'd love to know the name of this spung there (at crosshairs)— https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.394759/-74.575043/njgin1930/0.00/0.00 TO: Jonathan Risley 8 Dec 1806 FROM: SURVEY AND MAP. 225.5 acres. Maple Swamp Branch...

Vineland’s Augustus Seeman, the Commissioner of Immigration of the State of New Jersey, attempted to establish a German settlement at Wheatland Manufacturing. The works had had been idle for three years when it was leased, then bought, in 1883 to make all kinds of pottery. Seeman at the time was...

It was nice to see some of you at Atlantic County Park. Here’s two upcoming talks— August 20, 2023, Sunday 1:00 PM, Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society “Soggy Ground — Valuing Vineland’s Historic Wetlands” (A natural and cultural history of local wetlands)...

Hi Boyd, Thank you again for all the wonderful improvements you continue to make through BoydsMaps! The highest raised land appears to be relict plateau, which is often underlain by gravel, ironstone, and/or dense soil such as fragipan. The pits seem to cultural artifacts, but they don't look...

Huh, Never heard of that creature... The next thing I like to do is visit Early Land Records, 1650-1900s and search "Alligator"— https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/EarlyLandRecords.aspx A resurvey from 1857 and another from 1858 popped up as candidates. Both look...

Bob, That name is intriguing. My go-to source for possible meanings is the Oxford English Dictionary. U.S. A tough frontiersman North American colloquial. A rough, lean hog alligator snapper n. = alligator snapping turtle n. A person who binds or ties something.

Guy, Thanks for the dune post. Our story of paleodune dynamics has just been published in Aeolian Research. Ice-age dunes here are commonplace, yet seldom recognized. Their extant is important to the development of biologically diverse ecosystems and distinctive cultural landscapes in the...

Another possibility is that two parallel channels could have once occupied the same Little Egg Harbor valley. We see this on Route 54 between Hammonton and Folsom, where Baileys Branch is an auxiliary channel to the Penny Pot Branch. The highway bridge sign—in error—designates Baileys Branch as...

Smoke_Jumper, These old deeds are confounding, aren't they? I'm always amazed a Teegate's knack at stone finding. My guess is based on the Atsionk River being the same as the current Atsion River. However, this deed states that both branches are in Gloucester County. How can that be? Maybe the...

Now, when I purchase deeds at the State Archives, they are posted for all to download. Here's the deed citing the cripples. https://www.state.nj.us/state/darm/EarlyLandRecordsPDF/PWESJ004_1758_Leeds_Abraham_Survey_60711.pdf I've attached a draft translation of the deed for those who have...

Yes, those ditches were intended to drain “worthless” swampland into yet another marketable product rived out of barren land. First, in post contact exploits, the tract was lumbered for whitecedar and kilned in naval store production. Then this was coaling land for Cumberland Furnace, with a...

Retta Heights, and I’m pretty sure Longwood Gardens too, are DeCarlo Tract lots. These were speculative-boondoggle subdivisions promising cheap land on lots too small and/or wet to build on by Christopher DeCarlo of Newark. Retta Heights was active during the 1960s when I’d walk through it along...

Fascinating, so roasting the ore would have been advantageous, yet I don't recall mention of a roasting step addressed in the various papers on ore raising here in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Is there a reference to roasting ore in South Jersey?

I was almost five when the drilling occurred near Milmay, but the stories lingered through my youth of the exploits. Everyone thought they would become rich and the area at the time was impoverished. The father of my best friend clipped several articles on the topic. One from the Vineland Times...

That is a delightful account of what bog or meadow ore digging was probably like. I wonder if Pine Barrens furnaces used a similar process at their industrial-scale meadow ore grounds, or is this just a small-scale bloomery procedure?