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Hewey, Bisbee (1971: 290) in his place names book (Sign Posts in History of Burlington County, New Jersey) quoted G.A. Chamberlain as saying, “People have grown old and died arguing as to the difference between a cripple and a spung.” Chamberlain was an American diplomat and local author who...

H-H, I was not aware of Maine’s Red Paint people, who sound similar to the Midwest's Red Ocher people. Apparently both cultures covered their deceased head-to-toe with red paint during burial. Geode hollows can, albeit rarely, reach basketball-like proportions. Still I doubt the Pinelands...

Thanks H-H, And the seed ore is hard-coated licorice Good-&-Plenty? Actually ironstone geodes, if that is a legitimate term for them (perhaps vugs?), may have cultural significance. Geode origin hypothesis is that iron-fixing bacteria so thoroughly digested organic material that only pigment...

Mark, Great question! I have seen hard, compact masses of iron (concretions) take on many forms including old animal burrows, root casts, and desiccation cracks. A whole stump of ironwood would be quite a find! Most of what I’ve seen have been broken bits and pieces of plant casts. There isn’t...

Duh, There is an Atsion River millpond downstream of Atsion shown on the 1872 Beers Topographical Map of Atlantic County (see insert, top right). This is ironic since a print of that map is hanging on my wall five feet away from where I type...

Guy, those are nice shots of old ore beds. I will briefly provide an opinion on Jerseyman’s questions. “I cannot answer your question regarding stumps and trunks” Bog iron formation is in large part a biological process (Means et al., 1981). Primitive iron-oxidizing bacteria like Thiobacillus...

Gabe, All good questions to ponder. Jerseyman and I were wee tykes back then, so specifics are clouded! Besides, Locks Bridge borders the North Jersey half of the Pines, at the fringe of this Southerner’s bailiwick. The good news is that Pinelands remains chock full of historical puzzles to...

Jerseyman, Nice sleuthing, old friend. We are much closer, but not yet there. You provide interesting evidence: 1) that lock technology is indeed old, and 2) that permission for a mill dam was granted on the Atsion River. We don’t know where on the river, since Estell owns land past Atsion, and...

In some accounts the Weymouth ponds were known simply as the “Lochs.” It is often difficult to distinguish between Lochs and Locks on old handwritten documents. The “h” and “k” are hard to tell apart so later mapmakers could have easily misread Lochs Bridge for Locks Bridge. The three Ponds...

Sure Gabe, I’ve attached below an excerpt from an 1867 survey, which covers the lower Lochs-of-the-Swamp. Waterbodies are additionally colored in blue for convenience. Lake Lenape is in the center. Lookout Pond, Crane Pond, and Brake Pond (N–S) are to its immediate right (east), in the...

Hmm. Ted G. and I had this conversation last summer. If memory is correct, T.G. knew of no large-scale industrial infrastructure at Lock's Bridge. There is an alternative application of the word “lock.” That is the Scottish word “loch” meaning a long narrow pond. Nesco was settled by tar...

46er, I really love the 11-inch MacBook Air for its small footprint, ease of use, and reliability. It is convenient to tote to presentations, and even has a full-sized keyboard! The three drawbacks are price, the mini DisplayPort – yet another cable iteration so you can’t use the old one), and...

Windsor, The Worrell Caves (39º59.4’ N; 74º44.2’W) were located just off 206 north of Ewansville, a couple miles west of the Pines edge. According to Dalton (1976: 15, Caves of New Jersey), “Two caves were discovered during excavation for a cellar. They appeared to be at the contact between...

Scott, Thanks for the observations. Besides herring, are there other anadromous fish runs in Pine Barrens fresh water? I am only aware of river herring coming up streams in big numbers. Do you distinguish between runs and branches or consider them one and the same? S-M

Jerseyman, Your point is well taken. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term means a runnel or rivulet. The fish mass-migration meaning is also very old. A colleague is writing a paper on South Jersey anadromous fish, and coincidently each Pinelands herring reference related to a...

What a shame. River herring were a locally-important food resource for both Native Americans and European settlers. Pinelands streams used to “boil” with river herring, and there are accounts of bog iron-workers taking off for runs. Forty-years ago I used to easily snag (treble-hook) a hundred...

Why not? Jerseyman’s etymology of spruto (Swedish: spruts–to sprout water) from the Pole Bridge post is convincing. Excellent sleuthing as usual! I would very much like to know the spring’s location. S-M

Gabe, I’m not surprised. Rhodehamel (1973: 24) reported that between the late nineteenth and mid twentieth centuries a hydraulic head decline of ~3 to 5 feet had occurred along the Mullica River basin. He’s the US Geological Survey engineer who calculated that 17-trillion gallons of aquifer...

Yes Manumuskin, The hog holes are still swamp land, but their period of water fill or “hydrofill” has decreased over time. The basins now remain dry long enough for woody trees to invade them, when once pond bottoms were meadows. Trees could not survive in ground that remained too wet for too...

PancoastD, I personally recommend that you not to treat for Cedar-Apple Rust. Wet springs will be worse than dry springs for disease expression. Crabapples have varying degrees of resistance to this and other maladies. If you have planted a cultivar that is particularly susceptible to such...