Search results

According to Pierce's Iron in the Pines, the earliest approximate date of Mary Ann was 1827. However, this could be earlier or later. However, it still fits within the timeframe of the 1833 Gordon map. It would be interesting to compile the records of where the site was located and try to...

I just looked again, and the bog site, on the USGS Brown's Mills quad, is where the split between Pole Branch and Mt. Misery Branch occurs. However, that is where the 1833 Gordon lists a sawmill and a church, right near Mount Misery. The Mary Ann site is located further west near the mine and...

Ben, The map to which I refer was the Thomas Gordon map of 1833. You can view it on NOAA's website. The map does show the forge just south of where the road crosses Mt. Misery Branch, but also much closer to the split with Gum Branch. I believe it is possible that this ore deposit...

Ben, It's funny, but the 1833 map of NJ places Mary Ann at a different location than the cranberry bogs. It would be further west where Mount Misery Branch splits with Gum Branch. Ironically, (according to USGS) there is a mine at the location. Perhaps some remains may be found there as...

Just a minor thought on the matter of the blue hole in Winslow - Winslow Junction was, in the earlier nineteenth-century home to a major brick manufactory owned by the Hydraulic Press Brick Co. Some of these "blue holes" were, in fact, clay pits dug up for raw material. I know that near...

As another archaeologist on this list, I can say that specializing in a particular locality would make one a very (much more than usual) monetarily poor archaeologist. Many archaeology (CRM) firms operate within a radius of their home office. There is a lot of travel involved, even for "local"...

Guy, The EO may have something to do with the Owens family. The hill that Halfway was excavated out of was known as Owens Hill. That small pit, I believe is one of the earlier clay pits of the Lewis Neill Fire Brick Co. If I am correct, the pit you are referencing is located just outside...

Guy, The Union Works referred to here is the Union Works, not the Union Clay Works. Union Works, if memory serves, was the Ironworks listed in Pierce's "Iron in the Pines" owned by William Cook Sr. And, as for Halfway, it is located in Burlington County, for the most part. A portion of it...

sorry, I did not mean to write Union Clay Works, but Old Half Way. ROG was south of OHW, and slightly NW of Union Clay. In fact, Union Clay and ROG overlapped at one point. sorry for the mix-up scott

Without a good look at a map of where you were, it is hard to tell the locality you found. There were several small homes in and around the Red Oak Grove area, which originally rested south of the Union Clay Works. The exact location for the "town center" changed at least twice during the...

How about using the story by McMahon in his Pine Barrens: Legends, Lore and Lies about the ghost at Wheatland. I did some research on this legend of a spectral haunting at the "Pasadena Terra Cotta Co." (actually, the Brooksbrae Brick Works), and found that there is a historical basis to the...

Concrete blocks like the ones that you have in those photgraphs are much later than the Dover Forge. In fact, if you look at the mortar between the blocks, it is portland cement. The earliest this could possibly date is the 1860s, and, in fact, I doubt these are that old. You are most likely...

As a descendant of Andrew McCall, do you have any relics of his? He was a Tobacconist, manager of the Union Clay Works underneath Joseph K. Bricks ownership, and served as a local minister. He was a busy man and I would be interested in fleshing him out more in future articles regarding the...

In response, I first must ask if anyone took the time to read my article. Next, I am unclear about what damage writing a factual, historical article about a strange New Jersey History event could have done to the factory site. How does it follow that if an article is published in Weird NJ...

Jokerman, You are almost correct in your interpretation of the factory. However, the airflow is reversed from your description. Hot air from the kilns fed the tunnels from underneath, then vapor would be exhausted through a central stack that also served to vent the boiler. I have patent...

The two documents that I have at the Library are (1) my thesis, and (2) an informational brochure I developed for the site. The one mentioned here is actually the brochure, my thesis is titled: Of Myth and Brick: Examining the Legendary Pasadena Terra Cotta Factory. Both have similar...

I am unsure of actual percentages, but paint companies tried to buy up many old mining tracts to extract the ilmenite (titanium oxide). As far as resources, try the state geological surveys (state library and archives have copies) and salisbury's Quaternary formations of Southern New Jersey...

Guy, Any excavations at Union Clay would be limited and have particular research questions. I have several questions in mind that I would like to see if material evidence exists to answer. I am a professional archaeologist/historian and would never think of damaging such a unique...

That would be the one. Enjoy. :) Scott W.

The Blue Holes, I believe, are old clay pits. The quicksand is likely remnant clay that people get stuck in. The water color is derived from the predominance of titanium oxide in the Pine Barren sands and clays. Beck wrote about one such hole at Winslow Junction, but never mentioed the fact...