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As a NJ Licensed Tree Expert (#285) I’ve saved a lot of trees. However, not all old trees are worthy of conservation. Many have structural weaknesses or health issues that warrant their removal. Too often tree dignity is gone and it is best to call Dr. Kevorkian. This is not the case with the...

The 12-feet by 12-feet dimension makes it a good fit for the charcoal pit shanties I've seen. It is my understanding that colliers either carried huts on pole frames or they wheeled them to their new position. Camps were often large-scale commercial enterprises that provided provisions, livery...

The surveyor might not be so far off after all! I've heard cave used for cellar holes, and this might help explain numerous reports of Pinelands caves. According to the Oxford Dictionary the term can be used for any hollow or cavity. I was told by old-timers that when cutting wood was exhausted...

Unfortunately, our officials do not make it any easier. For example, there will be a hearing on the Atlantic County Sewer Service Area map on Thursday, February 7, 2103, at the Canale Center. The County advertised the public notice as a display ad in the Atlantic City Press, which, while not...

Since neither the Vineland Times Journal, nor the Atlantic City Press will cover this kind of material, I will relate recent backwash from Richland Village Redevelopment's mismanagement. At last night's reorganization meeting (o1/7/13), our ex-mayor and project architect was not reappointed to...

Mullica, Weymouth, and Buena Vista Townships, and Estell Manor City officially voted not to put Pinelands Villages on to Atlantic County's proposed Sewer Service Map, and refused to draft letters of support as legally required by the Memorandum of Understanding between the NJDEP & NJ Pinelands...

'Paddler, I am not arguing that the name shouldn't be Morss, but am trying to demonstrate how fluid place names can be! Here's a link to a post that sheds some light on the Morss-Morse-Moss debate. http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.homan/54.77.114.1.1/mb.ashx A.W. Dellquest (1938) in These...

There's also Maus Branch (below) on Hopkins, 1873: 23, Combined Atlas of the State of New Jersey and the City of Newark. That's an old English term for mallow, a family of herbaceous plants that are common along wetlands. Marsh Mallow is one of its most well-known representatives. Lee (2010) in...

Jerseyman, I add more (Moss–Moore–Morss) to the story!

Thanks Jesreyman, you beat me to the 1849 map by two minutes! I was ready to post and found your reply. Jerseyman to the rescue, at the price of becoming the butt of a wisecrack. As for Moss Mill, I have seen both spellings but haven't the time to iron that one out. Cheers, S-M

It is great fun offer these tantalizing tidbits, but still need to cover my aging academic ass in regard to the Burden/Bordens toponym. Where did I read about this issue a while ago? There are lots of names that drifted over time (Inskeeps to Inkskips, Moores Mill to Moss Mill).

Scott, the presence of chestnut oak helps weave a story about the "Basket Manf'y" shown on the diagram above, Map of Quinton Township. The shop's position can be seen just below the Turnip Hill. Chestnut oak was the favored tree for basketry and splint production in the Pine Barrens. Trees that...

The above diagram was excerpted from page 34 of: Everts, and Stewart, 1876: Combination Atlas Map of Salem and Gloucester Counties, New Jersey. Philadelphia, PA: Gloucester County Historical Society 123 pp. (Reprinted 2001). Burden Hill is described as Bordens Hill. Turnip Hill is near Pecks...

OK, I called Beverly, the librarian at the Salem County Historical Society, who said there is an 1876 land survey indicating ownership of the land by a Borden, but thinks this a corruption of Burden. She prefers the orthodox burden interpretation of a difficult task due to a steep grade. I...

Wow, another forgotten Pine Barrens outlier! Some botanists bristle at this, but I agree with McCormick & Andreson's (1963) map. http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/pointing-to-folsom.7970/page-2#post-94581 This looked like a great adventure. I will stir the pot. Memory has it that the...

Guy, Your hearing was fine. That din was an inevitable artifact of Gordon and Woodford’s catchy enthusiasm. The celebration was a delightful opportunity to catch up on things Pinelands with many of the region’s greatest advocates – conservationists, biologists, botanists, historians, artists...

46er, Grrr... It is a seam that leaks, one just above the stack pipe affecting the bathroom roof window below. The wife and I designed and built this timber-frame saltbox with the Pine Barrens fire history in mind: metal roof, concrete HardiePlank® lap siding, and polyisocyanurate stress-skin...

I am so sorry to hear of the losses for friends to the north and along the shore. I only arrived back in the Sates last night, but when overseas used this blog to gauge what was going on back home. My wife and daughter did a great job of preparing for the worst. Western Atlantic County seems...

The Pine Barrens is full of windblown phenomena like dune fields, sand sheets, and blowouts. Many are subtle features, not always easily discerned, since the ground was frozen when Pleistocene winds were strongest. We were a sand-starved eolian system. See our newest paper in the Netherlands...

Gibby, I am on my way home from the Sahara with the European Space Agency, and am interested in your finds. The Pine Barrens is an exciting location for Mars analog studies. Cheers, Spung-Man