1933 Tour Guide

[bobpbx]

These are pretty neat if you haven't seen them. This one traveled route 38 (now 70 apparantly). You can jump on different tours at intersections.

http://www.getnj.com/njags/tours/tour27.shtml

Here is old 40 (72). Guy, note that they point out our forgotten fire tower by Coyle Field.

http://www.getnj.com/njags/tours/tour35.shtml

 

[bobpbx]

Oh my God, look what they say about New Lisbon Home for Men. No wonder the pines have such a bad rap:

Opposite the house is the NEW JERSEY COLONY FOR THE FEEBLEMINDED, where specialists seek to reclaim the mentally undeveloped people who are a byproduct of the socially isolated group inhabiting the great pine area.

 

[bobpbx]

And, from tour 26:

CANNON RUN joins the Rancocas at Pemberton. A huge cannon is said to be buried deep in the mire here. The gun was built at Hanover Furnace, 10 miles east, to defend Marcus Hook on the Delaware River against British forces during the War of 1812. It was hauled as far as Pemberton by eight oxen. Here the wagon was mired and overturned, the gun going deep into the bog.

 

[Teegate]

These are pretty neat if you haven't seen them. This one traveled route 38 (now 70 apparantly). You can jump on different tours at intersections.

http://www.getnj.com/njags/tours/tour27.shtml

Here is old 40 (72). Guy, note that they point out our forgotten fire tower by Coyle Field.

http://www.getnj.com/njags/tours/tour35.shtml

Bob,

Thank you for posting this, but it is talking about the original 1924 tower. Here are the clues.


The tour starts at the shore and heads west and the original 1924 tower was east of the actual town of Cedar Bridge, and the Coyle Field tower was west of Cedar Bridge. So if you read the tour it mentions the Cedar Bridge tower is on the left side before the town of Cedar Bridge. If it was talking about the one at Coyle Field it would be on the right side after Cedar Bridge. Also, the Coyle Field tower was very close to the road, and the 1924 tower is .8 tenths away up the road they mention.

What is interesting is that that web page mentions that it was published in 1939. So if you were using that tour in 1939 to find the Cedar Bridge tower you would be wasting your time. A few years back I contacted the USGS and was able to get my contact to supply me with the original datasheet for the 1924 tower, and check out when that tower was removed.

ACCORDING TO INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THE STATE FORESTRY
DEPARTMENT, THIS TOWER WAS TORN DOWN IN 1938. THE FOUNDATION
STILL EXISTS IN GOOD CONDITION.

So the publication when printed was already out of date.

Guy

 

[Teegate]

Notice how they describe the Pygmy pines on 72.

State S40 drops down from the ridge with a view topping miles of wooded waste.

Guy

 

[Teegate]

Bob,

I just noticed that right after that they describe the Coyle Field tower! So I was correct that the 1924 tower was removed and had been placed at Coyle Field by 1939.

Guy

 

[bobpbx]

Yup, thats what I meant. Remember the foundations we found?

 

[Teegate]

Yup, thats what I meant. Remember the foundations we found?

You know it! This is exciting. I have already written to the fire tower historian I know with the information on this site. It will be more proof that my research was right that the tower at Coyle Field was there in 1939.

Guy

 

[woodjin]

I really enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting it. It is interesting how political correctness is constantly changing. Evident by the "pine waste" and "destitute farms" and mostly by the "home for the feeble minded" Being feebleminded as a result of living in isolation. That is harsh.

I would suspect you guys are familar with the 1912 Henry Goddard publication on the Kallikak family genelogy and feeble mindedness. There is a great book on the subject written by J.David Smith where he investigates the true geneology of the family in which he claims he discovered the actual family name (Kallikak being a ficticious name to protect the family). It is interesting that the foremost study in genetic deficientcy took place in the pine barrens. The book is available at the medford pinelands library. I took it out again to re-read but will return it in a couple days.

Jeff

 

[Teegate]

You know it! This is exciting. I have already written to the fire tower historian I know with the information on this site. It will be more proof that my research was right that the tower at Coyle Field was there in 1939.

Guy

I received an email back from the man I wrote, and he noticed that it mentions that the "platform" could be accessed by steel stairs. It may not have been an actual tower such as we see today. He thinks the original Cedar Bridge tower was sent to Old Bridge and erected again in 1942.

If it was a "platform" that proves even more that the photo of the tower that you and I were in disagreement somewhat on was the tower that was on the road to the Forked River Mountains, and the photo was taken there when the trees were just a few feet tall.

Guy

 

[bobpbx]

I received an email back from the man I wrote, and he noticed that it mentions that the "platform" could be accessed by steel stairs. It may not have been an actual tower such as we see today. He thinks the original Cedar Bridge tower was sent to Old Bridge and erected again in 1942.

If it was a "platform" that proves even more that the photo of the tower that you and I were in disagreement somewhat on was the tower that was on the road to the Forked River Mountains, and the photo was taken there when the trees were just a few feet tall.

Guy

Yeah, what ever happened to that photo? I still has me doubts.......

 

[bobpbx]

I really enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting it. It is interesting how political correctness is constantly changing. Evident by the "pine waste" and "destitute farms" and mostly by the "home for the feeble minded" Being feebleminded as a result of living in isolation. That is harsh.

I would suspect you guys are familar with the 1912 Henry Goddard publication on the Kallikak family genelogy and feeble mindedness. There is a great book on the subject written by J.David Smith where he investigates the true geneology of the family in which he claims he discovered the actual family name (Kallikak being a ficticious name to protect the family). It is interesting that the foremost study in genetic deficientcy took place in the pine barrens. The book is available at the medford pinelands library. I took it out again to re-read but will return it in a couple days.

Jeff

Something way back in my mind remembers that, but not the details.

 

[Teegate]

Yeah, what ever happened to that photo? I still has me doubts.......

Here is is Bob. For those of you who were not involved in the discussions in the past, we can open them up again.

As you may or may not know, the 1924 Cedar bridge fire tower was build on Cedar Bridge road not far from the Cedar Bridge Hotel. In 1938 is was removed for some reason not know by me, and one was erected just 100 feet of of route 72 across from Coyle Field at the top of the knoll.

The fire tower historian I correspond with thinks the 1924 tower was moved to Old Bridge NJ, and what was erected on 72 is a mystery. Bob's link in this thread says it was a platform accessible by steel steps, so it seems it was not a tower. But then again it may have been...more on that below.

In any event, the "designation" "Cedar Bridge" moved to the Coyle Field location, and eventually that tower or platform was removed and the "Cedar Bridge designation was moved to the sand road off of 539 leading to the Forked River Mountains. At that location the below tower was erected, and I was told this photo was taken at that location when the trees and brush were just starting to grow from whatever had removed it at the time (1950/1960s?). Bob believes it was taken at Coyle Field.

The tower description:

The tower in this photo is 110 feet tall and along with the normal cab it has a "platform" on the top of it with a railing around it that was accessible from inside the cab by a trap door. It was reported to be used to spot enemy aircraft during the war, along with normal fire activity. If any of you remember it before 1982 on the sand road to the Forked River Mountains you may remember the cab.

It was eventually moved to it's present location by helicopter and the "platform" was damaged and removed.

So since this tower has a platform on it, it could be the one mentioned at Bob's link. So this photo could have been taken at Coyle Field, but I have been told it was not. Basically, if I remember correctly Bob did not think the trees and brush on the road to the FRM was ever that short, but I say it could have easily been. The trees have doubled in height there since I first visited the tower in 1973.

Opinions....info...comments?

Guy

 

[BEHR655]

It is hard to imagine the FRM area ever looking like that but it's possible.

Steve

 

[bobpbx]

Dang it, that is one confusing photo!

I can see cedars far in the background, which leads me to believe it is maybe not Coyle Field, but then again, we don't know which direction we are looking at. Also, where the tower was located at Coyle field, the ground behind the tower (when viewed from 72) rises. That is not true in the picture. But, the pines in front of the tower do look like pygmy pines, of which there are none where the tower was located in the Forked River Mountains.

 

[woodjin]

Interesting. I have some questions and observations.

From 539 toward FRM, past the huge pit, you pass tower foundations on the left. Did this tower pre-date the moving of the coyle field tower to just off of 539?
Are those turkey vultures I see on the second from the top floor of the tower in the photo?

The color is compromised in the photo, but It looks like mountain laurel in the foreground. I don't recall seeing much mountain laurel in the plains. More than pine, I see alot of oak around the tower. Is there alot of oak around the 539 tower? It does however, look like blackjack oak which is common just about everywhere, and never gets very big. I know what Bob means about the rise beyond the tower. It looks very flat in the photo.

Here is a thought is determining the direction of the photo: The stairs meet the ground toward one side of the tower. By looking at the 539 tower you can determine the direction of the photo. Furthermore, I don't know, but if it is possible to determine where the stairs met the ground from the foundation in coyle feild, you can determine the direction of the shot if it was in fact taken there. The topography of the plains should answer the question if you can figure out where the stairs met the foundation.

Jeff

 

[bobpbx]

Holy cow Jeff, you oughta be a gum-shoe detective!

Turkey vultures.......hmmmm. I saw the Mountain Laurel too, but you can only use that to pin down the season to mid to late June of the year. But you know what? It is hard to fnd any laurel clumped so tightly together like that.

Say, look at the stairs closer. They go up in a diagonal (to the frame) direction. Don't most tower stairs go up parrallel to the frame?

 

[BEHR655]

The "vultures" are rectangular boxes and the stairs do run diagonally.

Steve