A Pines settlement called "Chicken Bone"?

[Jerseyman]

I actually live over near the old San Domingo tract. I know that neighborhood your talking about, did not know of the names Clarksborough and Sand Hill in connection with that community, have always just known the neighborhood as "the hill". Have also been told it was called, by some folks back in the day, a few racial slurs attached to "hill", folks in general were a lot more racist back then. Seemed to be a lot of prejudice toward "Creek Angels" too back then, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who knows about the Creek Angels anymore, my older relatives avoided talking about them too much, so I don't know a lot about them either. Mount Holly's first black chief of police, Gene Stafford, was from that neighborhood, I've been told he knows a lot of the neighborhood's history, I think he may still live there. Yup, I know that cemetery your talking about. We did have an impressive sand hill on the southeast corner of the town known as the "sand pits" or the "dunes" I witnessed them at the tail end of their existence as a very young child. You certainly know a lot of the history of my town, the history which most folks don't know about.

Cudgel:

Aah, so you live in Top-E-Toy! That section of town has a great history, too. When the Santa Domingo slave rebellion occurred in Haiti in 1791, some of the white French-speaking refugees came to Mount Holly and settled in Top-E-Toy. According to one source I have in my library, this area became a way station for some fugitive slaves on their travels further north during the antebellum nineteenth century. Your mention of Gene Stafford brought a smile to my face. While I never actually met him, my mother has spoken of him on several occasions as she attended Rancocas Valley for a year with him. I have heard of his historical knowledge of the Sand Hill area.

I lived in Rancocas Village for five years and became acquainted with the Crick Angels. Here is a portion of what I have written about them in the past:

“Crick Angels” refer specifically to a number of families that lived along the Rancocas Creek in Burlington County. The families included the Armstrong, Dolan, Fenimore, and Ireland surname. These families lived in pre-Levitt Willingboro, near the village of Rancocas and over in and near the Centreton section of Mount Laurel Township. The families were heavily inter-married and many of their number (both male and female alike) had certain physical features that predominated, including large bulbous noses, very little hair on their heads and most had a rather cherubic and comical look to them. The information about the Crick Angels I know first-hand. Not all of the members of those families can be identified as true Crick Angels. But for those who intermarried, the physical appearance is unmistakable. I suspect many of the old-time Crick Angels have died off by now and their progeny have either married outside the family or relocated to other areas. Nonetheless, they are a known quantity to some people.

Sand located to the east and southeast of Mount Holly proved valuable for use in water treatment filtration beds. The Philadelphia Water Department’s Torresdale Filtration Plant, constructed in the early part of the twentieth century,contained sand mined solely in this area when it was first built.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[johnnyb]

A friend, Bill Pettit Sr, past mayor of Springfield Twp, raised in Rancocas village, has told me about the sand pits on the south shore of the Rancocas near what I think is the location of the recent housing development in Centerton. He mentioned barges being filled and towed down the Rancocas - this would have been in the 1930's.

 

[Jerseyman]

johnnyb:

The Pettits lived right around the corner from me when I resided in the village back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The sand operation to which you are referring was known as Hansell’s Sand Farm. Here is photograph of the tugboat Minerva after pushing a barge into the loading wharf where the narrow-gauge trains sits waiting to dump its load into the barge at Hansell’s:

The J.W. Paxson Company of Pier 45 North in Philadelphia operated this pit and several others on the Rancocas, mining foundry molding sand from these locations. Rancocas Creek molding sand was reportedly the finest in the world. Here is a lithograph depicting the Paxson depot in Philadelphia; you can see the tug Minerva in the foreground with some sand barges:

Other Rancocas Creek sand mining sites recovered construction sand and, as I indicated above, water plant filtration sand. Each type of sand had its own set of unique qualities. I think, however, that Pettit’s date of the 1930s for sand-mining operations on the Rancocas Creek is a bit late as I think most operations ended in the 1920s.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[Jerseyman]

BTW, johnnyb, here is close-up of the little sand train at Hansell’s that delivered the sand to the wharf and waiting barges:

This was obviously long before the days of OSHA!

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[Star Tree]

I’ve also heard the story of Ridley Field, that it was an African American Community but also that a lot of the residents died due to disease. Like the rest of you I’ve never found anything written about it. The only reference I ever saw was on Mrs. Morgan’s map. It showed it located between Long Ridge and Jones Rds, not far from the now closed Ocean Co. Land Fill.

 

[Teegate]

This was obviously long before the days of OSHA!

Best regards,
Jerseyman

They would have run OSHA out of town on that train. Maybe even with a bigger one!

Guy

 

[WaretownMike]

Hi to everyone that's following this discussion-

I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to begin a hunt for this "Chicken Bone" location to see if there is any evidence of any people that once may have occupied this area. I've read as much as I can find on this site about this location, have assembled a few maps and marked out some coordinates. Right now I have 3 locations I'd like to persue initially. I'll be keep track of my exact walking paths via GPS which can be shared as well.

There is some mention of old Boyd maps, and even maps with hand-written notes. If any of you could point me in the direction of this I would appreciate it greatly. (privately is fine too)

I live within a few minutes of this general area, and run off road there frequently so it will not bee too hard for me to systematically cover some ground (assuming I can find a decent path this time of year, may need to wait until late fall)

If anyone else wants to jump in on a "somewhat organized" coordinated effort, that would be great too.

 

[GermanG]

Welcome to the hunt! I started to poke around on a day I had some free time pop up last minute but it was at the start of the tick and chigger season and I paid the price, even though I should have known better. I decided to renew the search when cooler weather returned. I searched the area to the east of the landfill and along Long Ridge Rd., from Wells Mills Rd. to where it met the west fence of the landfill. The only area I still wanted to check was northwest of the landfill, where another road penetrates. If nothing is found I assume the story is at fault, the site has been swallowed up by time, or the landfill obliterated it.

 

[bobpbx]

If anyone else wants to jump in on a "somewhat organized" coordinated effort, that would be great too.

Mike,

If you don't get out there this summer, Guy and I have a PBX trip kind of roughed out in our head for that area. If you want you can join us for that trip. Maybe we'll do it this fall. After your search, send me or Guy an email if you are interested.

PS: we don't run unless the cops are chasing us.

 

[Teegate]

I believe Lost Town Hunter says he knows the location. The next time we talk I will question him on it.

WaretownMike would have some competition with PBX Mike. He ran the complete Batona Trail in one day.

http://mikebaker.com/images/Mike41mi.jpg

Guy

 

[Ben Ruset]

If there's anything there I'd bet it'd have been over by the faint roads here.

I don't see why there'd be any sort of settlement here. People don't just decide to randomly start a town in the middle of nowhere. The only place of consequence nearby is Wells Mills. There's no water power for a mill. I don't buy the idea of a "black hamlet" here. If there ever was a house here I'm willing to bet it was a tar paper shack and not anything substantial enough to have left tangible ruins.

I'd love for there to be ruins there, but I just don't see anything that justifies a town being there. I see a piece of topography that lent itself to a unique name that has stuck around because of it's oddity, just like Ong's Hat.

 

[WaretownMike]

Ben- your last mention is one of the four locations on my list. A 155 ft. Ridge, a Chicken-drumstick shaped ridge, a small sandy lake area, and a larger area based on an old Beers map. If that fails, perhaps everything north of the road connecting Jones and Long Ridge/Ridge.... Not sure when I'll get a chance to start on these but possibly by this weekend...

 

[Teegate]

I spoke with Lost Town Hunter tonight and mentioned this. He quickly described the area to me where he believes it is. He has not found evidence of cellar holes but feels we need bobpbx to do some exploring there to be more certain. I will research this more and add waypoints to our future PBX hike to the area if that occurs this fall.

Guy

 

[WaretownMike]

I'd be more than happy to join you guys if you head out in the fall. I live a few minutes from the area

 

[Teegate]

We will keep you informed. However, this will be part of a much larger hike so you have to decided if you are interested in that. If not, maybe we could plan on meeting at some point along the way and you can leave when we leave the area. Obviously, this is all just in the planning stage.

 

[Lloyd Taylor]

I want in!!!

 

[Teegate]

Do you think you can hike that far Lloyd? You know, it takes a distance runner to do this. Have you been practicing??

 

[WaretownMike]

Lloyd what's this hiking thing he is referring to? Is that like slow running? I think we ran by Union Clay works to
Pasadena and back this morning. Hope you can handle it

All silliness aside, me and my son hiked out to a
Small lake in one of the "Chicken Bone" potential spots the other day and looked around for an hour or so.

 

[Teegate]

I went by Union Clay yesterday and did not see anything from my car. On the way back soon after there was an older red truck parked along the road at Red Oak Grove. Nobody around. This was fairly early in the morning.

 

[WaretownMike]

Going to revisit one of the areas that had some peculiar metal in the area, once the weather cools and foliage drops some