anyone know this place ?

That does look like a cool place... it's above Trenton though. Ramapo Lake is up in the Ramapo Mountains up near the NJ/NY line. I've done some hiking with my dad around there years ago, though more toward Ringwood and Norvin Green SP. Never been in the section with those ruins however.

That area around northern Passaic county has a lot of old stone ruins, especially around Greenwood lake and the few reservoirs. It is however, of course, not the Pine Barrens :)
 
Mts83 said:
That does look like a cool place... it's above Trenton though. Ramapo Lake is up in the Ramapo Mountains up near the NJ/NY line. I've done some hiking with my dad around there years ago, though more toward Ringwood and Norvin Green SP. Never been in the section with those ruins however.

That area around northern Passaic county has a lot of old stone ruins, especially around Greenwood lake and the few reservoirs. It is however, of course, not the Pine Barrens :)
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i know its not th epine barrens but it seems awesome! i found alot of cool old ruins up north but some of em are over 2 hrs away , anyone down for a road trip when the weather gets a little warmer ? i really wanna check tis place out
 
I might be, don't know at this point. I remember going on one hike up there with the NY/NJ trail conference where I remember there being an old stone kiln set a ways back in the woods. I think it was somewhere in the Pequannock watershed.
 
I spend a lot of time tramping around up in the water gap, and there are indeed some cool places if you know where to look. Start in the ghost town of Walpack, and fan out from there. You can't go very wrong regardless of which direction you travel.

As for the Ramapo region, it is studded with old mill, furnace, and forge sites. It was among the earliest industrialized regions in the state.
 
There are some "not-too-friendly" people up that way. I am originally from the Hudson Valley and that was a short ride for me. I spent a lot of time up that way. I am going up in early spring or so. I will post when!
 
ruins

That kind of looks like the ruins of the Clinton Castle that was up on Clinton Rd. off of Rt. 23. But that site was demolished a couple of years ago. But I'm sure there are a ton of ruins in the woods up there.

Kevin
 
Kevinhooa said:
That kind of looks like the ruins of the Clinton Castle that was up on Clinton Rd. off of Rt. 23. But that site was demolished a couple of years ago. But I'm sure there are a ton of ruins in the woods up there.

Kevin
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there was 2 castles up there near each other theone demolishis was the kenilon castle the one i posted i found out is calledthe van slyke castle , should still be there , its almost the oakland area
 
thats up my way. that old house off the skyline drive manner by batanicl gardens in ringwood it might be the beech lake loop not sure. and yall are right about that on so friendly people. there are great mtb trails in this area and great hiking in ringwood.
 
I know this tract very well. I grew up about a half hour away and hiked, fished and hunted Ramapo Mt. State Forest many times. There are two separate parking lots on Skyline Drive used to access the tract. A blazed hiking trail leads to the lake from the southern lot, and a deteriorating paved road leads to it from the northern lot. The paved road is chained and the only vehicles allowed to use it are park staff and the few private residents still living on the lake. While in high school, I wanted to more thoroughly explore the fishing opportunities on the lake and got the bright idea to lash my canoe to my skateboard and push it down that paved road. It still hurts to recall that journey! The ruins are of a house built just after 1900, and referred to as the Van Slyke Castle. I don’t recall the exact chain of ownership but don’t remember it as anything particularly exciting. The ruins are certainly interesting though and it’s beautiful country to hike around, with a few scenic overlooks that can’t be matched in this part of the state.

As to the unfriendly people in the area, I never found this to be the case. Just like the “pineys” of the pine barrens, people in remote areas have all sorts of stories snowball about them. The largest group up there suffering from such stereotyping used to be called the Jackson Whites, with several different stories being told of how their name came to be. The current politically correct name for the group is the Ramapo Mountain People. They come from a mixed background made up of mostly African, Dutch and Native American ancestry. They compromised a large part of the labor force during the peak of the region’s iron mining.
 
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