Apple Pie Hill Tower Open Saturday
- Thread starter Teegate
- Start date
On February 18, 2023 from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. the Apple Pie Hill Fire Tower on the Wharton State Forest will be open to climb and take in the fantastic views. On a clear day you can see Philadelphia, Atlantic City and many other points in the surrounding area. And of course, you will see the vastness of the New Jersey Pinelands. Only the stairs will be open on the 18th and not the Forest Fire Service's observation room.
Apple Pie Hill is generally recognized as one of the highest points in southern New Jersey coming in at 205 feet above sea level. Climbing the fire tower will put you at about 250 feet.
Heavy rain/snow and/or sleet/freezing rain will cancel the event. If the weather seems questionable to you on the 18th, please call the Wharton State Forest office at 609-561-0024 to see if the event is still taking place.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.
Apple Pie Hill is generally recognized as one of the highest points in southern New Jersey coming in at 205 feet above sea level. Climbing the fire tower will put you at about 250 feet.
Heavy rain/snow and/or sleet/freezing rain will cancel the event. If the weather seems questionable to you on the 18th, please call the Wharton State Forest office at 609-561-0024 to see if the event is still taking place.
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.
Thanks for the tip. It was really cool, I’d never been up there before.
I got the notification email as well - I stopped by in the morning. It was very nice and clear. I have been up in the cab of the Medford tower before, years ago, but not up this one. I am not a fan of heights. Still, I at least got some shots.
I noticed the recent burn has kind of uncovered these, in the culvert that runs down the hill. What exactly am I looking at here?
I noticed the recent burn has kind of uncovered these, in the culvert that runs down the hill. What exactly am I looking at here?
...err, Applepye Hill in 1759.
TO: Tanton Earl; Thomas Earl, Jr.
19 Jun 1759
FROM:
SURVEY AND MAP. 2 acres. Near Little Egg Harbor Road; south east of Applepye Hill; Burlington County.
OTHERS NAME Daniel Ellis (Deputy Surveyor) (Signatory)
LOCATIONS: West Jersey; Burlington; Applepye Hill; Hill (The Hill); Little Egg Harbor Road; Roads, Streets, Highways, Paths
West Jersey Loose Records : 1759 - Earl, Tanton (41924) (PWESJ004)
Park Service had this little info page printed out:
Where did "Petty Coat Pile" come from? This is the exact kind of situation where I'd like to see what Doc Bisbee has to say about it, but that book still eludes me. I think I'll have to check it out from the library again.
Where did "Petty Coat Pile" come from? This is the exact kind of situation where I'd like to see what Doc Bisbee has to say about it, but that book still eludes me. I think I'll have to check it out from the library again.
Looks like it comes from a bogus wikipedia edit from January 2019.
User contributions for 124.199.14.241 - Wikipedia
They cite the following article as a source: https://www.nj.com/burlington/2016/09/access_to_pine_barrens_landmark_restricted_due_to.html
In looking around that area with the mid-atlantic lidar, this is an interesting knob (109') in the Birches cranberry watershed. Kind of thing I look at and determine to go and see. Won't be easy, but will be interesting.
I'm forgetting what's what down there, but I think that's the tower we camped not too far away from for four days in my tent in 1982...that one was not that far from Batsto, I think, and one night we drove out of the Barrens and spent an evening drinking beer in a biker bar somewhere and then went back home to the tent in the woods. I have just one photo from the 1982 trip.
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Here's the view from April 10, 1999, taken with my first digital camera (a Nikon CoolPix 900).
There used to be fire towers scattered around the woods north of NYC (where i lived) too. I remember climbing up one in the Shawangunks or Catskills or something in the mid sixties and talking to the fire ranger. I was thinking at the time that i wanted to be a forester. He told me he had majored in forestry in college. Much later i learned that my great grandfather had been a forester in Europe. Must be in the blood.
When you go let me know. On the easterly side of the hill is a property stone. I will look for the deed I found that.
I picked up Sign Posts from the library again to see what Bisbee says about the name, but it's not much we don't already know here:
Spung-Man already posted this very record.
Certainly no mention of "Petty Coat Pile." Neither the "it kinda looks like an apple pie" or "it's named after a non-native plant" theories seem very likely. Not sure if it is possible to go further back than 1759, though.
Spung-Man already posted this very record.
Certainly no mention of "Petty Coat Pile." Neither the "it kinda looks like an apple pie" or "it's named after a non-native plant" theories seem very likely. Not sure if it is possible to go further back than 1759, though.
Thinking out loud here...
Perhaps there was a landowner with the last name Appleby or the such?
If that was the case, we're lucky we didn't end up with Applebee's Hill. Visitors would be driving up there looking for Cheetos-dusted wings or something.