Black Run Preserve
- Thread starter ecampbell
- Start date
That area has really changed since I first visted there in the summer of 1971. Everyone thinks it is great having the preserve, but it was so much better when I explored the woods there before Kings Grant was even built. The bogs there were created by the Evan's family who also were associated with Friendship Bogs (Evans and Wills).
Guy was it pretty much desolate back in 1971? The forest is still very piney there and when I'm driving kettle run road I don't feel any different then when i'm on caranza. I hope that area doesn't see any further development, its very unique and special, its ashame they already did a number on the rattlesnake population out that way. I recently played links golf course and the far southern portion hugs a swamp that is awesome looking and very piney. I have no doubt that rattlesnakes once where found in that area too, prior to kings grant being built.
I have mentioned this before I believe but will repeat. Right at the main entrance to Kings Grant there was a small dirt road that reminds me of a road at any bog in the pines. Picture yourself at Friendship Bogs deep on a road with the vegetation starting to grow over it. It looked just like this without the water. This is not Kings Grant.
Main entrance to Kings Grant today.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.86057955307611&lng=-74.87679362297058&z=19&type=h&gpx=
My friends mom would park there in her station wagon and we would unload his Honda 70 out of the back. This was 1970/1971.
http://nwhog.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/honda-70.png
There was very little traffic and the only businesses along that road was the log cabin like gas station at Hopewell, a small convenience store across the street, and the Cranberry school on the other corner. That burned down not long after.
The gas station at the below link. And on the map right acorss the street you can see where it says Silver Star Trail. That was the second entrance back to the bogs. We would drive down that trail from the bogs and go to the store for something to eat.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.85403817787446&lng=-74.85713303089142&z=19&type=h&gpx=
Then one day while waiting at the main entrance for his mom, a large truck pulled up with a dozer on the back and parked at the entrance to the trail. They jumped out, walked over to us, and asked if this trail lead to the bogs deep in the woods. We informed them it did and they began to unload the dozer. It was the slowest thing you can imagine. Each side was independent of the other and it was constantly oversteering on the way down the trail. I later realized I had been at Kings Grant when the first construction vehicle arrived.
We again went there sometime later and the road in had been widened. Somehow my friends mom did not seem to care and off she went. This time there were groups of motorcycles riding around the trails, and the men in the huge construction vehicles were not happy about us being there. With both of us on the Honda 70 is was quite slow in the sand, and on the trails they chased after us. I can remember turning around looking at this hugh vehicle closing in on us as we struggled to keep ahead.
That was our final visit and soon after I started high school. I never remember even talking to my friend again.
Guy
Main entrance to Kings Grant today.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.86057955307611&lng=-74.87679362297058&z=19&type=h&gpx=
My friends mom would park there in her station wagon and we would unload his Honda 70 out of the back. This was 1970/1971.
http://nwhog.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/honda-70.png
There was very little traffic and the only businesses along that road was the log cabin like gas station at Hopewell, a small convenience store across the street, and the Cranberry school on the other corner. That burned down not long after.
The gas station at the below link. And on the map right acorss the street you can see where it says Silver Star Trail. That was the second entrance back to the bogs. We would drive down that trail from the bogs and go to the store for something to eat.
http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.85403817787446&lng=-74.85713303089142&z=19&type=h&gpx=
Then one day while waiting at the main entrance for his mom, a large truck pulled up with a dozer on the back and parked at the entrance to the trail. They jumped out, walked over to us, and asked if this trail lead to the bogs deep in the woods. We informed them it did and they began to unload the dozer. It was the slowest thing you can imagine. Each side was independent of the other and it was constantly oversteering on the way down the trail. I later realized I had been at Kings Grant when the first construction vehicle arrived.
We again went there sometime later and the road in had been widened. Somehow my friends mom did not seem to care and off she went. This time there were groups of motorcycles riding around the trails, and the men in the huge construction vehicles were not happy about us being there. With both of us on the Honda 70 is was quite slow in the sand, and on the trails they chased after us. I can remember turning around looking at this hugh vehicle closing in on us as we struggled to keep ahead.
That was our final visit and soon after I started high school. I never remember even talking to my friend again.
Guy
Interesting information Guy. I've spent a decent amount of time in an around that area, I hope development doesn't overtake it further. There is still alot of wild areas out there thankfully.
This site has a bikers review of the preserve along with a KMZ file of the red, green, black and white trails.
http://www.mtbnj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27196
http://www.mtbnj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27196
Guy-
This is a great story, especially about the "breaking ground" of King's Grant. I think I witnessed kinda the same thing in Barton's Run. Seeing your link to the map reminded me that Barton Run Blvd wasn't always there.
I had a paper route in BR, and in those days, there were just the apartments in the front. One afternoon, 'dozers and loaders were parked in the back, where the creek crosses under the road... now. I parked my bike, and as a ritual in those days, looked for keys to start those "iron monsters". No luck! This made me late for supper, and I got hollered at, but it was worth it.
Soon after, a "dirt" road was cut through and new construction started. It didn't take long after that, and BR Blvd went all the way to Tomlinson Mill Rd.
I also remember the log cabin gas station. Mayer's Mobil! Rumor had it that the best mechanic in the area, at that time, worked there.
Your pic of that little Honda brings back memories, too. A neighborhood kid had a CT-70, and the rest of us had muffler burns on our legs all summer from that thing! (Check the exhaust routing)
You brought back some great memories, Guy!
John-
This is a great story, especially about the "breaking ground" of King's Grant. I think I witnessed kinda the same thing in Barton's Run. Seeing your link to the map reminded me that Barton Run Blvd wasn't always there.
I had a paper route in BR, and in those days, there were just the apartments in the front. One afternoon, 'dozers and loaders were parked in the back, where the creek crosses under the road... now. I parked my bike, and as a ritual in those days, looked for keys to start those "iron monsters". No luck! This made me late for supper, and I got hollered at, but it was worth it.
Soon after, a "dirt" road was cut through and new construction started. It didn't take long after that, and BR Blvd went all the way to Tomlinson Mill Rd.
I also remember the log cabin gas station. Mayer's Mobil! Rumor had it that the best mechanic in the area, at that time, worked there.
Your pic of that little Honda brings back memories, too. A neighborhood kid had a CT-70, and the rest of us had muffler burns on our legs all summer from that thing! (Check the exhaust routing)
You brought back some great memories, Guy!
John-
Yes, I remember driving that route to the pines all the time when Barton Run was not there. I must not have traveled that route for a while and then all of a sudden they were. It would have been nice if I had known about that area and could have explored before they built.
Guy
Guy
We took the dogs for a walk at the Balck Run Preserve. It must have been a very nice area at one time but now people are using it as a dump, piles of trash everywhere. Some of it looks like it's been there for some time so I guess they don't do cleanups.
A strange shrine.
A strange shrine.
Hiked some of the trails back there on Thursday. They're doing a nice job of cleaning up the place and blazing trails.
http://southjerseytrails.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/black-run-preserve-trails-evesham-nj/
http://southjerseytrails.wordpress.com/2013/04/28/black-run-preserve-trails-evesham-nj/