I think I've read every thread on this subject, however I still haven't seen a definate answer. Are these ruins accessable/viewable via one of the roads or do you need to walk a path to get to them?
Brooksbrae Brick Factory
- Thread starter this_is_nascar
- Start date
Is there a reason why you can't take a walk? 
I suppose there might be some way to drive there in an 4 wheeler, but certainly not my car. There's a very good description of how to find the place here. It's a very short walk from the road, only a minute or two IIRC. You can't drive there using these directions because of the train tracks.
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=1130
I suppose there might be some way to drive there in an 4 wheeler, but certainly not my car. There's a very good description of how to find the place here. It's a very short walk from the road, only a minute or two IIRC. You can't drive there using these directions because of the train tracks.http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=1130
Thanks. That was one of the many posts I found in my searches. It does require walking to the site, as opposed to riding up/past it. I was trying to find out if there was a road that ran up close enough to the ruins that they could be seen without leaving the vehicle.
No offense, but I hope there isn't any way to do this because there has been so much damage done there already. However I suspect there must be a way because large trash items I've seen there in the past (like a sofa!) probably weren't carried in on foot. But if there is some way to drive, I sure hope that nobody posts it...
I ventured out and found the trees and walking path, however it was pouring on Saturday morning, so I didn't take the short walk. I did, however, attempt to reach it by road, but was unsuccessful. If you can believe it, we did come across this.
Looks like a late 30's Ford pickup, probably 1937-40. You don't even need a VIN to find out the year of the vehicle, just locate a part number. Ford part numbers are fairly easy do decipher. First letter designates the decade, I know for instance the letter "C" stands for the 60's, "D" for the 70's and so on. The second character should be a number which would tell you the year, so a part number that starts with D7 means that part was from 1977. The remaining characters tell you what the part is and maybe where it was manufactured. It looks like this would only work on Fords from the 1940's forward. If anyone finds a VIN and has a question, send it to me and I will decipher it for you or at least try. The last one I traced was a 1969 AMC AMX, remember them!
Besides the fact the truck is there, I'm simply amazed that no one has scavenged the rims/tires. They're definitely original equipment.
Unless you are a park ranger, the only way in to the Brooksbrae site is by walking. (When I examined the site for my MA thesis, Park Superintendent Chris Bethmann met us there in his 4x4). It is only a minute-long jaunt over the railroad tracks and then along a cleared path.
OK, thanks. I may try it again this weekend if the weather is dry. I think I traveled every road in the surrounding area, but couldn't see it. I think I was close, but not enough to see it in the woods. The last attempted road I tried to take was quite water-filled and I turned around. I'm not sure if that would have put me closer or not.
I made my first visit to Brooksbrae on Sunday, early afternoon. It was pretty amazing to me that it exists there, swallowed up by the trees, completely hidden from the road. (I must have driven or run past it, on Pasadena, a couple of dozen times). Thanks for the info on the site, or I would never have known about it. The area itself had less trash than I expected, though there were a few Wawa cups, old and new beer cans, etc. And plenty of empty paint ball cartridges - kind of a shame. My son thought it was great anyway, and we will be back. Are there any cellar holes nearby?
