Camp Columbus near Bamber Lake

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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They are my photo's of Bamber in 1979. I seem to remember giving someone permission to use them years ago so I can't say anything. I just wish they had used my name. This was before I put my name on my photo's. This shows why that is important.


Guy
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,144
Coastal NJ
I seem to remember giving someone permission to use them years ago so I can't say anything. I just wish they had used my name.

Guy

Unless it was the person to whom you gave permission, you can say something. At the very least you should be given credit on the web site. It never hurts to request that if you are sure they are yours.

I was forced to take a 501c(3) to small claims even though they acknowledged they were using my pix, but refused to give credit. Got a couple of hundred from the court, all I asked for was credit.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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Unless it was the person to whom you gave permission, you can say something. At the very least you should be given credit on the web site. It never hurts to request that if you are sure they are yours.

I was forced to take a 501c(3) to small claims even though they acknowledged they were using my pix, but refused to give credit. Got a couple of hundred from the court, all I asked for was credit.

That site has been up for a very long time, and I believe I did give them permission to use it. In fact, I believe I sent it to them. So I am not going to say anything, but as you say I should have been given credit.


Guy
 

Doc4761

New Member
Feb 9, 2011
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Anyone know what - if anything - is to be seen at Camp Columbus? Is it still in use?

It's located in Lacey Township right on Bamber Lake.

It closed down in 1980 I think and is now a part of Lacey parks dept. I went there as a kid summer of 72 and 73. Look on facebook Cris Holt has a spot for it that you may like.
 

Toasterwoman

New Member
Jun 24, 2011
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Camp Columbus did indeed exist. The camp closed around '74. I know because I was the mail carrier and delivered mail there for several years. I started in 1973, so its closing was after '72. It's located in Lacey and got the mail through the Forked River Post Office. The bunk houses stood vacant for a while and then torn/burned down. At one point off of the Dover Road extension (dirt area back then) was a Boy Scout camp. Heading down Dover, through all the dirt and dust, was Swains Bog Road. There were several active cranberry bogs. They were run by a large family that lived in several homes and a trailer on the road. Years later they were run off by the state claiming they were squatters/homesteaders and had no legal claims to the property. Everything was then bulldozed and that was the end of that. I still remember their names.
 

Toasterwoman

New Member
Jun 24, 2011
3
1
80
Camp Columbus did indeed exist. The camp closed after '72. I know because I was the mail carrier and delivered mail there for several years. I started in 1973. It's located in Lacey and got the mail through the Forked River Post Office. The bunk houses stood vacant for a while and then torn/burned down. At one point off of the Dover Road extension (dirt area back then) was a Boy Scout camp. Heading down Dover, through all the dirt and dust, was Swains Bog Road. There were several active cranberry bogs. They were run by a large family that lived in several homes and a trailer on the road. Years later they were run off by the state claiming they were squatters/homesteaders and had no legal claims to the property. Everything was then bulldozed and that was the end of that. I still remember their names.
 

Teegate

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Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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Interesting name Toasterwoman :)

I believe the development was Carusoville and I also believe they were "run off" because their septic systems were polluting the water in the area.

Guy
 

Toasterwoman

New Member
Jun 24, 2011
3
1
80
Yup...and the woman who lived in the house had a one-legged duck. The guy on the other side lived in a trailer and he had this huge pine tree that was decorated all year long with Christmas lights. When we still had a town dump, I'd see him all the time going through everything looking for goodies.
 
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Daniel J Montgomery

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Jun 25, 2011
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Brick
www.capturejerseyshore.com
I rem. going through the houses after the town declared them to be hazardous waste sites and condemned the property. By this point, everything in them had been busted and torn up (toilets etc) I wondered what'd happened to those people. In talking w/ a prof. @ OCC who teaches a class about the pine barrens, he was telling me the town wanted them out so they could redevelop the area. Also, the fam being pretty inbred pushed this decision along (police had been called to the location when pine tourists etc saw a 6/7 yr old walking in the street w/ no clothes on etc) I don't know if it's bunk but I'm a fan of that prof. so it's good enough for me ;)
 

Pan

Explorer
Jul 4, 2011
600
273
Arizona
I remember camping out one summer night near Bamber Lake around 1971. I used to camp in the Barrens a lot back then. What I recall most about that night was the loud and raucous sound of frogs croaking. It sounded like Jurassic Park. I don't think you ever hear so many frogs like that anymore.
 

Pickeralhead

New Member
Aug 29, 2012
6
0
I grew up in th 60's and have very fond memories of Bamber Lake and Camp Colunmbus. Every summer I would vacation on the other side of the lake with my grandparents and once a week we would make our way down the small path, through the honeysuckle. Past the old red bridge and to the camp. There, the boys would put on an Indian camp fire and we would hold our lighted punks (to keep the mosquitos at bay) and listen to ghost stories. It was a real event for us kids! I returned to Bamber Lake a few years ago and found that my grandparents house was torn down an replaced with a contemporary. My father helped build that house in 1955. It was a vacation home for the family before my grandparents moved in after they retired. Many of my relatives lived and grew up there but I found only one cousin who is still there. The old red bridge is gone. The old path is now a wide dirt road. The box turtles, lizards, snapping turtles, frogs, whippoorwills, bob whites are all quiet now. It tore at my heart to see the change. I will always remember Bamber Lake and Camp Columbus as a very important part of my childhood.
 

Pan

Explorer
Jul 4, 2011
600
273
Arizona
"The box turtles, lizards, snapping turtles, frogs, whippoorwills, bob whites are all quiet now."

Where have all the Pine Barrens night sounds gone?

Are the whippoorwills still singing?

Have coyotes extended their range down there yet? Out here in the west you hear the coyotes singing at night.
 

Boyd

Administrator
Staff member
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Jul 31, 2004
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Ben's Branch, Stephen Creek
Where have all the Pine Barrens night sounds gone?

Are the whippoorwills still singing?

Loud and clear at my place. I recorded this on my phone in July, cleaned it up a bit in Logic Pro. Don't hear so many of them now, but in the spring and early summer they are a constant serenade. Maybe this will bring back a few memories for you. :)

http://stephencreek.com/njpb/whip.mp3
 

Pickeralhead

New Member
Aug 29, 2012
6
0
Thanks for that Boyd! It does bring back great memories. Amazing how you remember sounds and smells of a place. In the summer, the cedar around the lake was so thick in the air you could taste it. Are the Bob Whites still there?
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,686
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
I have not heard a Bobwhite/Quail in a good twenty years.I hear the claim is lack of good habitat which would be old fields in advanced stages of succession.It is impossible to maintain a field in the proper stage so the locations of the birds would change.Most of the old fields when i was a kid are either grown up into woods now or have become housing developments.This could very well be the problem.
 
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