Clovedale Farm County Park building burns

[46er]

Ocean County Parks bad luck again; first the mold issue that closed the Wells Mills building and now this.

http://www.app.com/article/20100301/NEWS/100301086/Cloverdale-Farms-fire-under-control

 

[Teegate]

Well,, if it was arson lets hope they catch them and throw the book at them. It will be interesting to hear from German.

Guy

 

[PancoastDrifter]

This stinks. I stop there all the time...

 

[GermanG]

The building is a total loss. Cause is currently under investigation. Not much more to say. It hasn't been determined whether it will be rebuilt or not. The visitor center was more to take advantage of an existing structure than to fill the need for a facility. For now, we will continue has we have been doing, organizing school trips and public programs at Cloverdale from the Wells Mills office.

 

[46er]

Did Wells Mills reopen? Last I heard you guys were working out of Jakes Branch.

 

[Teegate]

The building is a total loss. Cause is currently under investigation. Not much more to say. It hasn't been determined whether it will be rebuilt or not. The visitor center was more to take advantage of an existing structure than to fill the need for a facility. For now, we will continue has we have been doing, organizing school trips and public programs at Cloverdale from the Wells Mills office.

Which building was it ....the house?

Guy

 

[GermanG]

Wells Mills has been open for several months now. We pray and lay offerings before our dehumidifiers on a daily basis ( I got voted down on the sacrificing of a virgin).

The building at Cloverdale was the old farmhouse located on the left side of the entrance road, closest to the bogs.

 

[GermanG]

For some reason my posts are containing double words that I am not typing. editing will not change it. Anyone know what gives?

 

[Teegate]

I do not see double words. It may be on your end.

Guy

 

[GermanG]

I do not see them any more either. Must be time for another beer

 

[Ben Ruset]

Wasn't the visitors center the packing house?

 

[GermanG]

The packing house (We have been referring to it as the sorting house) has been part of the tours we’ve conducted, but the room where the sorting takes place is not really safe for groups of public nor spacious enough for interpretive displays. The old farmhouse had much more room and was better suited to a visitor center. Two rooms were to be devoted to displays on the history of cranberry farming in NJ and another to other pine barrens agricultural topics, such as blueberry farming, plant gathering and egg farming. Another room was to serve as a meeting room, for powerpoint and other presentations. The second floor was office space. The displays were about 75% complete as of yesterday. None of the work was contracted out however, and was all done in-house at considerable savings over having the work done by professional exhibit companies. The text and photos are all in our computers and the displays can be readily reproduced, if we have a facility to put them in.

 

[bobpbx]

German, you are putting forth a good effort to be calm and pragmatic about this, but I cannot help feeling bad for you. Guys like you, who love your vocation and always plan well for the future presentation of our historic culture and for the education of the public are few and far between. I look up to people like you and Piney Boy because you look past the whims of the public and still perform for all our benefit.

Please keep up the good work you are doing. My memory of the excellant tour you gave will last a long, long time.

 

[Teegate]

Excellent work by your paper Heathen. Thanks!


Guy

 

[46er]

What a shame. Unfortunatley 100 year old wood burns fast. Fortunately they were able to keep the fire away from the propane tanks. The back side of the park is a known party place, arson would not surprise me. Hopefully some of the structure can be saved.

 

[gipsie]

From what I understand the park budget is pretty tight. I have 3 or 4 friends, including myself, that go to that park quite often. We were all talking about seeing if there was any way we could help. I, for one, would be able to volunteer as much time as needed and I could gather up a group of people that are also willing to help.

So, if there is anything at all that we could do, please let me know.

 

[GermanG]

Bob, Thank you for the kind words.

Gipsie, We were keeping a list of willing volunteers but were waiting on the opening of the visitor center to organize them. Many of the volunteer tasks we had in mind went up in flames with the building. For able-bodied volunteers, we will be doing work on the bogs next year that will benefit from more hands. Anyone interested can contact us through the Wells Mills office, 609-971-3085

 

[gipsie]

I am sending out this information to my friends. Put me on your list, I will PM you with my full name and phone #.

Look forward to hearing from my friends, I am sure they will be calling you....