Dennisville

[bobpbx]

This question is for Manumuskin, but I want to open it to all in case someone else knows.

I am intrigued with Dennisville. It seems like such a wonderful, laid back town in Down Jersey. The history is all about ship captains and cedar harvesting.

I've been checking real estate for rent and for sale, and it's been very thin. Not that I'd move for good, but have thought about temporary stays if the stars were aligned. I see that many of the homes are historic, so probably tightly held for longer than the normal market. Plus, they seem to be over-priced.

Al, what do you know about it? What are the good and not so good points about Dennisville?

 

[manumuskin]

PBX Bob living down here next to me? Whoo Hoo! Uh lets see the bad points first I guess.BUGS! and lots of em.Your right near the salt marsh so yes skeeters,gnats and even possibly greenheads.The woods down here are of course full of tick,chiggers and such though I doubt any of this will deter you.Another thing is Shooby Traffic in summer.Route 47 is a Shooby nightmare so getting anywhere on summer weekends can be a real pain in the Caudal Extremity.Now for the good points.The area at least when I lived nearby in Belleplain is a fairly low crime area or seemed to be.Most of the folks that live there are locals and many have history there for quite some time.The Ludlams are one big historical name in the area and there are a couple very old Ludlam graveyards ,one is in a Ludlam front yard and another was hidden beside the road till the state saw fit to put a fence around it and an interpretive board and with in a couple years all the original stones were stolen,a stone each year on halloween and now there is a large state monument there and no original stones.When it was hidden everyone drove by it and never seen it.I don't know how the taxes are,since I was renting in Dennis twp and didn't pay taxes.There are some real nice large swamps in the area and if you are a kayaker there are miles and miles of salt marsh creeks that have tones of otters and such especially as you get up into the headwaters.A lot of isolated small beaches along the bay too that can only be accessed by boat and most motor boaters don't go near them because the bay is not very nice to swim in and mud flats at low tide make many inaccessible for them.If the bugs don't bother you it is quite a natural paradise down here.Not quite barrensy excepting some of the cedars swamps which in that area there are some quite nice ones but I'm sure you'll find some new plants down here.A lot of nature conservancy land and of course state forest and WMA land also.The big bonus is that you'll have manumuskin to show you around.Looks like there might be some more PBX hikes down this way soon

 

[bobpbx]

Thanks for the report Al! I never thought about the bugs. Since I would not be staying, I'm sure I could deal with them for a little while.

Here's something interesting by you.

 

[Boyd]

That is pretty cool.

See, I thought I was a Southerner, but Dennisville is a good half hour South of me. I really like it down here, it's pretty much off the beaten path except for shore traffic during the season. My only thought would be to consider just how isolated you might feel down here. Frankly, that's why I like it. But if you still want to wander in the "core pines" you're going to be spending a lot of time behind the wheel and burning a lot of gas.

As time passes, I spend more of my time here, to the point where all of my wanderings have been on foot starting at my door recently. I think I'm going through a "Reagan phase" (you see one pine tree, you've seen 'em all". But seriously, all those places you used to go will now be an hour and a half farther away. It really makes a difference if I want to go up to the mountains. That becomes a pretty long day trip.

 

[bobpbx]

Well, I'd need a couple of others to go in with me on that one in Fortescue. A couple years is all.

Anyone?

 

[Old Crazy]

Al, you hit the nail on the head with Dennisville; especially the shoobie traffic on Rt 47 in the summer. Baaaaad!

bobpx, Dennisville is only about 10-15 minutes outside of Avalon. It's a pretty quiet town with a lot of historic homes, but you're sandwiched right between Rt 9(which connects all the barrier islands) and Rt 47 (the shoobie express) so you don't have to go very far in the summer to be surrounded by people. But it's really only crowded in Cape May County for about a 10 week period in the summer. The rest of the year it's actually less crowded and congested than most other areas in southern NJ. I enjoy living in Cape May County. Low crime, lots of good restaurants, shopping, beaches, bays, wineries, historic areas, and you're close to the Garden State Parkway. I can reach the southern terminus of the Batona Trail in Bass River in about 35-40 minutes.

The Belleplain State Forest is a stone's throw from Dennisville. There are are lots of hiking trails. My favorite is the East Trail. It's a 7.25 mile hike around East Creek with swamps, streams, pines, oaks, cedars and magnolias.

I went kayak fishing in East Creek on Sunday evening. Fished about two hours and caught a couple pickerel and two largemouth bass on jitterbugs (always fun watching a fish slam a lure chugging on the surface)

But Al is right about the bugs in this area. Chiggers, ticks and mosquitoes. I actually wanted to do some fishing after dark in my kayak, but the mosquitoes got so bad around 8pm I had to leave.

 

[manumuskin]

Bob
I have walked right by that house and know that area of conservancy fairly well.kayakers dream out there and some nice holly woods out there.A lot like the bear swamp islands we walked around on on the trip you and Guy took.There is a nice observation tower out in the marsh along Oranoaken creek as well near there.That house is very nice from the outside.I walked up their driveway and right past it exploring.Don't know if I was allowed to but there were no posted signs just conservancy signs.The driveway is gated.Very secluded there but the skeeter will find youyou would be about 20 minutes from Me there.

 

[manumuskin]

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.26209579373023&lng=-75.15072360634804&z=21&type=h&gpx=
the observation tower.
you would also be about an 7 minute drive from one cousins house and I have another cousin right in Newport but not exactly sure where they live.

 

[manumuskin]

that nature conservancy appears to be very little used to me.I have never ran into anyone else out there.It is lovely in the off bug season and I used to know where some nice fox dens were,the field they were in has grown up but I haven't checked the dens in some time.

 

[manumuskin]

http://www.natlands.org/preserves-to-visit/list-of-preserves/glades-wildlife-refuge/
this page has links on it to the hiking trails and kayak trails in the area.I've been on em all.By the way there are some nice but small barrens type woods down here.I can show you spots if you need a pine oak fix while away from the core.Cedar swamps are not hard to find at all with a couple of nice bogs and even a few pine barren treefrog locations believe it or not so you can have some music as well

 

[bobpbx]

http://www.natlands.org/preserves-to-visit/list-of-preserves/glades-wildlife-refuge/ this page has links on it to the hiking trails and kayak trails in the area.

...."Woodlands dominated by tuliptrees that are over 100 feet tall; old growth forest with black tupelo trees that are more than 450 years old".

Okay, late fall or mid-Spring PBX trip will be planned.

 

[bobpbx]

I enjoy living in Cape May County. Low crime, lots of good restaurants, shopping, beaches, bays, wineries, historic areas, and you're close to the Garden State Parkway.

Yes O.C, it does seem to have a lot going for it besides the bugs. Maybe though I'll try renting a vacation place for a couple weeks during plant season instead. Did you ever see the resort Holly Lake? I like the vacation homes in there, but I don't see any rentals.

 

[RednekF350]

Dennis Township is a great and wild area Bob.
The waterfowl hunting, crabbing and fishing, both salt and fresh, is killer death down there.
As long as there is a breeze, the bugs are tolerable, even in the middle of summer. (In my opinion)
We usually hit Dennis Creek with the jon when the ocean throws us a hard blow.

The lake at Holly Lake Resort (Ludlam Pond officially) has been State for several years.
Don't know much about the resort.

 

[manumuskin]

...."Woodlands dominated by tuliptrees that are over 100 feet tall; old growth forest with black tupelo trees that are more than 450 years old".

Okay, late fall or mid-Spring PBX trip will be planned.

I know where the Black Gums are along with some massive beech and red maple as well.Don't know where the big Tulip Trees are though i woul assume on the islands.I don;t think they grow in the water like maples and gum.