Destruction at Friendship

[Ben Ruset]

I stopped by Friendship on my way home from dropping something off at a friends house. One of the OTNJ people mentioned some trees that had been dragged into the packing house foundation at Friendship. She was right - it looks like someone dragged them down into the cellar hole to try to stop vehicles from driving there, but it seems like the trees didn't help the foundation walls much either.

Anyway, I documented some of the destruction going on there, and have some older photos so that people can see how much we've lost over the last 15 or so years. The bulk of the destruction seems to be coming from people who drive their vehicles through the ruins.

Let's start with the Packing House. This is it today:

The cellar hole is protected by this helpful guardrail, which is clearly an effective deterrent.

A tree has been placed behind the guardrail near where people drive into the ruin.

Another tree has been pushed into the ruin. Various bits of brush have been thrown in as well.

Note the other entrance to the ruin in the back. Look at how worn down it is.

Bored kids who don't appreciate history.

The back wall of the packing house back in 2000. Notice how much of the wall is still left standing.

2009.

Another cellar hole. Someone threw a tree in to try to keep people from driving through.

The same cellar hole back in 2000. It's destroyed but not as badly as it is now, 15 years later. Some of this is due to erosion and weathering, but mostly due to selfish people.

The cellar hole to the immediate left of the packing house. This was a nice raised foundation.

Continued in the next post.

 

[Ben Ruset]

The same ruin, 2009. Look at how intact this is. It looks like someone has kicked over a lot of it now.

Anybody care for a doughnut?

More grafitti.

Bonus shot of another foundation in Friendship that people used to drive through. The state has since filled it in. This was sometime in 2000, taken with my very first digital camera. (That saved photos on floppy disks!)

 

[Ben Ruset]

So yeah, this sucks. It's damage being done by people in ORVs and ATVs that either don't understand what they're driving through or don't care. Damage like this won't be stopped by closing down all of the roads in Wharton, not least because the roads through Friendship are major thoroughfares. People need some education to appreciate the kind of place this is, and to understand that places like these are our shared history.

But I need to call out something -- which is the states abysmal (my favorite word) job at historic preservation. The one guardrail protecting one wall of the packing house is just laughable. Who thought that that was going to do anything? Why not put guard rails around the whole thing? The state also does an abysmal job of teaching New Jersey history to kids. The last time I had NJ History was in the 4th grade!

ORV damage is a huge problem, but closing the woods off to people isn't the solution. We need to reach people and try to educate them that this stuff isn't cool. And if that doesn't work then we need park police to throw the book at them.

At the end of the day it's very sad to see us losing this site.

 

[Teegate]

A really nice photo of the tree.

Friendship is one of the most accessible place in the pines so it is certainly going to see it's wear and tear. Unfortunately, it is taking more of an abuse than it should.

 

[Ben Ruset]

A really nice photo of the tree.

Friendship is one of the most accessible place in the pines so it is certainly going to see it's wear and tear. Unfortunately, it is taking more of an abuse than it should.

It's just so sad to see how much we've lost over such a short time. Plus, if there ever is archaeological work done there, it's going to be severely hampered by all of the disturbance and trash.

 

[manumuskin]

I never had NJ History.Had to educate myself.remember reading about the Magna carta and Charlemagne in school though.I used to think who cares! I want to know what happened here,places I can see for myself.I actually dig European history now but care more for my own as well.I like military history as well but appreciate wars that have battlefields I can get to more,like the Revolution and the War of Northern Aggression

 

[smoke_jumper]

Abysmal is the perfect word for the WSF preservation of history. The State can't even run the sawmill at Batsto anymore, and that's part of the crown jewel of the WSF. If they can't preserve this then I have little hope for everything else.
To top things off, the destruction of Friendship was specifically pointed out in the presentations promoting the MAP plan. The original plan did nothing to address this specific area. It's sad that there is an organization here with the means to help but would rather put all their effort in trying to force the MAP through.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Abysmal is the perfect word for the WSF preservation of history. The State can't even run the sawmill at Batsto anymore, and that's part of the crown jewel of the WSF. If they can't preserve this then I have little hope for everything else.
To top things off, the destruction of Friendship was specifically pointed out in the presentations promoting the MAP plan. The original plan did nothing to address this specific area. It's sad that there is an organization here with the means to help but would rather put all their effort in trying to force the MAP through.

It's not just WSF. New Jersey as a whole is awful at historic preservation. A lot of that is because very few people in NJ care about history.

As much as I loathe the PPA I don't know what they could/would do to help. Pine Barrens history has largely been an area that they've ignored, and are only now starting to pay attention to it since Barbara Solem got involved with them. Their interests lay more in the ecology of the Pines, and actually places that have been disturbed by human habitation are the anthesis of that.

Unfortunately I think the only thing that will save Friendship will be steel guardrails placed around all of the remaining cellar holes and more enforcement.

I just don't see why people would want to drive through something that is so obviously a historic site. And the photo of the foundation that the state eventually filled in - what's the point? My car could drive through that. What are you proving if you drive a SUV through it? (I was at Friendship once and watched a guy in a Jeep Cherokee drive through.)

I did see something nice today. Two pickup trucks came down Carranza Rd. and stopped at the intersection of Friendship-Speedwell Rd. I overheard one of the drivers giving a short little history lesson on what the town was. There might be hope for people yet.

 

[smoke_jumper]

I only brought up the PPA because they have the means to help, if they wanted. Rather then piling up sticks to block roads with no damage those same resources could have been put to better use.
Going to these town meetings I've learned that $11,000 was spent simply developing the now defunct MAP. Using a fraction of that money and a few volunteers could have fixed that problem at Friendship.
As far as history in NJ, we simply have too much here to be able to protect it all. We are letting historic sights simply die. Some are older then most of the other states. Without local historical societies we would have very little preserved and as long as our economy is horrible as it has been there will be little change.

 

[Spung-Man]

Last Year Stockton University hosted Down Jersey, a national Vernacular Architecture Forum, which included a strong Pinelands component.

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/th...n-state-forest-a-lost-cause.8145/#post-119879​

The event was well-attended by preservation representatives from State agencies based in Trenton. I am not aware of a single PPA or Pinelands Commission representative at the conference despite invitations.

We each have a duty to let the Pinelands Commission know that residents do care about cultural resources.

S-M

Development pressures are extreme in New Jersey. Valued landscapes usually go to the highest bidder, and the fate of our cultural heritage is all too often decided by economic rather than preservation concerns. Our traditional ways and the structures that commemorated them are quickly fading away. Problems compound as the Pinelands Commission’s planning power decentralizes and shifts to facilitate local entrepreneurial interests. The Comprehensive Management Plan, the ruling document for the Pinelands National Reserve, contains robust language about cultural protection, but its protections are often waived. There is less and less enforcement of Pinelands cultural rules and few ways to punish those who choose to violate them. Currently the Commission’s heritage specialist, a Cultural Resource Planner, is budgeted to work one-half day per week to protect the cultural legacy of this 1.1 million acre biosphere with a permanent population of 700,000 residents. If current trends continue, we will lose much of the cultural landscape that has made this place special (Demitroff 2014).​

http://vafnewsletter.blogspot.com/2014/07/sugar-sand-opportunity-landscape-and.html?spref=fb​

 

[Ben Ruset]

We each have a duty to let the Pinelands Commission know that residents do care about cultural resources.

In your opinion, what's the best way of making that happen?

 

[Broke Jeep Joe]

I was past the packing house at Hampton yesterday, It also has graffiti on the outside walls, sorry no pics.

 

[Spung-Man]

I don’t get it. We should put the same value to cultural resources that we do to natural resources. It does little good to vilify off-roaders, yet ignore politically-connected entrepreneurs.

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/buzbys-is-up-for-sale.7302/page-3#post-92292

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/buzbys-is-up-for-sale.7302/page-3#post-92276
​

BTW, the essay excerpt (below) that I posted earlier is already out of date.

Currently the Commission’s heritage specialist, a Cultural Resource Planner, is budgeted to work one-half day per week...​

Archaeologist Barry Brady has since retired and the Pinelands Commission has not replaced him.

S-M

 

[rc911]

I never had NJ History.Had to educate myself.remember reading about the Magna carta and Charlemagne in school though.I used to think who cares! I want to know what happened here,places I can see for myself.I actually dig European history now but care more for my own as well.I like military history as well but appreciate wars that have battlefields I can get to more,like the Revolution and the War of Northern Aggression

I wish New Jersey had an educational mandate like Texas does. Every student in Texas is required to take a course on Texas history. I think it is the only state with such a requirement. My brother's five children are all products of the Texas education system and they are all very proud of their state and can talk to you about even the most obscure bits of Texas history. Like manumuskin, I felt the same way and had to research, on my own, about the rich history of our state.

 

[dragoncjo]

The state put the trees in at me and another member on here (cranebrake) request. There is an endangered species around the big foundation. Most of the destruction of the foundations is from two sources, herpers and bigger trucks. Herpers would remove the walls to look for snakes, big trucks wrecked what they didn't. Irresponsible herpes flipped all the smaller foundation by the trees to look for snakes as well. I use to role them all back and fix them but stopped going to the pine barrens this past season as much as I use to. We tried to get guard rails or telephone poles every 6 feet or so to block it up. We were told state didn't have the money to do that and i believe them. We settled for the trees and brown plastic signs, it has seemed to work.

Ben, I think it would be good to have the historic sites protected but where is the money coming from? What revenues are being used to protect them. The PPA focuses on ecology because that is why the barrens are protected, its the flora a fauna. To me they pick their battles and the ecology is what will keep the barrens protected, so to me it makes sense. I truely think the state would like to do more but doesn't have the money. I know first hand from interacting with various sources, ensp, f&g, park police, i really think they have limited budgets with alot of hoops the jump through to get things done. One of the reason i stopped going to barrens as much is I got frustrated with the lack of resources and how things just sorta fall apart and are destroyed out there. Also paid workers will rarely recognized that non paid volunteers do as much as they do out there, its demoralizing.

 

[Spung-Man]

The PPA focuses on ecology because that is why the barrens are protected, its the flora a fauna.

Let’s not forget that the mission of the 1979 Pinelands Act, in part, states:

"Pinelands Commission is an independent state agency whose mission is to 'preserve, protect, and enhance the natural and cultural resources of the Pinelands National Reserve'". ​

Jack McCormick, in his ecological assessment report to the National Park Service, made a convincing case for the region’s value to environmental studies (a section on geology too!). But every bit as important as natural treasures are Pinelands cultural elements.

S-M

 

[Ben Ruset]

Ben, I think it would be good to have the historic sites protected but where is the money coming from?

Less helicopter rides for our governor. I am sure that there's plenty of double dipping and inefficiencies that can be found that would free up a few thousand dollars for guard rails.

Are the herpers actually taking the animals or do they just want to see them?

 

[dragoncjo]

I should rephrase that my opinion is the PPA focus is...

 

[dragoncjo]

Ben, I think the guys who remove pieces of the foundation are taking probably. Most responsible herpers will not destroy or mess with more permanent features to find animals. The guys who destroy things are probably taking, that is my opinion based on experience. The wall the the big foundation on the left side has been mostly destroyed by herpers. The back entrance from orv who drive up and down it like a bunch of muppets. The donuts in the center of the field is usually by a bunch of ass clowns driving there h2s, at least that what i've seen prior.

 

[oji]

Let’s not forget that the mission of the 1979 Pinelands Act, in part, states:

"Pinelands Commission is an independent state agency whose mission is to 'preserve, protect, and enhance the natural and cultural resources of the Pinelands National Reserve'". ​

Jack McCormick, in his ecological assessment report to the National Park Service, made a convincing case for the region’s value to environmental studies (a section on geology too!). But every bit as important as natural treasures are Pinelands cultural elements.

S-M

Apparently this only applies to someone wanting to tear down a dilapiated shed that's over 50 years old.