Does anyone know what this stone work is on the Gabreil Daveis tavern property?

[WestJerseyHistoryExplorer]

I always pass this stone work that is right at the beginning of the driveway to the tavern as soon as you turn off Floodgate rd.
It looks like field stone with an older local style looking mortar. Does anyone have any idea what it is or was ?

 

[bobpbx]

I lived in Germany for awhile. Sometimes you'd see little statues of Mary or some such. They'd place her in a spot with a stone backdrop. Maybe a relic from a pious person who wanted that sort of thing in front of their property. Just a wild guess.

 

[Boyd]

I lived in Germany for awhile. Sometimes you'd see little statues of Mary or some such.

In New Jersey, I thought you were supposed to use a bathtub and paint it blue.

 

[Steve McKee]

It looks like it was dislodged by an errant snowplow
.

 

[bobpbx]

By the way, if you are on facebook there's a very nice group titled "west Jersey history". You could post your question there.

 

[Zach McGarvey]

Could an informational sign have once stood there?

 

[WestJerseyHistoryExplorer]

I was also thinking it may have been either moved and stacked before the plow hit it . The land used to consist of 177 acres of farmland with Big timber creek running along the front of the house. I also posted about a sawmill or gristmill potentially being at Chews landing in this specific vicinity from reading watermills of Camden county on the WestJerseyHistory website. No luck with finding any remains of structures or similar but , im wondering now if this could possibly be remains of that kind . Floodgate road used to connect with Somerdale which would have ran right next to these stone features. Maybe it was a outbuilding like a barn or something for travelers staying overnight at the tavern to put their horses etc? I noticed there are way more buried and semi-portruding stones in a foundation shaped manor . The stones with the mortar are just throwing me off as it doesnt seem like any others have any trsce of mortar . This location is only a 2 minute walk from my home if anyone has any suggestions on what to look for or wants to see more pictures . Thanks for the time and replies .

Tim

 

[WestJerseyHistoryExplorer]

Could an informational sign have once stood there?

Possibly. That road onced connected to Somerdale over the creek. Maybe there was a sign telling travelers of the bridge and creek crossing ahead. The road was abandoned I believe in 1936

 

[Boyd]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with that area, but you could have a look at my LIDAR map - it might reveal some hidden details. From what you've said, I guess this is the general area?

https://boydsmaps.com/#14/39.8399/-75.0627/lidarHD

If you zoom in to level 17, you'll see there's a border between the high-resolution 1-meter imagery and lower-resolution 3-meter imagery here, so your area of interest might not have the maximum amount of detail.

https://boydsmaps.com/#17/39.83995/-75.06263/lidarHD

My new LIDAR map will have 1-meter imagery for that whole area and is much better at showing little details, however it's a work in progress that will take awhile to get there.

 

[Zach McGarvey]

One way to determine the age of that section of wall is to look closely at the mortar and see if it's made of lime or portland cement. Lime mortar is softer and when struck makes a dull thud. Portland mortar will make a sharper metallic sound and can't be easily scratched with a metal tool. Portland-based mortar came into use around 1900 and its use surpassed that of lime by 1930. Certainly anything built after the war would use portland exclusively. Identifying the mortar would tell you if that wall section is original, or something that was pieced together in the last century or so. From the picture I would bet the latter.

 

[oji]

Check out the film at 33 seconds

 

[bobpbx]

Nice catch Tom. A glorified planter? Something in the Greek style maybe.