Hi everyone! For the past few months I've been fascinated with pine barrens history and I've decided to spice up my hiking trips by hiking out to the many ruins and ghost towns in my area. I live just a short drive from Bamber so I decided to make the first one a hike out to the Eureka Gun Club. I haven't been able to find many photos of the ruin, and none of the club in operation, so I decided to take a few of my own of what's left.
Reaching the place was amazing. It was a 90 degree day back in early August, we were almost out of water by the time we got to the Chamberlain. When we finally got to the ruin itself we almost didn't notice that we were practically standing on it. The area is a dense, grassy field and the ruins are almost completely buried under foliage. On a side note, if you ever find yourself on a relentless day-long hunt for a forgotten ruin, don't forget to switch back into long pants when going off-trail!
Aserdaten is a peaceful place, at least between the occasional roars of passing jeeps. When the wind wasn't blowing it was almost dead silent. There was a strange metal structure sitting on what I presume to have once been a lovely porch, pierced with bullet holes. Any idea what it could be?
We also found some pottery shards. In places like this it can be difficult to tell litter from artifact, but I like to imagine it's a clay pigeon someone peppered with birdshot long ago. The area was remarkably unspoiled - Black's Bridge is covered in the expected graffiti but Eureka seems unharmed by vandals. I guess this is because it's pretty hard to find, tucked away just enough that you wouldn't find it without knowing it was there.
Other than this, all that seems to remain of the Eureka Gun Club is concrete and history. If anyone knows when this place opened/closed, has any photos of the building before it was ruined, or can point me to any other information please let me know! I plan on going back to try and take more photos in the winter.
Reaching the place was amazing. It was a 90 degree day back in early August, we were almost out of water by the time we got to the Chamberlain. When we finally got to the ruin itself we almost didn't notice that we were practically standing on it. The area is a dense, grassy field and the ruins are almost completely buried under foliage. On a side note, if you ever find yourself on a relentless day-long hunt for a forgotten ruin, don't forget to switch back into long pants when going off-trail!
Aserdaten is a peaceful place, at least between the occasional roars of passing jeeps. When the wind wasn't blowing it was almost dead silent. There was a strange metal structure sitting on what I presume to have once been a lovely porch, pierced with bullet holes. Any idea what it could be?
We also found some pottery shards. In places like this it can be difficult to tell litter from artifact, but I like to imagine it's a clay pigeon someone peppered with birdshot long ago. The area was remarkably unspoiled - Black's Bridge is covered in the expected graffiti but Eureka seems unharmed by vandals. I guess this is because it's pretty hard to find, tucked away just enough that you wouldn't find it without knowing it was there.
Other than this, all that seems to remain of the Eureka Gun Club is concrete and history. If anyone knows when this place opened/closed, has any photos of the building before it was ruined, or can point me to any other information please let me know! I plan on going back to try and take more photos in the winter.
Did you have any issues with chiggers or ticks?
