Exploring Harrisville

[Ben Ruset]

In preparation for our upcoming Washington/Martha Get-Together I decided to scout out Harrisville, and try to find some of the "lesser known" ruins. (We all know the paper mill - but did you know that there was a grist mill, saw mill, and even a brick making kiln?)

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=290&page=1

I got to Harrisville around 4. Unfortunately it started getting really dark and I was cut short. I found nearly every building that once stood on the opposite side of Chatsworth Road, and all but two of the workers cottages on the paper mill side.

There is still a ton of stuff left to find. Unfortunately the snow cover made it hard to find some of the really buried ruins.

Walking down the town's Main Street and looking at the cellar hole of the Harris Mansion really hits home just how large and advanced this town once was. I have no doubt that if that fire hadn't swept through and ruined the town that Harrisville would still be around as a real town.

 

[BEHR655]

Wow! You found a lot in a short time.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I spent three hours there.

Edit: And I also have a map.

 

[Rubibee]

In preparation for our upcoming Washington/Martha Get-Together I decided to scout out Harrisville, and try to find some of the "lesser known" ruins. (We all know the paper mill - but did you know that there was a grist mill, saw mill, and even a brick making kiln?)

Any chance this will be included with the Washington/Martha get-together or has this already been done. Any chance it could be done (again for newbies) at a later time if there is interest in it? We have explored that area a few times. I see the map on pg 350 in "HOtP" but I would love to have a better idea of where everything was. Especially where the Mansion or the Taverns where. Is there any better book than the "HOtP" (not!) for history on this town and how it was run, or better photos?? Like how the streets really looked with the gas street lights?

 

[Ben Ruset]

I'm thinking that we'll actually be spending a lot of time at Harrisville on this trip.

There are two very good Harrisville books. The one with the map that I used today was "Paper Town of the Pine Barrens" by Michael Fowler and William Herbert. It was published in 1976 and has been out of print since.

The nice thing is that it has a map, lots of period photograhs, and illustrations as well as the authors photograhs from the 70s. So you can see how much has changed since then. (a lot)

 

[Boyd]

There's a map in another book.... "Iron in the Pines" I think?...

 

[wolfspider05]

I cant remember which book it was but it had a picture of the main street of Harrisville between 1900-1910. It even had the street lamps and everything. Im sure some of you know about this picture. I thought it was really cool.

 

[Gerania]

Iron in the Pines, chapter 6, Ruins by a River, Harrisville, has 2 hand drawn maps. One is a layout of Harrisville, the other the paper mill and its buildings.

Gillian

 

[Ben Ruset]

The map I was working off of was a three page foldout map, hand drawn in the mid 70s.

 

[wolfspider05]

Iron in the Pines, chapter 6, Ruins by a River, Harrisville, has 2 hand drawn maps. One is a layout of Harrisville, the other the paper mill and its buildings.

Gillian

Thanks, I was sure which book it was. It's good that there are pics like that, it gives you so much of a better idea of what the town actually looked like at one time.

 

[gagliarchives]

The Harrisville pictures are great Ben. My hairs were standing on end.

 

[Ben Ruset]

This outing is going to be pushed back to sometime in April.

 

[Rubibee]

This outing is going to be pushed back to sometime in April.

Oh, good. I was logging in now to read the reports of today. It was scheduled for today, wasn't it? I sure hope I can attend this trip.

 

[Ben Ruset]

it wasn't really scheduled yet. there is more work i need to do at harrisville to show people around better. plus these coming weekends are going to be very busy for me.