Fall/Winter Stone Searching 2019/2020

[Teegate]

All,

It is a little early but when the opportunity presented itself I looked for this monument today to check the accuracy of the information I have. Nearby Bob and I looked for a couple of stones but came up empty. By the end of the month Jessica and I will be systematically working our way through my list of stones to find and hopefully we will find some interesting ones to view. In the meantime....

This monument is on the property line of an entry of Book A in the clerks office which makes the property line quite old.

 

[Teegate]

All,

We spent the morning looking for stones for a small piece of property in Woodland Township near the Burr's Mill Brook. We were about 170 feet from our intended location when Jessica spotted this in an open area.

Knowing I was 170 feet off I judged where I wanted to go next. The old deed was vague and made mention of the letters "IB" but I was uncertain if that was an incised stone or maybe a tree with the letters in it. The deed states:

Beginning at a stone corner standing on the North side of the Duckinghat Branch (Of The Burrs Mill Brook) in the line of the survey two chains and twenty eight links from a pine corner to said survey lettered IB.

When we arrived we found this.

And I noticed there was something incised on it. A closer look shows what looks like an upside down letter "G." The property was it appears at one time owned by a George Haines so maybe the G is for George. I saw nothing on the other side. Or it could be the number 6 or a 9 ??????

Along a path we saw this bird box. Seemed in an odd place.

Opened it up and found it full.

The road there which is quite nice.

Guy

 

[Teegate]

I am thinking now the incised stone above is the 9th corner to the Burr's Mill survey. Very old property line for sure.

 

[Teegate]

All,

If you remember above I mention the letters IB from an old deed.

Beginning at a stone corner standing on the North side of the Duckinghat Branch (Of The Burrs Mill Brook) in the line of the survey two chains and twenty eight links from a pine corner to said survey lettered IB.

Well, today we returned to the area and using some of the information I have we started roaming the woods looking at various locations for stones. It turns out the state has had a surveyor in the area and they have been checking on the property lines that the state owns. So we were able to follow some of their survey cuts and we found the IB stone. This stone is pretty historical and most likely was placed there by the father or family member of Joseph Burr who owned Burr's Mill. This article posted by Jerseyman in a previous post tells us that Joseph Burr had silverware with the letters IB on them. This article dates from 1765 and if his father or relative placed the stone there, this stone dates back before then.

The article Jerseyman posted.

Here is the IB stone that the surveyor painted within the last month or so. I believe there is a date at the bottom but what it actually is I am uncertain of. I give you various photos to look over. I am sure the surveyor had no idea this stone may have been placed there by Joseph Burr's father or relative.

A closer look at the bottom.

Here is Jerseyman's original post as well as others.

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/burrs-mill.10204/

Guy

 

[Teegate]

Jessica with her new boots. She finally found a tall boot for woman in her size that is all rubber on the outside.

 

[Teegate]

So I reached out to Jerseyman and asked him about the letter "I" on the stone and why it was not a "J."


For the record, the below text is edited by me.


Guy:

During at least for the eighteenth century, if not before, people who had given names starting with "J" would use an "I" in place of the "J" when abbreviating the first letter. Copies exist of Revolutionary War maps prepared by a British cartographer named John Hills. Yet, most of the maps carry the preparer's name as "I. Hills." So, I am fairly certain that Joseph Burr is the one that had the survey markers placed.

 

[Oriental]

Perhaps this raises more questions than answers about who JB may have been.

I believe the land was originally surveyed to John Burr and John Budd in partnership.

John Burr and Philo Leeds built a sawmill on the property in 1741 or 1742. The mill powered two separate saws.

About that same time, Joseph Burr (John Burr's son) acquired John Budd's interest in the property. Philo Leeds soon relinquished his interest in the saw mill in exchange for other property that he owned with John Burr.

John Burr moved to Philadelphia in the mid 1750s and sold his interest in Burr's Mill to his son Joseph who now possessed the entire property which was said to possess two dwelling houses. Some later sources refer to the operation as a "cedar mill".

Recall that John Burr was Surveyor General for West Jersey. His family history is fascinating. One sister was mother to the famed Quaker preacher John Woolman. Another sister married Timothy Mattlack who had been secretary of the Continental Congress during the Revolution (remember the movie National Treasure).

 

[Teegate]

Well, the problem may be my fault. I mentioned Joseph to him and without really thinking about it he may have just went along with that in his email reply. He would be correct that Joseph owned it.

 

[Teegate]

All,

We spent the morning searching for stones along the property lines of the recent acquisition by Ocean County of the Brunetti property. This includes the Forked River Mountains. The area we were in was new to us so we enjoyed exploring while heading to our destinations. We were able to find two sandstones with the second one being the property corner of various tracts of land. One appears to be the Stuyvessant corner.

The second one.

Closer View. I will have to research this stone.

I always find it interesting how far these are embedded into trees. This one is almost half the sign.

We then headed to Wharton and visited this pre 1931 bog where ATV users have been visiting for 15 years. Hidden away they have pretty much had a free pass to the place.

And today on NJ.com there is this article about the NJCF giving Ocean County 3100 acres adjacent to the recent acquisition of Ocean County which will make the property 11,000 acres. I am confident they will be blocking it off to vehicle traffic so getting to the Forked River Mountains by vehicle will be next to impossible. Better visit it now before that happens.

Huge 3,100-acre land donation will become an N.J. hiker’s paradise

The Lacey Township property is adjacent to an 8,000-acre tract acquired by Ocean County in February, and will form an 11,000-acre preserve.

www.nj.com

Guy

 

[1Jerseydevil]

The actual "road" to the top of the mt. may become blocked, but I doubt the main roads throughout the area will be blocked? Time will tell I suppose.

 

[Teegate]

I will post soon the locations where the property crosses the main roads so we can get an idea where the gates would go if they block all access to the area.

 

[bobpbx]

Guy, is that destroyed spung close to Paradise Lakes?

 

[Teegate]

No.

 

[Teegate]

I will post soon the locations where the property crosses the main roads so we can get an idea where the gates would go if they block all access to the area.

Okay. Sorry for the delay. I have had trouble finding the time to get this all done.

Here is a map showing the 3 Brunetti parcels that Ocean County purchased for 15 Million Dollars. The larger parcel is Parcel # 3 and one that most people would be interested in. If they hypothetically blocked the road leading through it, I have made a few zoomed in photos of where that would be.

The first photo does not yet include the added 3100 acres the NJCF gave them. I will have that for you soon. I hope

So if they blocked the road in from 539 that passes the old fire tower ruins, they would be blocking the road right at the fire tower. In fact, the Brunetti property they purchased actually cuts off a corner of the property the state owns at the fire tower. It is called a "gore" where the two properties overlap each other.

If they blocked the road coming in from Wells Mills for example, they would be blocking it right at the Ironside Gun Club.

And the most interesting part to me shows that the gate on Lacey Road is actually not part of the purchased property. The road leads to the property but you must travel 3800 feet before you cross into the property.

 

[Teegate]

So it does appear that neither the NJCF or the County own the property at the gate and for the first 3100 feet of the road. It is owned by Lacey Holdings and Ocean View acres. However, they gave the property to the NJCF nearby so I am sure they are not going to complain about it being used.

 

[manumuskin]

The large gravel pit in the NE corner of the property is the area Tom Brown referred to as Hell in his book "The Tracker" where the wild dogs supposedly tried to eat him. His tracker school is on the Forked River and this property border runs right down the creek and borders his school.

 

[bobpbx]

I have never seen a pack of wild dogs in the woods. I found a lost lap dog once, and a hound from a hunter. That's it.

 

[Teegate]

They use to frequent Savoy Blvd at the zinc plant that was there. They ran after my Land Cruiser on Savoy once. But coyotes keep them in check anymore.

 

[Teegate]

I won a free day off from work at our employee appreciation party and I took it yesterday. As expected I went stone searching and came up empty. So today we visited the Tuckerton RR area, again looking for stones and we fared better. It definitely is the summer for praying mantis viewing. They were all over the road soaking up the sun.

Two concerning ATV riders drove past us on the Tuckerton RR and even when we waved they looked straight ahead and ignored us. A short while past us they stopped and talked and turned around and headed back. So we did what we usually do before they arrived back near us and headed deep in the woods toward a possible stone location. A little tough going but we eventually arrived.


Our long walk ahead.

Twins! I know very little about the history of these except that if they have been there a long time they are part of the Rutherford tract.

 

[manumuskin]

I once was surrounded and followed over a mile by a pack of baying hound dogs till their owner who was radio tracking them by collar caught up to us. It was on that long really tight road you (Bob) and I went down so we could walk back to the snake dens I showed you. I heard them baying and getting closer and closer to me..They actually caught me on the old cycle trail back by the dens and followed me out to the tight road.Then this guy came down the road in an old pickup.I asked them if they were his and he said yes and wondered why they were so bunched together from him tracking them,it was because they were all following me.