Hampton upper forge?

[pinelandpaddler]

Nice work, Fellas. Fun stuff!

The raceway is evident in the 1980 IR photos: https://boydsmaps.com/#18.00/39.766669/-74.677998/njgin1980/0.00/0.00

Superchooch, I take it that by "flat spot" you are simply referring to the earthen dam?

There should be plenty of forge slag around. May be under the surface a bit.

 

[Teegate]

I suspect much of it was removed or used by the cranberry industry, but it would be interesting to know.

 

[smoke_jumper]

On a different note. It may have been discussed before. At the upper pond there’s a structure under the bridge. Does anyone know what it was.

 

[Teegate]

On a different note. It may have been discussed before. At the upper pond there’s a structure under the bridge. Does anyone know what it was.

Can you clarify where you mean?

 

[smoke_jumper]

Can you clarify where you mean?

Sorry. Yes the bridge over the Batsto

NJPineBarrens Maps

maps.njpinebarrens.com

 

[pinelandpaddler]

The remains of the old dam? Been awhile since I've been there

 

[smoke_jumper]

The remains of the old dam? Been awhile since I've been there

Yes I kind of figured that was what it likely was. It’s a pretty substantial piece.

 

[SuperChooch]

You’re talking about here, right?

boydsmaps.com

Yep.

 

[SuperChooch]

Interesting. But I don't see how you can determine a flat spot from that early map.

Edit: oh, you found the flat spot in person and then marked it on the map.

Kind of in reverse. I looked at the 1849 map and noted the flat spot (I.e. the straight line created by the dam/roadbed) and noted the structure was on the western end. Then I went to the aerials and dropped a pin at the western end of the flat spot and went to that spot using my GPS. I verified I was in right spot in person by observing the depression where the pond was.

 

[SuperChooch]

Nice work, Fellas. Fun stuff!

The raceway is evident in the 1980 IR photos: https://boydsmaps.com/#18.00/39.766669/-74.677998/njgin1980/0.00/0.00

Superchooch, I take it that by "flat spot" you are simply referring to the earthen dam?

There should be plenty of forge slag around. May be under the surface a bit.

Yes, the straight line created by the roadbed/dam. “Flat spot” is probably a poor descriptor , but basically it was a feature that I could verify on a map that was georeferenced.

I did look around for slag, but couldn’t find any easily. (There would probably be a lot less of it than is present at the furnace location). But that won’t stop me from continuing to look. I’m just worried about that road that ran through that area has covered any clues.

 

[smoke_jumper]

The kids and I spent the day out exploring. We decided to stop by Hampton. We saw exactly where John (SuperChooch) described. Like he said, it is much easier to see it in person. There’s so much history on top of history there it’s hard to tell what was what. We also stopped at the bridge over the Batsto to examine the wood that we saw under it last spring. It definitely looks like part of the old dam or sluiceway. It runs the entire width of the bridge

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Poked around the Upper Forge site and made this little map:

 

[pinelandpaddler]

The depression between the road and the canal and between the arrows pointing to the sluice gate and the feeder canal is quite interesting. I could see that water would have been diverted from the canal into the depression and was likely controlled by a gate. But for what purpose?

 

[bobpbx]

I think Moe, Larry, and Curly did that job. What is this round depression? It's interesting. Was it discussed already?

 

[pinelandpaddler]

I think Moe, Larry, and Curly did that job. What is this round depression? It's interesting. Was it discussed already?

View attachment 19390

That is what we call a Piney hole. Just the result of many donuts being driven.

 

[stiltzkin]

What is this round depression? It's interesting. Was it discussed already?

I was wondering this exact same thing to myself looking at LIDAR last week, so I went back there and checked it out. It's not as interesting as it looks.

Just a spot for ATVs to do donuts

 

[Teegate]

The bypass bridge road is also shown.

 

[ecampbell]

The bypass bridge road is also shown.

When was that bypass bridge replaced? I seem to remember driving over an old leaning rickety wooden bridge there.

 

[Teegate]

I believe we have discussed this recently. In any event, the concrete bridge was there in 1961 but by 1970 it had washed out and the bypass bridge had been built. And by 1984 the current bridge was there and the bypass was gone.

This is the bypass bridge developed 10/1975 with me looking over my maps.

.

Here it is developed 8/1978. BTW, at least one of the wooden posts in the photo is still there.

And this is the bypass road. The orange arrow points to the bridge and the others show it's path.

And this is the bypass road taken from the bridge or close to it looking east. The arrows on the right above show the washout depression.

Developed 5/1979 after a storm.

 

[Teegate]

When Jessica was very young I use to take her to the stream by the other bridge at the furnace site. It was being built while we were there and the large construction equipment was blocking the road to cross the bridge. So that would have been about 1988 or 1989. So the current Skit bridge was built first and then the furnace bridge came later. I was working 60 hour weeks then and did not get there as much during that time period.