Hi, folks. Just wanted to drop a note to say hello, and thanks. I've been lurking on this forum for a month or so, reading up on Barrens history, and have really enjoyed the material you have put together, especially the high-res historic map collection and the anecdotes of personal exploration.
Twenty years ago I lived on the west side of Cherry Hill, off of Cropwell in the Fox Hollow Woods subdivision. My friends and I spent many weekend afternoons exploring the woods out by Atsion, first in an old blue Chevette (believe it or not), and later after we finally tore its front end out a more capable Bronco. For the most part we never really knew what we were looking at.
Over the years since I developed a keen interest in history, primarily that of England, and our own Revolutionary and Civil War periods. Since 1995 we have lived in Northern New Jersey, which is rich in Revolutionary period sites and artifacts. Not long ago I bought another four wheel-drive vehicle, my first in over ten years, and started thinking about where to go exploring in it. My fond memories of the barrens came flooding back, and I started reading up. That's how I stumbled in here.
I am planning an outing this Wed. with a good friend from Cherry Hill, and have been researching various locations. I have to say I was delighted when I started looking at sites and roads on the old topo maps, compared to Google satellite imagery, and realized that in many cases the exact same roads exist in the same configuration today. Amazing. Aserdaten, for example, is just striking. The crossroads looks exactly the same in sat images today as they appear on an 1886 topo in the Cook collection.
What a great resource you guys have assembled here. Hope to contribute to it in some small way with my own explorations.
Twenty years ago I lived on the west side of Cherry Hill, off of Cropwell in the Fox Hollow Woods subdivision. My friends and I spent many weekend afternoons exploring the woods out by Atsion, first in an old blue Chevette (believe it or not), and later after we finally tore its front end out a more capable Bronco. For the most part we never really knew what we were looking at.
Over the years since I developed a keen interest in history, primarily that of England, and our own Revolutionary and Civil War periods. Since 1995 we have lived in Northern New Jersey, which is rich in Revolutionary period sites and artifacts. Not long ago I bought another four wheel-drive vehicle, my first in over ten years, and started thinking about where to go exploring in it. My fond memories of the barrens came flooding back, and I started reading up. That's how I stumbled in here.
I am planning an outing this Wed. with a good friend from Cherry Hill, and have been researching various locations. I have to say I was delighted when I started looking at sites and roads on the old topo maps, compared to Google satellite imagery, and realized that in many cases the exact same roads exist in the same configuration today. Amazing. Aserdaten, for example, is just striking. The crossroads looks exactly the same in sat images today as they appear on an 1886 topo in the Cook collection.
What a great resource you guys have assembled here. Hope to contribute to it in some small way with my own explorations.
