All,
For almost a year I have been working to narrow down the location of a few small tracts of land directly in the heart of the Great Swamp that Joseph Wharton just was not able to get his hands on. These property’s are as remote as one can get in Wharton. Two tracts in particular had been owned by William Richards who purchased Batsto in the late 1700’s, and they were sold after his death by all of his sons to Jonathan Haines on 1/29/1824. His sons included included Samuel, Thomas, Jesse, and Benjamin. The location of the Richards properties are in the area that was harvested for wood back in the 1970’s.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=39.674791,+-74.681947&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr
Nearby, in the massive savannahs on the opposite side of the Sleeper are two other tracts of land that Wharton also could not acquire. He was able to acquire the middle property splitting the upper and lower sections apart. Since the information I had did not pinpoint the exact location of the property stones on the corners of these lands, I have spent the last year trying to narrow them down. They are of particular interest to me because one stone is incised with the letters LH on it.
With confidence that I have done all I can to figure this all out, Rob from work and I headed out this morning to find history. Entering from Batsto before 8AM this morning, we tried to cross Constable Bridge by car. Unfortunately, the bridge is out and they have guard rails blocking both sides. Water has washed away the dirt on both ends, with just enough dirt there to walk across. This forced us to abandon my car there and walk an extra 3/4 mile up the road to where we wanted to enter the woods.
After entering the woods we came up this deer blind. Here is Rob getting his camera out.
A closer look. Notice the new purchased wood walking stick of Rob's.
And this nice view at the blind. Savannahs rock!
Crossing the exhausting area from the road to the clear cut area at the above link is quite strenuous, and the going was slow. Finally, we arrived at the location where I believe was one of the corners of the Richards property. It was right on the fringes of the clear cut and very wet. There was nothing there and we moved on to another corner with no luck. So we abandoned the Richards tracts and headed on, but not before I took these photo’s.
We easily crossed the Sleeper Creek using the many blow-downs across it, which many may remember from our PBX hike titled “Shiver Me Timbers and Blow Me Down.” Then onto the exhausting savannahs ahead. They are all flooded with water forcing us to push our way through them. We arrived at a couple of locations with stones and again came up empty. I was especially frustrated on not finding the incised LH stone. This area has been altered over the years by the cranberry and blueberry workings in and around these savannahs.
By lunch time we were at our farthest point from my car, and I was becoming more aware of sever pain in my legs, and four aspirins and a Motrin was not working. Every hundred yards or so I had to stop to relieve the fatigue that was building. During those moments I took these.
Notice in the distance the full size cedars, and in front of them a much younger group.
A different view.
We decided to head for some remote roads and stay on the same side of the Sleeper as far as we could, and eventually made it back to Constable Bridge. It was quite comforting to sit again in my car.
Here is the survey of the most northern property with the circled yellow area where the incised LH stone was located at one time. Notice the yellow box saying “Stone inscribed LH In a Cripple.” The center area between those two tracts was owned by Joseph Wharton. If you look closely in pencil is written “State acquisition number 725 10/9/1999.” This remote area eluded Joseph Wharton and just recently was purchased by the state. Imagine someone owning that property until recently. BTW, the line running through them is the Hammonton/Mullica Township line.
Here are the properties. The bottom are Richards, and the top are Lippincott, Joseph Wills, and the Township Of Mullica. Compare it to the one above.
And the complete overview. We walked from Constable Bridge on the bottom right, up the road toward Atsion, across to the clear cut where the Richard's property is shown, across the Sleeper, into the savannahs, and then down the left side back to Constable Bridge. The properties in question are also shown. In all we traveled over 7 hard miles between 8AM and 2:40PM today.
Guy
For almost a year I have been working to narrow down the location of a few small tracts of land directly in the heart of the Great Swamp that Joseph Wharton just was not able to get his hands on. These property’s are as remote as one can get in Wharton. Two tracts in particular had been owned by William Richards who purchased Batsto in the late 1700’s, and they were sold after his death by all of his sons to Jonathan Haines on 1/29/1824. His sons included included Samuel, Thomas, Jesse, and Benjamin. The location of the Richards properties are in the area that was harvested for wood back in the 1970’s.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=39.674791,+-74.681947&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr
Nearby, in the massive savannahs on the opposite side of the Sleeper are two other tracts of land that Wharton also could not acquire. He was able to acquire the middle property splitting the upper and lower sections apart. Since the information I had did not pinpoint the exact location of the property stones on the corners of these lands, I have spent the last year trying to narrow them down. They are of particular interest to me because one stone is incised with the letters LH on it.
With confidence that I have done all I can to figure this all out, Rob from work and I headed out this morning to find history. Entering from Batsto before 8AM this morning, we tried to cross Constable Bridge by car. Unfortunately, the bridge is out and they have guard rails blocking both sides. Water has washed away the dirt on both ends, with just enough dirt there to walk across. This forced us to abandon my car there and walk an extra 3/4 mile up the road to where we wanted to enter the woods.
After entering the woods we came up this deer blind. Here is Rob getting his camera out.
A closer look. Notice the new purchased wood walking stick of Rob's.
And this nice view at the blind. Savannahs rock!
Crossing the exhausting area from the road to the clear cut area at the above link is quite strenuous, and the going was slow. Finally, we arrived at the location where I believe was one of the corners of the Richards property. It was right on the fringes of the clear cut and very wet. There was nothing there and we moved on to another corner with no luck. So we abandoned the Richards tracts and headed on, but not before I took these photo’s.
We easily crossed the Sleeper Creek using the many blow-downs across it, which many may remember from our PBX hike titled “Shiver Me Timbers and Blow Me Down.” Then onto the exhausting savannahs ahead. They are all flooded with water forcing us to push our way through them. We arrived at a couple of locations with stones and again came up empty. I was especially frustrated on not finding the incised LH stone. This area has been altered over the years by the cranberry and blueberry workings in and around these savannahs.
By lunch time we were at our farthest point from my car, and I was becoming more aware of sever pain in my legs, and four aspirins and a Motrin was not working. Every hundred yards or so I had to stop to relieve the fatigue that was building. During those moments I took these.
Notice in the distance the full size cedars, and in front of them a much younger group.
A different view.
We decided to head for some remote roads and stay on the same side of the Sleeper as far as we could, and eventually made it back to Constable Bridge. It was quite comforting to sit again in my car.
Here is the survey of the most northern property with the circled yellow area where the incised LH stone was located at one time. Notice the yellow box saying “Stone inscribed LH In a Cripple.” The center area between those two tracts was owned by Joseph Wharton. If you look closely in pencil is written “State acquisition number 725 10/9/1999.” This remote area eluded Joseph Wharton and just recently was purchased by the state. Imagine someone owning that property until recently. BTW, the line running through them is the Hammonton/Mullica Township line.
Here are the properties. The bottom are Richards, and the top are Lippincott, Joseph Wills, and the Township Of Mullica. Compare it to the one above.
And the complete overview. We walked from Constable Bridge on the bottom right, up the road toward Atsion, across to the clear cut where the Richard's property is shown, across the Sleeper, into the savannahs, and then down the left side back to Constable Bridge. The properties in question are also shown. In all we traveled over 7 hard miles between 8AM and 2:40PM today.
Guy
