Kiln? Furnace? Or something else?

[MarkBNJ]

I apologize in advance for again injecting non-barrens-related material, but you guys are the best source of informed speculation that I have available .

Stumbled across this while exploring some old roads in the Highlands this afternoon. It's is located west of Ridge Road, not far from Millbrook.

Left-front


Left side


Right side


Right front


Top


Pit closeup


The site is off a blazed, but very little used trail that intersects the old road I was following. It seems like a kiln to me, but I'm not really sure. Any ideas? I don't have many good historical maps of Warren County, and the ones I do have don't show anything in this particular location. The topos show some structures in the area, but nothing right where this is, so it has obviously been abandoned a very long time.

 

[Ben Ruset]

There's historic maps of that part of Jersey on this site.

Also, the real Highlands are in Monmouth County, by Sandy Hook. :colbert:

Edit: Wrong information removed. :v:

 

[Jerseyman]

Mark:

Nice find!! The photographs you posted clearly depict a lime kiln—a ubiquitious artifact of Warren County’s agrarian past. Lime burners called the hole at the bottom the eye and constructed the kiln with a grate installed just above the eye. Workers would charge the kiln from the top with successive layers of limestone and charcoal or, in later years, mined coal from Pennsylvania, and then light the kiln off with kindling shoved in the eye and below the grate. The Highlands in Warren County and other counties contain an abundance of limestone formations. The process of charging, burning, cooling, and collecting the processed lime required about a week. The resultant slaked lime could be use in agriculture for sweetening the soil or, if ground in a plaster mill, applied to lath for constructing plaster walls.

I’m sure you can find lots of websites out there on the internet with snippets of unsubstantiated information on Warren County lime kilns, so I’ll not waste time conducting any further research for your edification. However, if you want some decent published information—and you can find the item—the Warren County Historical Society of Belvidere published a pamphlet in 1991 titled, Searching for Warren County’s Lime Kilns.

Jerseyman

 

[Jerseyman]

Mark:

Since you do not have any historical maps of Warren County, here is a detail from the Pahaquarry Township plate in the 1874 F.W. Beers atlas of Warren County:

For a version you can enlarge, go directly to this link:

http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/data/551/medium/Pahaquarry_Township_1874.jpg

I hope this aids you in better locating the owner of the lime kiln you found.

Jerseyman

 

[MarkBNJ]

Thanks, Jerseyman. I knew you would have the scoop . I figured it for a kiln but I never made the association with lime. It all begins to make sense as I think there were some quaries nearby that I ran across as well.

The map is simply outstanding. Thanks very much. It has already answered one or two questions I had about properties in the Millbrook area.

Ben, I have the Warren county maps that are generally available online, and I think I have all the ones from the libs here, but in general they don't have enough detail for this purpose. I have one or two that should provide enough detail, except that they were scanned at too low a resolution.

By the way, I haven't been south in about four weeks (hopefully this coming weekend) but if the ticks down there are anything like the crop we have up here, then exploring will not be for the faint of heart this summer. I usually had 15 - 20 crawling up my legs after pushing through any undergrowth at all (the places I go require shoving my way through brush). No way could I consider taking the dog out. Last time she had more than 30 ticks in her coat when we got home. Fortunately only two managed to attach.

 

[james ungehajer]

Great find Mark. I definitely in the future would like to visit your area. I had only one tick slowly crawling up my pant leg from Saturday's outing, and that was at the Sawmill place.

We sprayed ourselves with deep woods off when we arrived at the parking spot at Hermann, no ticks there, none at the well hole, Washington, Hampton or Parkdale.

Jim

 

[MarkBNJ]

I treated my boots, socks, and pants legs with Permanone, which may explain why I got no attachments. I must have had 100 ticks or more on me over the course of the day, but only one made it up under my shirt and I felt him before he made any real progress.

Any time you want to come up, James, I'd be pleased to show you around. The hiking is a little more strenuous than the flatlanders are used to . But the views are worth it.

 

[wis bang]

I grew up in Northampton county [PA] and I can tell you that there is alot of these old lime kilns around on both sides of the river. Usually find 'em along old back roads. No AGWAY back then so each old farm had a kiln and their own blacksmiths tools.

 

[tugwake]

Niiiiiiiiiice!!

Wow, I would have been so excited to find something like that. Very, very cool, Mark! The pics are great.

 

[GermanG]

I remember stumbling upon a lime kiln while grouse hunting in that area over 25 years ago. I can't remember exactly where I was but the one pictured here sure looks like it. Another great place to explore are the copper mines a bit further south along Old Mine Road. As much as I love the pines, that little corner of the state is a wonderful place where I spent alot of time hunting and fishing as a youth. I only wish I had the interest in the area's history back then. Now that I have the interest, I don't have the time to explore so far away!

 

[MarkBNJ]

It's nice to have an area like that close by. When I don't have the whole day for a trip south I can be in the vicinity of Millbrook in about half an hour.

That kiln isn't far off a trail, so it may very well be the one you spotted, German.