Lakehurst, home of multiple forges?

[Ryan Walton]

I have been researching for some areas to hike/ find ruins in Manchester. I came across several possible forge or furnace sites in or near the town of Lakehurst. Names like Federal forge, Martha, and Lower forge have come up. The bulk of them appear to be near Lake Horicon. I have founds some old concrete footings near the spillway but I'm not certain if they are the foundation of a building or what have you. Can anyone shed a little light on this topic?

 

[dogg57]

http://nynjctbotany.org/njoptofc/lakehurs.html

 

[Jerseyman]

http://nynjctbotany.org/njoptofc/lakehurs.html

Well, dogg57, I certainly can’t argue against the source cited for the historical information assembled on the Torrey Botany site!

Best regards,
Jerseyman

 

[Ryan Walton]

The Torrey Botany report is helpful, there's no doubt about that. I wanted to know if any one of you had been back there and found anything.

 

[Boyd]

Not personally familiar with that area, but my LIDAR map might be of some assistance in locating areas of interest. LIDAR can see through the trees to reveal details on the ground, such as structures and foundation holes. http://boydsmaps.com/#lidar,40.007570,-74.323936,16

 

[johnnyb]

Boyd, many thanks for posting this map - didn't know LIDAR maps existed, find it fascinating.
Again, many thanks.

 

[Boyd]

Happy to help.

 

[Gibby]

Ryan, I have seen some slag by the dam. I have never searched the area for signs of a forge or raceway. There are some very cool relics from the railroad and from the farm that was nearby!

Charles Boyer's book "Early Forges and Furnaces in New Jersey" may be of some help too. It is a great book to have if you can find a used copy. It isn't available as an "E" book.

Try searching through the years in the link. You may see what you discovered.
http://www.historicaerials.com/aeri...179913446481&lat=40.009560946210215&year=1956

 

[Ryan Walton]

Boyd, many thanks for posting this map - didn't know LIDAR maps existed, find it fascinating.
Again, many thanks.

That is a VERY cool Map! Thanks for posting it!

 

[Boyd]

Glad you enjoyed it. There are some long threads about my maps around here. But if you have a Garmin GPS you can check them out for yourself here, everything is free. Even if you don't have a GPS you can download Basecamp for free and use them on your computer.

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/byuser/282/

This is sort of a "dumbed down" version of the LIDAR map for your GPS. It shows much less detail in order to be compatible with all Garmin models. http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/276/

Eventually I would like to make the same imagery I have on the web downloadable, but that won't happen for awhile.

 

[jokerman]

A culvert runs underneath a residential yard directly across the street from the lake that may be related to a forme raceway. The property owner told me about it when I was there about 8 years ago. He was very old and I fear he may no longer be with us but I dont know.

 

[bobpbx]

The Torrey Botany report is helpful, there's no doubt about that. I wanted to know if any one of you had been back there and found anything.

Ryan, I work at the base, and I'd drive to a little roadside clearing right at the spot Jokerman spoke of to take a nap during lunch. I seem to remember an ornate remnant; something akin to an entranceway pole at that spot. I was amazed to see it still standing. I'll have to look for again.

 

[bobpbx]

I stopped by today. They are concrete pyramidal ornaments marking a gateway. These are substantial, about 9 feet tall or so. They have iron in the core, as one side is chipped and I can see the iron. If these are from the guy who owns the house, this is an awful lot of work for an entrance to his backyard from the lake road.

 

[Ryan Walton]

Thanks for the pictures Bob. You say that this is on Lake Rd. ? It's funny, you never know what you might have in your own backyard. I was planning on heading over there this weekend if it's nice enough.

 

[jokerman]

I have to go through my old photos to see if I have pictures of what I saw that day. The owner showed me an opening to the underground culvert that was covered by a piece of plywood. I should have a photo of that if anything else. He said that there had been cave-ins over the years that had to be repaired.

 

[Ryan Walton]

Jokerman, I have also heard the there was a large diameter pipe that runs through some of the backyards on that side of Lakehurst all the way to the Post office. possibly for the old rope factory that once stood there or for a saw mill that might have been in the area.
I'd really like to see those photos too.

 

[bobpbx]

Thanks for the pictures Bob. You say that this is on Lake Rd. ?.

Right about here Ryan. Maybe Pheonix Furnace? I too remember some sort of concrete lined culvert near here. I used to live on Union Avenue in 1980. I rented with the famous Gibby Giberson!

 

[jokerman]

That makes sense that it would have been used to divert water to something off in the distance since it seems to go away from the stream, towards the road. If it was used by a former mill/forge at this location, you'd expect that a culvert would go back towards the stream as they always do. If you look at the aerial photograph from 1940, you can see what I think is the path of the culvert.

 

[Ryan Walton]

Thanks for the post, Joker.
I use historic Aerials all of the time, I'm not sure why I didn't think of it.
From some research I've been doing, there was a small pond East of Lake, south of Church St. and west of Brook St. Closer to the old cemetery. The concrete pads I was talking about are South and East of the lake, so that was something else entirely.
I thought that Pheonix forge was on the Union branch. Behind the Manchester library on Colonial Dr. just south of the Lakehurst circle.

 

[Ryan Walton]

Check out the 1931 Historic Aerial and you'll see the small pond.