Lebanon State Forest Project

Teegate

Teegate

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All,

I have started on a project to search out incised stones in Lebanon Forest (Brendan Byrne) as well as pass along a little history when possible. I am in the early stages and should have more in the near future. So lets begin.


While searching yesterday I came up with this stone on the Lebanon property line. I am not sure if it is incised and will have to check at a later date. It is on the Pemberton Woodland Township border and at least one of the stones in this area has a W on one side and a P on the other.


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This one is also on the Lebanon property line. I gave up on this and was walking back to my car when Jessica stepped on it. It is level with the ground and hard to see. I did not see any letters on it.


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I need to find various monuments to help me find others and we were able to come up with this one. It seemed pretty basic and we moved on.


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After getting home last night I was looking over the information I have from the 1930s and 1940s and I realized I had missed something. In 1940 the surveyor Winfield Eldridge who had surveyed the Burlington County border a few years before had placed a stone at this location as well as a few others that I did not know about. So this morning I was out of the house at 5AM and went back to investigate.


The map showing me I had missed a stone.


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And my underground find early this morning. I did not want to disturb it and could not see on the one side but I don't think it is incised.

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And while on my travels yesterday I took this of a bladderwort.

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Guy
 
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ecampbell

ecampbell

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Jan 2, 2003
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What does the number 308 designate? Just wondering if there was a naming convention.
 
Teegate

Teegate

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All,

By 5:45AM I was in the woods along route 70 looking for a stone that was at the intersection of the Burlington County line and the property line of Route 70. Just like everywhere else along Route 70 the state owns quite a bit of land on each side of the highway. The stone is on the southern edge of the highway property.


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In this 1940 historicaerial.com photo you can see the upper and lower property line of route 70 where it arcs near Whitesbog. The state highway consists of all that is in between. The stone above was on the southern edge. And if you take notice the BBB road which is on the right was incomplete in 1940. I have information that mentions in 1942 it was still being constructed. It was called Glasshouse Road and today Google calls it Lebanon State Forest Road or Glassworks Road.

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I then traveled to the northern edge of the Burlington County line and the state highway property and found this old cedar post with the wooden back of a state sign.



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Guy
 
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Teegate

Teegate

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I worked hard to find that one. I was there last year and again a few weeks back. Both times I came up empty. A final try after I drank a large iced coffee on my ride there this morning and I was fresh and wide awake. Must have been sleeping the other times.
 
Teegate

Teegate

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This colored line shows the Burlington County line. The green in the map is state property and for the most part the lighter area is private. However, the lighter area with the arrows pointing to it was at one time state owned. At some point in time there was a land swap with J. J. White and that parcel is now owned by them. They received a nice buffer from the BBB road and the state more than likely received some wetland in return. The parcel in question is 55.74 acres.


white.jpg



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Guy
 
Teegate

Teegate

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Continuing my travels around Lebanon .... I left the house at 4:30 this morning to search for a few stones. My first stop would be to find the SE corner to Alfred H. Black's Upper Mill Tract. This 729 acres covered a vast portion of western Lebanon which also included almost half of Presidential Lakes and all of Lebanon Lakes. An enormous piece of property that I want to become familiar with. It was first surveyed in February of 1890 by Frank Earl, and when the state purchased it most likely in 1935 they also surveyed it. I have reason to believe it was surveyed after that also.

The woods at the SE corner are quite easy to explore and I was able to get to the location fairly easy. It was still dark in the woods and disapoinment was high until a stab in the ground revealed what had been placed there 126 years ago.



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Then off to my next location a little over 2 miles east where I was looking for two stones. These stones are again what I call "lost" stones as they are no longer on the edge of any property. Nobody is surveying them since the property all around them is state owned. I made some guesses just before going to bed last night and hoped for the best. The best way to look for stones is to evaluate the land and make educated guesses on where they would be. Rarely are they in a swamp but Lebanon is new to me. it may be totally different there. They usually are on the margin so I started walking the easy route in the cedar swamp. I had gone past my furthest guess and decided to head upland somewhat and double back. Quickly my eye caught something different and the second search was over. Notice the smaller moss in the front and the larger in the back. A classic example of a large state monument and a stone.



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I was sweating pretty good and that is why my glasses are on the stone. I carefully removed the moss and didn't see anything incised on it. Then to the back to check there.


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I am always careful to have the location look as it did when I arrived and this photo shows my housecleaning.


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With this one found I concentrated on the next one close by. Now that I knew the location of the incised stone I was able to have a better idea where the next one was. With nothing in sight at my intended location I started poking the ground with my walking stick.


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I was not able to dig around this one and need a return visit to check to see if this one is also incised.

Guy
 
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Teegate

Teegate

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Teegate said:
This colored line shows the Burlington County line. The green in the map is state property and for the most part the lighter area is private. However, the lighter area with the arrows pointing to it was at one time state owned. At some point in time there was a land swap with J. J. White and that parcel is now owned by them. They received a nice buffer from the BBB road and the state more than likely received some wetland in return. The parcel in question is 55.74 acres.
Click to expand...


I found out the land in question that was transferred from the state to J.J. White on the BBB Road occurred in 1942.


IMG_0753.jpg
 
Teegate

Teegate

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A few facts I have come up with. Have you driven by this clearing on Buzzard Hill Road near Pakim Pond and wondered what was there in the past?

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.88068823607867&lng=-74.5399738100433&z=16&type=hybrid&gpx=



That appears to have been the Alcyon Gun Club and it was there as early as 1933. I am not sure when it ended.


alcyon.jpg



And this little pond just off of Muddy Road was called Gander Pond.


http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.88187790990558&lng=-74.52186353477475&z=18&type=hybrid&gpx=

Guy
 
manumuskin

manumuskin

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Jul 20, 2003
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Great wirk Guy! Just got back from WV where there were plenty of stones but none this interesting though I did happen upon a USGS disc set in solid Conglomerate with initials inscribed a few feet from it on another rock.I had no camera with me and don't know if the two are related are not.there was a witness post next top the disc,I had been very near here many times and probably hopped right past the disc several times but the post drew my attention to it this time.I bet the initials have something to do with it since they are very neat and look like they took some work.
 
Teegate

Teegate

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Jessica bought a GoPro which takes great video's. However, the upload quality on youtube is really poor in the MP4 format. Even trying other formats they suck. Here we are this morning on a failed search. Only a partial video and not much in it. Just testing. It is on her head.

 
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