Lebanon State Forest Project

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
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I think I figgered it out.The Black x's especially the ones with BM next to them have monuments but the little brown x's are topographical features that are obvious and need no marks such as hilltops and hence are unmarked.I think what they don't realize that hilltops in south jersey are not mountain peaks where the top is a definite spot at least most of the time.In south jersey a hilltop is often a barely perceptible rise above otherwise flat terrain and finding the exact highest point isn't always obvious.
 

Teegate

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the x 65 in this pic is what I"m wanting to know if these are monumented.The legends I"m finding online are unclear since their all black x's on the legends and these are brown and size is hard to gage.

I really don't think so.
 
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Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I was looking over an old map from Nov 29, 1911 and noticed various stones mentioned on it. However, there was no information as to where they were at all. There was a few roads shown and it did tell me that the property was owned by J.J. White. With that information I started looking in the Whitesbog area and sure enough I found what appeared to be the proper spot. This is near the bridge on the dirt road heading from route 70 to the village.

The map and aerial photo.


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Using this information we headed there today and sure enough we found it. It is an ugly large stone.



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This find tells me that somewhere near the large warehouse that is falling down there is another one to find as well as others.


Guy
 

Teegate

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Not in Lebanon but I will post it here. This is on Tuckerton Road a mile or so from High Crossing.

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The FFS really had to do some serious work on that road. They left branches all over the road and they kept getting stuck under my car. No longer are their puddles but it is a bit rough.
 

PINEY WARDEN

Explorer
Jan 13, 2012
260
262
Not in Lebanon but I will post it here. This is on Tuckerton Road a mile or so from High Crossing.

The FFS really had to do some serious work on that road. They left branches all over the road and they kept getting stuck under my car. No longer are their puddles but it is a bit rough.

South of High Crossing??? Great find! That part of Tuckerton Road was just graded the first time for the year. Gotta let the pine needles break down. Next time it should smooth out better.
 

Teegate

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Yes ... south of High Crossing. I figured after one rain and some traffic the road will be better. I think I backed up more times on that road then I ever have trying to break loose the branches stuck underneath.
 

PINEY WARDEN

Explorer
Jan 13, 2012
260
262
BTW, High Crossing still looks pretty bad in the ruts by the tracks. I was going to cross there but I had to take the bypass as usual.


Also, we saw the FFS fixing the major blockage on the road near Aserdaten on Saturday. In this general area.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.855335380879175&lng=-74.33937448661806&z=16&type=hybrid&gpx=


High Crossing is gonna be fixed along with the rest of Tuckerton Road North toward Carranza. It takes time as bad as those holes are. Some of them could swallow a tank.
 

Teegate

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All,

We were in the area of Lebanon today so we decided to stop into a location that last years we spent quite a bit of time at trying to find one of the original Lebanon property corners. It is loaded with briers and we have released quite a bit of blood there with no results. After tearing ourselves up again, especially Jessica's finger, we were able to locate the concrete monument. It had been completely covered over with vegetation and I was only able to locate it because I felt the mount of vegetation seemed different than the rest. This is circa 1937 or so.


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And it was different. There were two of them side by side.


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The way in and out was a struggle.


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Guy
 

smoke_jumper

Piney
Mar 5, 2012
1,518
1,048
Atco, NJ
All,

We were in the area of Lebanon today so we decided to stop into a location that last years we spent quite a bit of time at trying to find one of the original Lebanon property corners. It is loaded with briers and we have released quite a bit of blood there with no results. After tearing ourselves up again, especially Jessica's finger, we were able to locate the concrete monument. It had been completely covered over with vegetation and I was only able to locate it because I felt the mount of vegetation seemed different than the rest. This is circa 1937 or so.


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And it was different. There were two of them side by side.


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The way in and out was a struggle.


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Guy
It looks like it needs a good burn;)
 

smoke_jumper

Piney
Mar 5, 2012
1,518
1,048
Atco, NJ
Yes, we were discussing that while there. I would love to stand there and watch the brier suffer.
I was on a relitvely small fire (on private land) and had to follow the plow with an axe when it was opening up an old road for a line. The vines went to the top of the trees and was pulling them in from both sides. For about 10 years after every time I drove past the area that burnt looked much healthier. Now it's all grown back.
 

Teegate

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All,

It has been almost a year and it is about time for the two of us to resume our search for the elusive stones and monuments in Lebanon State Forest. I have found while stone searching it always is good practice to take a break from something and take a fresh look at things at a later date. And as expected I am seeing things that I did not see before. Here are this weekends finds.

On Saturday we spent the morning on Pea Patch Road and Turkey Buzzard Bridge Road trying to find at least one stone or monument so I could align myself to the properties. In view of 4 Mile Road we found the corner stone to a lot owned by Helen J. Holm and one owned by Joseph & James Carpenter. They were Acquisition # 32 and # 43 respectively. She sold on 12/13/1928 and the men sold on 7/6/1927 just a short while after my dad was born.


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On the far side of both properties there was another stone which I had looked for in the past. But with a fresh perspective and a last minute decision to walk the road to the location and not the woods, I found it nicely embedded in the very edge of the road where it has been for maybe 100 years.


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And finally for our last stop of the day we looked again for a property corner that we failed to find a year ago. This time we did not find a monument or stone, but we did find an old wooden post that I am confident held the state sign. Notice how the area where the wooden sign was nailed was burned the most. Look closely and you can see the nails.


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Today



We began todays search across the road from the Ongs Hat Diner in the vicinity of the beginning of the Batona Trail. Back in 1929 the property we were searching was owned by a man named John Ziembicki. Even though it appears to be three lots it was all considered one lot back then and was designated Block 921 Lot 1. On March 25, 1929 the state of NJ purchased his 19.39 acres and it officially became Acquisition # 21 of Lebanon.



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Jessica is seriously not someone who enjoys walking near homes or roads so as we were walking down Magnolia Road she was emphatic that we had to leave the road and walk in the woods. So we cut in early and followed a small old canal that seemed to run the property line. Unfortunately, it ended and a quick look of the area did not turn up anything of importance. But I was certain we needed to go a little further and after a short while I saw an odd looking pipe sticking up out of the ground. Soon it was apparent we had found our corner. And after digging a little we found a stone that I had no idea was there.



Check out this interesting pipe. It is one solid piece. And notice state monument 94 next to it.


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On our way back I tried to get Jessica to walk the road but she refused. So she took the point and plowed through some heavy vegetation as we watched the cars whizzing by us 100 feet away on the easy path. But in the end she made the right decision as we stumbled on this monument I had not plotted.

No matter what it looks like this is NJ93.


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From there we headed down the road perpendicular to the start of the Batona Trail and turned into the woods looking for NJ8. An easy walk of a few hundred feet and we were 60 feet off.


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We returned to our car and headed to Turkey Buzzard Bridge Road looking for NJ2. I have looked for this in the past and was unsuccessful but with the finds on Saturday I was able to recalculate where it should be. And it was right where I had hoped.


NJ2

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Guy
 
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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
I was doing some Deed scouring today so it sounds like the stone itch has hit us both at the same time.I have a deed here to two large lots that used to be many small lots and were bought by a sand plant that has now sold the property as two large blocks.The property has been neglected ever since the 80's and is adjacent to some state land.I have no plane coords to work off of but the woods should literally be filled with stones by the descriptions.Problem is some of the area has been torn up into gravel pits so I have to find one or more stones to start from and then figure out just which stone I have and possibly I can reconstruct the old property lines. This is a very beautiful area with some top notch swimming holes in it that I have been swimming in since a teenager.One nice big two story ruin and several cellar holes.I posted pics of the ruin before but can't remember the name of the thread.Jerseyman identified the ruins along the Maurice and Cumberland RR tracks.The area is known as Scouts Pond locally.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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All,


I have resumed my searching in Lebanon and this past weekend we set our sites on finding another property corner of the Beaver Dam Bogs. I looked for this stone last year but the briers and vegetation hampered me quite a bit. There is a trail leading through the area and I had calculated it was on the eastern side of it. Returning this time I spend most of my time there and only switched to the western side at the last minute. Less than 5 seconds later my walking stick hit the stone and state monument.


I know that at least this portion of the Beaver Dam Bogs land was owned at one point by Hannah Wilbur (Hannah Emson Wilbur). Her father was a Senator in NJ and her husband, Dr. William L. Wilbur of Heightown, was a member of the state Medical Examiners and in legislative affairs at Trenton. They were married on March 4 1902 in Colliers Mills. Her father, Senator Ephriam P. Emson was a cranberry grower and a major land owner in Ocean County. Ben has posted about him before and there are some interesting links on this site concerning him. I have pulled out the links and posted them below.




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The Beaver Dam Cranberry Bog

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.949980616126574&lng=-74.4633413275146&z=15&type=topo&gpx=


http://tinyurl.com/ns2hz5u


https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/piney-justice-at-colliers-mills.7357/


Guy
 
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Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Recently, I was able to find two of Asa Pittman's property stones that I had looked for a few years ago along the North Branch of Mt. Misery Brook. In the surveyors notes from 1933 it was described to be in the bottom of a pond which was full of water 2 years ago. Now it is completely dry and the stone is still there.


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And I don't understand why I was not able to find this the last time.


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Not in Lebanon but we stumbled on this today while searching for a property corner to a tax lot. It was a complete surprise and a good one at that.


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Guy
 
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