Millville clay works?

[manumuskin]

I was out in the Millville wildlife management area today just south of the airport along Buckshutem road checking out an area I had been thru maybe fifteen years ago but hadn"t rally explored,just passed thru.The area is obviously disturbed from the road as the woods are all virginia pine with some red cedar as contrasted from the surrounding woods which are white oak and laurel.Theirs a field visible from the road back in about 50 yards and some obvious canals or large ditches that fill with water in spring.Well in the field I found one large cellar hole about 20by 15 by 5 ft deep with some rather large sections of old style concrete walls and all around their were piles and single pieces of Clay pipe that were rectangular in cross section with dividers in the middle making two pipes out of one.The pipes are the same light coral pink color as many at union clay works.I found several pieces of the darker glazed varity too and one neat piec that was in the form of a T junction with an elbow on one side.Over at the west end of this area I found a large grass covered mound probably about 100 by 100 ft and about 8 ft high in the center that had basketball size chunks of Iron slag like you would find at hampton furnace.Was their a clay pipe factory and an iron furnace here?The ditches have some rain water in them at times but this is a mile from the neares active stream (Buckshutem Creek)Also a lot of old dump sites that are definitely newer then the ruins.maybe 20 or 30 years ago this was obviously an illegal dumping area.you couldn"t pull in here till recently the hunters I assume have reopened an old road and you can pull back into this area now.Where could i find info on this area online?
Al

 

[bach2yoga]

Hmmm...there was not an iron furnace that I've heard of...the only one around there was Eli Budd's furnace, and there was some iron work done down near Schooner's Landing.
But clay, maybe.
Cumberland County has a historical register online--that's where I found most of my Eli Budd info.
Know the Conectiv tract on Rt 49 across from Cumberland Pond? It's next to TNC's Cumberland Furnace property. Conectiv is selling it. The state put a bid in on it back in 99 and it still stands, but Conectiv wants to sell it to a private developer who wants to make a golf course there. It's supposed to go to the Board of Public Utilities for a decision as to whether or not conectiv can sell it to them, or whether or not they have to sell it to the state as there are several T & E animal species there, and it also is a missing parcel between the Manumuskin preserve and Peaslee.
Renee

 

[Ben Ruset]

According to Gordons there was a glassworks in Millville.

 

[bach2yoga]

Millville is my hometown. Millville is was nothing but a glasstown for many decades. Practically everyone that worked there worked in the glass house. People who were "mold makers" made the best money--people thought of them as "making good money"--kind of like they do now down here with people who work at the State Correctional Facility. Worked in one myself during summer break from college. Frank Wheaton--that's where Wheaton Village got its name (worked there too). Best glassmaking sand around. Carl Sandburg even wrote a poem about Millville.
Renee

 

[manumuskin]

I hope they don"t make a golf course out of it.My brother and his crew party out there.I"d like to see a stop put to that because they don"t know how to clean up after themselves.In menantico the rangers would bust em and in the nature conservancy Bill would no doubtI"ve tried to explain to him the bottle you throw today will cut your toe off tomorrow but he"s 23 and knows it all.I"ve made all day hiking loops usin TNC Connectiv property without coming out into civilization.If you don"t mind crossing balcktop you can throw peaslees in there and have a regular barrens size patch of woods.
The slag I found out there on this hill is the same stuff you find on the sandbar in union lake and all over millville so maybe it"s galss slag instead of Iron.It"s black and crusty looking.Really nice walnut grove field around the main cellar hole.
Al