Moore's Beach With Manumuskin

Oct 25, 2006
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All

I have been in touch with Al in the past week discussing the possibility of exploring Thompson's Beach, i heard that name somewhere before:rofl:, also with the possibility that Thompson's was not feasible we would then attempt Moore's Beach, there's that name again:rofl:.

I left home at 0600 with another rainstorm in the area, i almost cancelled Thursday night when Al e-mailed me with the possibility of 60% rain today, i told him let's go for it, my boating instincts coming into play, while driving on Rt.55 South the rain stopped at Schooner Landing Road and by the time i reached Port Elizabeth on Rt.47 the Sun came out.

Driving further South on Rt.47 i then reached Glade Road making a right hand turn to go to Heislerville, Al knows a shorter way, that is one of the advantages of being from the Morris River area, that's Maurice to Shoobies.

Arriving in Heislerville and after a short drive i made the left onto Thompson's Beach Road, after a short drive on good asphalt i reached the parking area and saw the following locked gate.
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The road at one time went another two miles to the Beach area, due to constant updating of the road the State decided it would no longer provide the upkeep and forced the residents to abandon the Beach, i wonder if that would have happened if that was Atlantic City ?

While waiting for Al to arrive i decided to investigate the area and found the first interpretive sign, hard to read, but click on the pic and that should make it easier. It is titled the NJ Coastal Heritage Trail Route.
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Walking over from the Southern portion of the parking area to the Northern i took the following pic of a bone dry creek, on the tree in the distance are two Peregrine Falcons, hard to make out, i need a telephoto.
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I then saw two more depictive signs, here is the first called Natures Nurseries
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The next sign is titled This Place Is For The Birds.
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The above two informative signs are located on the observation deck, here is a pic of the deck.
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As i was walking down the deck Al showed up, he informed me that 12 years ago he used the drive the road to the end, also it had some of his favorite crabbing spots, we discussed the two mile walk to the Beach, the time spent walking on the Beach, the two miles back to the parking spot and decided the best way to get there was by canoe or boat, my back also due to a cough earlier in the week was in spasms, i pulled some muscles in my back and my stomach, unreal.

We then decided to try Moore's Beach also abandoned due to the State once again not wanting to upkeep the road, the people that lived at Moore's though left on their own. Interestingly if you look in the Live Maps 1930 it is called Robbinson's, i have no info on that name.

Arriving on the road to get to Moore's Al informed me it was at least a mile and a half walk, but the road was no comparison to the road to Thompson's, actually where the 20 minute walk left to the Beach is good asphalt, but the first part were full of numerous trench filled washouts, after a short time i took the lead in my Jeep as i sit higher than Al's four wheel drive, we arrived at the Beach area, some of the washouts were hard sand others were muck filled sludge. Here is the first pic of the Beach area, notice the numerous pilings.
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Walking further South on the Beach we came upon this foundation.
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We then saw this patio which Al had told me about.
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Proceeding again further South we saw these steps.
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Continuing further South the Horseshoe Crabs were numerous, a multitude were on their backs, low tide was at 0711, not the store, and we flipped each and every one off of their backs on their bellies. A pic of a Horseshoe Crab, many were alive on the Beach but alot also were deceased.
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Al then spotted a Diamondback Turtle, i learned another thing from him, unfortunately beside the following photograph we also found another dead Diamondback deceased on the Beach, we found no bite marks of any kind.
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Still going South on the Beach we found the following, what it is i have no clue, it looks like the top of one of those gun turrets at Cape May Point.
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Still going South we then saw these two large tanks, here is a pic of Al checking them out.
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It was now time to return to my Jeep, i stopped numerous times on the Beach to and fro needing short breaks to give my back a break, rip city was now in effect. As we got to my Jeep i asked Al how about going to the East Point Lighthouse, I always liked Lighthouses since a kid, i was at East Point once before and next to Old Barnie in Barnegat Light this is my second favorite of all.

Here is Al's truck coming out of the muck on Moore's Beach Road.
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A pic of the East Point Lighthouse.
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There were also two interpretive signs in the Lighthouse area, here is the first one. It is titled All Shapes Sizes And Materials.
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Here is the last pic of the day of the second sign, It is titled A Guiding Light., this Lighthouse is situated at the entrance of the Maurice or Morris River.

Al also then noticed another dead Diamondback on the Beach, what a shame. On the way back to Rt.55 Al then showed me an Indian Summer Encampment, A multitude of Oyster Shells were strewn about, Al also said that he found before remains of their smoking pipes, but we had no luck today.

It was now time to part ways, Al wanted to take me to other venues, the spirit was willing but the back was weak, on the way home on Rt.55 i ran into another nasty rainstorm, it actually started where it stopped on the way down, talk about a dark cloud, i arrived home at 12:55, it was a short day for me but i enjoyed it considerably as i spent alot of my youth fishing and staying at my uncle's house in the Villas. It brought back many old memories. Thanks Al. Also in closing, i did not use my Digital Rebel 8 MP XT camera today, i won't get into that, i used a Canon 2 MP A60 Power Shot.

Jim
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,641
8,249
Nice report Jim. You are getting good at writing the reports :) I especially liked the turtle. And Al as usual is the best!

Guy
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
Great report. Both areas are great birding locations. Did you happen to notice if the roadside Osprey nest is still at Thompson's, or has the tree finally come down?

Nest building from a few years ago.

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Oct 25, 2006
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The nest is still there, i was looking southward didn't notice the nest at all then a big shadow flew over the Jeep, startled the hell out of me.

Jim
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Nice report Jim. such a remote beach. Those pics make me want to visit this area some day.

Jeff

Do go Jeff, you're love of nature would be satiated with a visit to Moore's or Guy's Beach. We were lucky today though, there was a nice breeze or the Green Heads would have ripped us a new one. The Mosquitoes and Deer Flies at East Point were horrendous to me, Al just shrugged them off.
No deet or Permanone was utilized today.
Jim
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,212
4,313
Pines; Bamber area
That is quite an Osprey photo.....

Its really sad to see all that crap on that beach from humans. You'd think with a population of 8.6 Million people in this State of ours, that somebody would look after it. Boy, that really angers me. The animals don't stand a chance with us slobs. :mad:
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Thompson's is also littered, there's a large chimney stack and other junk out there, you would figure that after all this time after the people left the Beach would be cleaned up and now pristine.

Moore's also had a multitude of cable strewn about and quite a few tires, one was sticking straight up out of the sand half buried, i felt like i was at a garbage dump in Philly.

Jim
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Those turtles died as a result of getting stuck in a trap probably....def. were drowned in some way.

Chris

We did find one trap at Moore's, it was either an eel or a crab trap. So your thinking is that a commercial crabber or eeler pulled his traps out in the Bay and the turtles were discarded then the tide washed them up on the beach ?

Jim
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
Do go Jeff, you're love of nature would be satiated with a visit to Moore's or Guy's Beach. We were lucky today though, there was a nice breeze or the Green Heads would have ripped us a new one. The Mosquitoes and Deer Flies at East Point were horrendous to me, Al just shrugged them off.
No deet or Permanone was utilized today.
Jim

the deer flies pretty much left me alone.They like Philly cheesesteak over a maurice river mud pie anyday.My especially tuned ears could hear them screaming their high pitched yell across the medder."shooby over here,shooby over here" They knew most of my blood was gone from years of being sucked dry.
Al
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Al

My friends really liked that joke you told me at Moore's Beach, it was great.

Next time i'll put raw onions on my Cheesesteak.:dance:

Jim
 

whippoorbill

Explorer
Jul 29, 2003
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Bridgeton
Its really sad to see all that crap on that beach from humans.

I'm guessing when these bayside communities are abandoned, much gets left behind. It's never good to see our junk strewn about, but I think if you were out at Moore's or Thompson's, Bob, you wouldn't be quite so appalled. Much of what remains piques the imagination, and makes one wonder how it used to be.

breezes.jpg
 

46er

Piney
Mar 24, 2004
8,837
2,143
Coastal NJ
I'm guessing when these bayside communities are abandoned, much gets left behind. It's never good to see our junk strewn about, but I think if you were out at Moore's or Thompson's, Bob, you wouldn't be quite so appalled. Much of what remains piques the imagination, and makes one wonder how it used to be.

Yep; Amatol, Harrisville, Batsto, Atsion, Whitesbog and many others wouldn't be around now for folks to explore if they were stripped clean. It's part of the evolution of ruins. Someday our kids kids will wander and wonder what it was once really like way back when.

It would be nice though, if the DEP would haul out those tanks if they were used for fuel oil :rolleyes:
 
Oct 25, 2006
1,757
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I'm guessing when these bayside communities are abandoned, much gets left behind. It's never good to see our junk strewn about, but I think if you were out at Moore's or Thompson's, Bob, you wouldn't be quite so appalled. Much of what remains piques the imagination, and makes one wonder how it used to be.

breezes.jpg

Bill

Is that card that you posted a look back at how Moore's or Thompson's Beach once looked, it would be great to do a then and now on those two towns, i cannot find though any then pics. And the Robbinsons name for Moore's Beach in the 1930 live maps view no info is available.

Jim
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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46 er

those tanks have holes in them and anything noxious is long gone.their virtually full of sand now and had pools of water in them.no doubt they afford cover to fich and crabs at high tide and their may have been something lurking in there back where i couldn't see at low tide.yes their ugly but the critters love things like that to hide in nonetheless.just like snakes love nothing better then a big old trash pile to hide in.unsightly but legitimate snake habitat nonetheless.
Al
 

oji

Piney
Jan 25, 2008
2,099
484
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Browns Mills
All commercial crab traps are required to have a device that makes it harder for turtles to get in. On the news this week they ran a story about young children releasing Diamondback Terrapins into the bay. The Terrapins were hatched in a lab and children were used for the release to help educate them about the environment. A spokesperson said that although they hatch and release around 200 Terrapins a year, more than 600 are run over on the highways in that area.
 
Oct 25, 2006
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All commercial crab traps are required to have a device that makes it harder for turtles to get in. On the news this week they ran a story about young children releasing Diamondback Terrapins into the bay. The Terrapins were hatched in a lab and children were used for the release to help educate them about the environment. A spokesperson said that although they hatch and release around 200 Terrapins a year, more than 600 are run over on the highways in that area.

Thank you for the info on the Terrapins, it is much appreciated.

Jim
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Nice report Jim. such a remote beach. Those pics make me want to visit this area some day.

Jeff

That two mile hike to Thompson's, how many miles exploring on the beach, plus the two miles back is in my opinion PBX territory, i'll stay at the parking lot and keep an eye on the vehicles.:)

Jim
 
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