From More Forgotten Towns of South Jersey, Chapter 30 (Nothin' in
Nothin' in Rockwood)
The Fords knew little of the history of Rockwood. They never bothered to
find out. What they told us, they assumed after surveying a marker
bearing the name of C. G. Rockwood, the original owner, with the date of
1871.
I wondered if those historic markers may still exist, and a few months
back I decided to see if I could find that out, and more importantly,
find them myself.
After receiving a tip on how I might do that, I made a phone call
leaving voice mail, and sat back and waited for a response. Nothing came
of it.
So I called again a week later and waited. Still nothing!
It became apparent that the phone was not going to work, and that I would
have to travel myself to get the info I needed to find this marker. A weekday
was required for this, and I decided an afternoon visit would be best.
I arrived at my destination on a Monday afternoon, only to find out that
I was not exactly at the correct place. The woman there made a few phone
calls, only to get the same results as I did. She said she would make
one more attempt to set me straight, when a car pulled into the
driveway. It turned out that I was about to meet the man who could, and did
help me out.
When you search for markers in the pines as I do, the weekends come
slow. Work seems unimportant, and boring. I was able to make it through
the week by pouring over the info I acquired, checking my facts over and
over again to get them right.
So at 9AM this morning I was parked on Rockwood road, standing next to
my car when Steve (Behr655) arrived. I had already done some preliminary
searching and had come up with a state marker. This would lead us
hopefully to one that we were searching for, but unfortunately it did not.
So we headed to our second location and faired much better. It did not
have any writing on it, but it was indeed a Rockwell marker from the 1800's.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4591.jpg
Moving to the next location we found absolutely nothing, so we headed on.
We traveled down a path that as Steve mentioned would most certainly be
chigger filled in the summer, but nothing to worry about today. At the end
of the path the woods ahead of us was flowing with water, and our destination
was in the middle of it. We found that marker to also be
missing. A big disappointment! It unfortunately was very close to a path
where it could easily have been noticed many years earlier, and there
was also a possibility that since the water flow in the area was strong,
it could have been undermined. We continued on.
The path to this location was filled with briers, making our traveling
difficult. We decided to travel through the stream and then head toward
the river. It was tough going, wet, and hard on the body.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4598.jpg
We arrived at the Sleeper creek to disappointment again. The water was
just flowing around us, with no chance that there could be anything
there. We decided to sit down on a piece of plastic to protect us from
the water and eat a snack before heading on.
Our final destination was extremely tough going where we had to travel
mostly in water. There were many moments that our hip waders had water
within inches of flowing down out legs. After what seemed forever we
arrived.
We found ourself in a savanna filled with water, with small trees
covering much of it. We started walking around in circles pushing our
way through the trees. Exhaustion was setting in on me when I decide to
call it quits. Steve who was right next to me stepped back to stand up
and slammed into something with his foot. He calmly told me we had found
it. Covered in grass and weeds, standing in water, having survived over
125 years, we had found one of the granite markers placed there by
C. G. Rockwell as mentioned in Beck's book. History is still in the pines!
You have to appreciate that!
The marker is in perfect shape, with as Beck mentions having the initials
C. G. R. on it. There is also a date on it but it is not 1871 as Beck had
described. This one says what I believe to be 1884 or possibly 1887.
I am leaning toward 1884 but that is not certain. A close look at it makes
it appear that someone had carved the number 6 in it, only to alter it to a 4
or a 7. You decide for yourself.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4610.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4614.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4612.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4616.jpg
Guy
Nothin' in Rockwood)
The Fords knew little of the history of Rockwood. They never bothered to
find out. What they told us, they assumed after surveying a marker
bearing the name of C. G. Rockwood, the original owner, with the date of
1871.
I wondered if those historic markers may still exist, and a few months
back I decided to see if I could find that out, and more importantly,
find them myself.
After receiving a tip on how I might do that, I made a phone call
leaving voice mail, and sat back and waited for a response. Nothing came
of it.
So I called again a week later and waited. Still nothing!
It became apparent that the phone was not going to work, and that I would
have to travel myself to get the info I needed to find this marker. A weekday
was required for this, and I decided an afternoon visit would be best.
I arrived at my destination on a Monday afternoon, only to find out that
I was not exactly at the correct place. The woman there made a few phone
calls, only to get the same results as I did. She said she would make
one more attempt to set me straight, when a car pulled into the
driveway. It turned out that I was about to meet the man who could, and did
help me out.
When you search for markers in the pines as I do, the weekends come
slow. Work seems unimportant, and boring. I was able to make it through
the week by pouring over the info I acquired, checking my facts over and
over again to get them right.
So at 9AM this morning I was parked on Rockwood road, standing next to
my car when Steve (Behr655) arrived. I had already done some preliminary
searching and had come up with a state marker. This would lead us
hopefully to one that we were searching for, but unfortunately it did not.
So we headed to our second location and faired much better. It did not
have any writing on it, but it was indeed a Rockwell marker from the 1800's.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4591.jpg
Moving to the next location we found absolutely nothing, so we headed on.
We traveled down a path that as Steve mentioned would most certainly be
chigger filled in the summer, but nothing to worry about today. At the end
of the path the woods ahead of us was flowing with water, and our destination
was in the middle of it. We found that marker to also be
missing. A big disappointment! It unfortunately was very close to a path
where it could easily have been noticed many years earlier, and there
was also a possibility that since the water flow in the area was strong,
it could have been undermined. We continued on.
The path to this location was filled with briers, making our traveling
difficult. We decided to travel through the stream and then head toward
the river. It was tough going, wet, and hard on the body.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4598.jpg
We arrived at the Sleeper creek to disappointment again. The water was
just flowing around us, with no chance that there could be anything
there. We decided to sit down on a piece of plastic to protect us from
the water and eat a snack before heading on.
Our final destination was extremely tough going where we had to travel
mostly in water. There were many moments that our hip waders had water
within inches of flowing down out legs. After what seemed forever we
arrived.
We found ourself in a savanna filled with water, with small trees
covering much of it. We started walking around in circles pushing our
way through the trees. Exhaustion was setting in on me when I decide to
call it quits. Steve who was right next to me stepped back to stand up
and slammed into something with his foot. He calmly told me we had found
it. Covered in grass and weeds, standing in water, having survived over
125 years, we had found one of the granite markers placed there by
C. G. Rockwell as mentioned in Beck's book. History is still in the pines!
You have to appreciate that!
The marker is in perfect shape, with as Beck mentions having the initials
C. G. R. on it. There is also a date on it but it is not 1871 as Beck had
described. This one says what I believe to be 1884 or possibly 1887.
I am leaning toward 1884 but that is not certain. A close look at it makes
it appear that someone had carved the number 6 in it, only to alter it to a 4
or a 7. You decide for yourself.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4610.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4614.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4612.jpg
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/islandtee/11202004/IMG_4616.jpg
Guy
