Pine Barrens unusual names

[imkms]

There are plenty of locations, roads, etc. in or near the Pine Barrens with unusual names, and I would love to know the origin of these names. Some examples that I can think of are Ongs Hat, Purgatory, Penny Pot, Mount Misery, Sweetwater, and too many more to list here. Let's see who can provide info on the origin of these names. The first name I would like to know would be Bloody Ridge.

 

[Boyd]

The first name I would like to know would be Bloody Ridge.

I asked the same question in 2004…. still waiting for an answer.

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/bloody-ridge.1198/

 

[NJChileHead]

Mount Misery used to be Mount Misericordia (translates to Mountain of Mercy), which was a tuberculosis sanatorium run by the Sisters of Mercy.

Ong's Hat had something to do with a man named Jacob Ong who threw a fit and tossed his hat in to a tree, and inadvertently marked the location of one of the local bars with it (or something like that) and it then became the landmark for the town, and eventually the town name.

 

[imkms]

Mount Misery used to be Mount Misericordia (translates to Mountain of Mercy), which was a tuberculosis sanatorium run by the Sisters of Mercy.

Thanks, I was not aware of that, do you know how long ago that was?

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Ong's Hat had something to do with a man named Jacob Ong who threw a fit and tossed his hat in to a tree, and inadvertently marked the location of one of the local bars with it (or something like that) and it then became the landmark for the town, and eventually the town name.

Henry Beck suggests that it is really Ongs Hut.

 

[MikeBickerson]

Henry Beck suggests that it is really Ongs Hut.

So much less fun.

 

[Ben Ruset]

http://www.njpinebarrens.com/a-hat-a-hut-or-a-tavern-the-tale-of-ongs-hat/

 

[Menantico]

I thought I remembered reading in Chalmers' "Down the Long-a-Coming" that there was something about Penny Pot but I can't recall it presently and there isn't an online version. She did mention that Blue Anchor may have been named after a tavern in the Philadelphia area, but I may be wrong.

 

[Spung-Man]

OK, let's see if you can find these quirky Pine Barrens places:

1) Gigantic City, by Blue Bent Pond, northeast of Ruskville, northwest of Edwina.

2) Buckhorn (where I grew up), up the road from Punch Bowl and the Cannon Range

3) Jewtown, next to Lebanon

4) Rattletrap, near Negro Hill, north of Parsonstown and the Bear’s Head (one of three).
​

Sorry Jerseyman, you can't play!

 

[bobpbx]

I remember trying to plan a PBX explore to Gigantic City. I think it was near here.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.50929919977582&lng=-74.82424277465821&z=13&type=nj2007&gpx=

 

[Jerseyman]

​

Sorry Jerseyman, you can't play!

What do you mean I can't play??? You know how much I love toponyms!

Jerseyman

 

[Menantico]

I know I'm driving through Gigantic City when I have to slow down around those crazy curves after Mizpah, always wondered about Rattletraps as that's where we hung out in high school. But wasn't Cannon Range created to test weaponry?

 

[Spung-Man]

I remember trying to plan a PBX explore to Gigantic City. I think it was near here.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.50929919977582&lng=-74.82424277465821&z=13&type=nj2007&gpx=

Closer to this:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.496418175695055&lng=-74.82359904449464&z=16&type=nj1930&gpx=

 

[Spung-Man]

What do you mean I can't play??? You know how much I love toponyms! Jerseyman

Who do you think I learned from! OK, if you must – with very high difficulty:

5) Osborne Village, next to Lindsay Village. Where the hermit Nature Boy of Java lived.

6) Gardenville, a Jewish settlement, statue.

7) North Newark, more statues.
​

All are welcome to try at your own peril; duly warned....

 

[imkms]

OK, let's see if you can find these quirky Pine Barrens places:

1) Gigantic City, by Blue Bent Pond, northeast of Ruskville, northwest of Edwina.

​

​

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/gigantic-city.45/

 

[Ben Ruset]

3) Jewtown, next to Lebanon​

I got a chuckle out of this.

 

[Spung-Man]

I got a chuckle out of this.

Kinda ironic. I'm up to eighteen Jewish settlements in the Pines at the turn of the nineteenth century. I made a map of 25 South Jersey agricultural land-based schemes for the 2014 Vernacular Architecture Forum Proceedings (see page 58), but there are more to add.

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/th...e-forest-a-lost-cause.8145/page-2#post-123595​

West Jersey Pine Barrens was an ethnic archipelago chock full of real estate ventures – German, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, Welsh, Black, etc. Some of their alternate slang names weren't so pretty, either.

S-M

 

[Gerania]

Wha

Kinda ironic. I'm up to eighteen Jewish settlements in the Pines at the turn of the nineteenth century. I made a map of 25 South Jersey agricultural land-based schemes for the 2014 Vernacular Architecture Forum Proceedings (see page 58), but there are more to add.

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/th...e-forest-a-lost-cause.8145/page-2#post-123595​

West Jersey Pine Barrens was an ethnic archipelago chock full of real estate ventures – German, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, Welsh, Black, etc. Some of their alternate slang names weren't so pretty, either.

S-M

What about Shirley?

 

[Spung-Man]

Wha

What about Shirley?

Gerania,

Are you talking about Shirley near Elmer? I don't believe that one was a Jewish settlement, although a couple families did settle the area. According to my Salem County source, Bonny Beth, the settlement is old and renamed after a social novel by Charlotte Brontë (1849).

S-M

 

[Boyd]

But wasn't Cannon Range created to test weaponry?

https://forums.njpinebarrens.com/threads/proposed-devastation-prior-to-belcoville.6156/#post-73279