Pine Crest Sanitarium

[Pineyrick]

Recently the Tabernacle Historical Society has been researching both the Paisley and Pine Crest Sanitarium areas. There is one thing I want to share and a few questions I hope someone among can answer. First the story. In 1941 when my friend Harry W was about 10 years old (now 91) he accompanied his dad and others to PCS , from their Tabernacle home. They dismantled a building on the top of APH and brought the wood back to Tabernacle, where they used it to help build a house ( still standing). Harry said a lead clad cable ran from the building, down the east side of the hill, under Harris Station Road and to gas run electric generator. He thinks a family member may still have a piece of that cable and will check it out.
I think I read somewhere that someone has a deed which shows that the Sanitarium was on top of the hill. Any thoughts about this?

 

[Pineyrick]

I'm curious about the locations of buildings around the APH. Especially the one on the east side of the hill, on Harris Station Road, about 200 feet from the road. The foundation measures about 27 by 54 feet. Recently I was told it had been a gun club. Another report says it was Dr White's bottling plant. To me it looks like it may have been a residence. Can anyone provide some insight to this building and others that were in the vicinity? Was this the Leduc homestead?
Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Boyd]

Have you looked at my LIDAR map? You can "explore" the terrain there and see some hints of things that may have been there. Play with the lighting controls to bring out details. Note that the site is not compatible with phones, you will need to use a computer. It will take a little time for this link to open, due to the amount of data involved. Check it out now, because I've decided to shut the site down later this year. It was a fun experiment but the coverage area is limited, there just hasn't been much interest and it's not a good use of my server resources.

lidar.boydsmaps.com/#x100y041/solid/-207/266/-114/-353/0/-324/-275/373/-706/34/2.5/3d

I have also included the location of a couple historical building locations on my 2020 topo map

https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.807342/-74.589312/pines2020/0.00/0.00

There are also a couple static LIDAR-based maps. This site is compatible with phones and there's a major update coming in August.

https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.807342/-74.589312/lidar2021bw/0.00/0.00
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.807342/-74.589312/lidar2021hd/0.00/0.00

 

[Pineyrick]

Thank you. Have been reading some of the very early threads on this topic and they provide a lot of information. I assume the links within them, to old pix, and now unusable, can't be accessed again in any way. Will check out the maps shortly, they look very interesting.

 

[Boyd]

Many old threads contain references to maps and aerials from Microsoft Terraserver. That site was shut down many years ago, so there would be no way to access it. There are also a lot of old links to another old site that had USGS 24k topo maps, sorry, the name escapes me now but it included the word "topo". Again, there would be no way to access these links today. However, all of these old links might contain coordinates (latitude/longitude) that could be entered on current sites if you are resourceful. If you can't figure that out, you could post the old link and I'll see what I can do.

Then there are many old links to pictures in the NJPB photo gallery that no longer exists. There would be no way to access these links, but if they were posted by someone who is still a member, they might be able to provide a copy of the picture.

 

[Pineyrick]

Many old threads contain references to maps and aerials from Microsoft Terraserver. That site was shut down many years ago, so there would be no way to access it. There are also a lot of old links to another old site that had USGS 24k topo maps, sorry, the name escapes me now but it included the word "topo". Again, there would be no way to access these links today. However, all of these old links might contain coordinates (latitude/longitude) that could be entered on current sites if you are resourceful. If you can't figure that out, you could post the old link and I'll see what I can do.

Then there are many old links to pictures in the NJPB photo gallery that no longer exists. There would be no way to access these links, but if they were posted by someone who is still a member, they might be able to provide a copy of the picture.

OK Thanks!!

 

[Teegate]

Recently the Tabernacle Historical Society has been researching both the Paisley and Pine Crest Sanitarium areas. There is one thing I want to share and a few questions I hope someone among can answer. First the story. In 1941 when my friend Harry W was about 10 years old (now 91) he accompanied his dad and others to PCS , from their Tabernacle home. They dismantled a building on the top of APH and brought the wood back to Tabernacle, where they used it to help build a house ( still standing). Harry said a lead clad cable ran from the building, down the east side of the hill, under Harris Station Road and to gas run electric generator. He thinks a family member may still have a piece of that cable and will check it out.
I think I read somewhere that someone has a deed which shows that the Sanitarium was on top of the hill. Any thoughts about this?

I have a photo that I took of that building on the east side of the hill just across Harris Station Road. You can still find pieces of the ruins and if you look closely at them you can see odd old bottles embedded in the concrete.

There is more to see though. If you follow a path directly down the hill from there where the hill has been eroded by vehicles, you can see a damaged galvanized pipe. That went from the large well on the top of the building to the ruins mentioned. And if you know where to look near the large ruins and the well nearby you can see evidence of the same pipe leading to the well for that building. They all were connected together for sure.
The building I have a photo of appeared to be a pump house and not electrical. However, I may be wrong. It had gears and plumbing pieces in it.
Ted Gordon and I went to to the county clerks office and researched that property one day. Without speaking to him I don’t want to say some of the info we learned about the place.
I do have a map showing the large ruins were going to be the clubhouse for a golf course that the people who acquired the property from Dr. White were going to build.
I am not at my computer and currently am using my phone to type which is annoying as hell. When I get to my computer I will reply more.

 

[Pineyrick]

Earlier today I spoke with my friend Harry again. He hand drew a map showing how the electric cable ran and feels it still may be buried. His family had only pulled up a very short piece. As he described it, the cable ran parallel to Harris Station Road, on the east side, then crossed under the road and went up APH in the south east corner. So the ruins there now, may have been the site of the generator. When we looked at it the other day, it seemed there was an older part and a "newer" addition.
So the larger ruins was the "bottling plant?" I need to return and look for the pipe and the glass in the structure. I think Barbara Stull identified it as the bottling plant in her book.
It's so nice to now be able to access deeds, from 1921 forward, on line. I too have researched Dr. White's holdings until their sale to the state in 1995. One deed mentions a factory in Chatsworth, on a one acre plot. At one point I thought it was the old Sanitarium building, but its location is given as Chatsworth. Know anything about it?
I'm going to the County Clerk's office this week, and hope to pick up the Golfview map.

 

[Teegate]

I would say the large ruins there now was a living space. It has a well. Why have a well if not? The bottling well as far as I am concerned was on top of the hill. Or at least it was a storage for water. Then the galvanized pipes ran down to the building I have a photo of and directly down to the well by the large ruins.
I snail mailed the last known address of the person who signed the papers for the sale to thd state and they never responded. I was going to knock on the door to the Oaklynn address but felt the family no longer had ownership.

 

[manumuskin]

I really liked the septic tank,that is till some goober filled it in.

 

[Pineyrick]

I would say the large ruins there now was a living space. It has a well. Why have a well if not? The bottling well as far as I am concerned was on top of the hill. Or at least it was a storage for water. Then the galvanized pipes ran down to the building I have a photo of and directly down to the well by the large ruins.
I snail mailed the last known address of the person who signed the papers for the sale to the state and they never responded. I was going to knock on the door to the Oaklynn address but felt the family no longer had ownership.

Yes, I wonder if it was Dr White's house. The front door steps seem to be a little more elaborate than you would expect in a bottling factory. Though I have also heard his house was a bit further away.
The well on the top of the hill raises a question. If they were digging down 70 feet (Stull book) they still might not be at the water table. Why not just dig at the lower ground and reach the water that way? Maybe the water was pumped from a well and up to the top of APH, stored there and then drawn down, as needed through the piping.
The address on the deed is Sickerville, NJ. Maybe that was the issue. Looks like they got 160K for the land.

 

[Teegate]

Is that what you felt it was? A septic tank. Seemed way too big for that. I say it was water storage or well.

 

[Teegate]

Yes, I wonder if it was Dr White's house. The front door steps seem to be a little more elaborate than you would expect in a bottling factory. Though I have also heard his house was a bit further away.
The well on the top of the hill raises a question. If they were digging down 70 feet (Stull book) they still might not be at the water table. Why not just dig at the lower ground and reach the water that way? Maybe the water was pumped from a well and up to the top of APH, stored there and then drawn down, as needed through the piping.
The address on the deed is Sickerville, NJ. Maybe that was the issue. Looks like they got 160K for the land.

Yes, and I wrote that address. Nothing.

 

[Teegate]

It is going to be very tough trying to figure this all out. Ted talked with many people and is unsure himself.

You may want to research what the large telephone poles were for. They have now been cut off at the ground by the well. I have a photo of a man climbing it. Ted knows what it was used for but again, I will not steal his thunder. I am sure my photo showing the building up there is of the storage area for that endeavor.

 

[manumuskin]

Is that what you felt it was? A septic tank. Seemed way too big for that. I say it was water storage or well.

kendawg told me it was a septic tank,that was right before he told someone in the state about it and suggested they fill it in before someone fell in it which they propmptly did:-(

 

[Teegate]

It is going to be very tough trying to figure this all out. Ted talked with many people and is unsure himself.

You may want to research what the large telephone poles were for. They have now been cut off at the ground by the well. I have a photo of a man climbing it. Ted knows what it was used for but again, I will not steal his thunder. I am sure my photo showing the building up there is of the storage area for that endeavor.

kendawg told me it was a septic tank,that was right before he told someone in the state about it and suggested they fill it in before someone fell in it which they propmptly did:-(

I think we are talking about a different place. I was referring to the 10 foot diameter concrete whatever on the top of the hill. I remember now you saying kendawg reported something there.

 

[manumuskin]

I think we are talking about a different place. I was referring to the 10 foot diameter concrete whatever on the top of the hill. I remember now you saying kendawg reported something there.

Yes the septic tank was on the east side of the hill just south of the main cellar hole and maybe twenty ft east of apple piue pine crest rd. you can still see the depression but it used to be a ten ft deep 10 ft diameter tank, If anyone fell in they were not getting out except that there was a limb placed in it for critters to climb out on. It would have snapped under a mans weight.

 

[Ottavio08]

I'm curious about the locations of buildings around the APH. Especially the one on the east side of the hill, on Harris Station Road, about 200 feet from the road. The foundation measures about 27 by 54 feet. Recently I was told it had been a gun club. Another report says it was Dr White's bottling plant. To me it looks like it may have been a residence. Can anyone provide some insight to this building and others that were in the vicinity? Was this the Leduc homestead?
Thanks for your thoughts.

It definitely looks like it was a residence buy it doesn’t seem that old. Not as old as the sanitarium that’s atop the hill.

 

[TommyP]

I’ve driven up Apple Pie Hill several times and haven’t seen the bottling plant. Is that one of the squares on the topo map?

 

[Teegate]

You have to explore around the parking area to find these locations.