Roads to Nowhere

[Oriental]

Have you ever noticed how some roads are named for places that they once went to but no longer reach? For example, In Shamong and Tabernacle there is a road called Oakshade Road. It passes the old villages of Dellet (at Atsion Road), continues to Small's (Indian Mills Road) then on to Flyat (at Tuckerton). If you keep going, Oakshade Road essentially ends at Medford Lakes-Tabernacle Road (it only extends on the other side for about a quarter of a mile.) When the pavement ends, a small footpath continues. If you were to walk this path you would eventually merge onto Old Indian Mills Road which connects to Rt 206 at the same place that Carranza does. This is the site of the village of Oakshade. The village was the center of one of the largest farms in South Jersey at the time.

I'm not quite 40 yet but have seen many once passable roads swallowed up by the pines.

So Oakshade Road doesn't make it to Oakshade anymore. I can think of at least 3 other such roads off the top of my head. Can anyone think of some others?

How about roads that could once be driven but have since vanished? That's what amazes me - how some roads have followed the same route for hundreds of years while so many others dissappear. I wonder what would happen to many of them if it weren't for pine barrens explorers and hunters.

 

[RMICKLE]

Don’t forget the obvious one, Tuckerton Road.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Don’t forget the obvious one, Tuckerton Road.

You can make it to Tuckerton on Tuckerton Rd.

 

[RMICKLE]

You can make it to Tuckerton on Tuckerton Rd.

Tuckerton Road (now Iron Pipe Road) ends at County Route 563 below Chatsworth. You can follow a portion of it near Bodine's tavern site as it disappears into the woods.

 

[Oriental]

You can make it to Tuckerton on Tuckerton Rd.

I always thought it got a little hairy between Washington and Stage Road. No bridge at Bodines. Is Ridge Road out of Wading River passable all the way to 536?

 

[Oriental]

Another one I had thought of was Flyat Road out of downtown Tabernacle. It never quite makes it to Flyat anymore. I remember a few years back (before they built the houses there) you could look north east from the intersection of Tuckerton and Oakshade and see the dip in the treeline where the old road used to go from Flyat toward Tabernacle.

 

[Teegate]

Nice post Rich!

Here is a photo of the road to Allen's Bridge which was a main route to the Martha area. The bridge has been gone for years. Check out the sphagnum moss covering the road.

http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegate/main.php/download/1164-1/allens.jpg

Guy

 

[Oriental]

Nice post Rich!

Here is a photo of the road to Allen's Bridge
Guy

Guy

What a cool photo. A few years from now there may be no traces left.

I have always had trouble taking pictures of such subtleties in the landscape. That shot really captures it. Great job.

Rich

 

[Oriental]

To any of you Medford types. Next time you drive down Fairview Road, remember that at one time it used to diverge from the current road which turns into Gravelly Hollow and headed through what is now the Tamarac developement. Eventually it connected with Jackson Road way down by Sherwood Forrest before ending at Stokes Road. The intersection of Stokes and Jackson was known as Fairview. A faint trail can still be seen where this old road crossed Tuckerton.

 

[Teegate]

Rich,

Can you remember when Tuckerton was not paved on the section from 206 to Carranza, and there were no homes on it? There is a Geodetic Marker now next to a house that I visited in the mid 70's and the woods there were so quiet. I wish I had taken photo's.

Also, the change in the road at Tuckerton and Stokes at Pipers Corner is an interesting view today. You can still see where the old road was.

Guy

 

[Oriental]

Rich,

Can you remember when Tuckerton was not paved on the section from 206 to Carranza, and there were no homes on it? There is a Geodetic Marker now next to a house that I visited in the mid 70's and the woods there were so quiet. I wish I had taken photo's.

Guy

The old house I live in (1840's) was purchased by my parents in the 70's as they hoped to retire there (my dad always wanted chickens). I remember visiting it for the first time and we came in off of Carranza Road. I can't remember what Dingletown (Forked Neck) road was like but I vividly remember Tuckerton with no blacktop. It was paved shortly thereafter.

I believe the marker you refer to is called Oriental and we may have discussed this before. The nearby intersection of Old Indian Mills with Tuckerton is known by Oriental and there was a tavern/stables and possibly a few dwellings nearby. As I live so close to this intersection I adopted the name as my screen name here. The intersection was also known as Naylor's Corner.

There is a road by the name of Oriental that ended on Forked Neck Road not far from Tuckerton Road. I was told that the road continued straight on its course and eventually made it through to Oriental itself. At one point you could see the faint traces of the old road as it meandered through the new development there. Three decades of landscaping by homeowners has erased it all. This is another example of a road that never connects to its namesake.

 

[woodjin]

Very interesting topic. Educational also. Cool photo Guy. I've got two for ya, but they are both in the same area-perhaps even the same road. 1) near parkdale there is the concrete bridge one reaches before the town when heading from 206 to Parkdale proper. However there is also a road leading into parkdale almost directly south. If you follow this road it comes to the remains of a wooden bridge. The other side of the bridge seems to be completely or nearly completely grown over.

2) there is a road that runs north of parkdale, east of the railroad, it turns right then crosses the sleeper branch. At the crossing, there are the remains of an old bridge yet on the other side it appears grown over. It would have eventually reached dutchtown I believe. Also at this bridge, there is an old road which would have run south but is on its' way to becoming non-existint. Ive seen old lumber roads in the woods that are on their way to becoming extinct, but these are really roads that don't lead to anyplace except other roads.

Jeff
Jeff

 

[ecampbell]

I bought my land on Tuckerton Rd between 206 and Carranza in 1974.
It was a one lane dirt road, really beautiful uplands. It didn't get paved untill the late 70's. Our parents thought we were nuts moving out with the indians and bears. They followed us a few years later.

Ed

 

[Oriental]

Has anyone walked the old road that started at Hampton Furnace (right next to the bridge on the big clearing side - not the ruins side) and headed out to Hampton Gate. 20 years ago you could drive about halfway back before it just faded into a foot path. I haven't tried it since. You can still see where it comes out on Carranza right by that bridge. I might try it this winter or spring.

 

[Oriental]

Ive seen old lumber roads in the woods that are on their way to becoming extinct, but these are really roads that don't lead to anyplace except other roads.

I grew up at Taunton Lake in Medford. 100 years ago, the area was all cranberry bogs. There were so many dirt roads all through the woods when I was a kid that went out to bogs and reservoirs. In my lifetime the woods (and new houses) have reclaimed so much. As you say, some roads never really went anywhere.

I saw a map of the area from back when it was an iron town. Very few of the roads shown exist today. A couple of the roads that went to someplace substantial (Marlton, Long-a-Coming) had been there way back when.

 

[Boyd]

I loaned my copy to someone, but in "Iron in the Pines" I recall that the section of Stokes Road starting at Aetna furnace (now Medford Lakes) and running South to Pipers Corners used to be called "Mountain Run Road" back in the 18th Century.

Now the name "Mountain Run Road" has been adopted by a development on Atsion Road. I believe this is way to far West to have ever been a part of the original road:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.833850,-74.800458&spn=0.017219,0.032045&hl=en

 

[Oriental]

. . . the section of Stokes Road starting at Aetna furnace (now Medford Lakes) and running South to Pipers Corners used to be called "Mountain Run Road" back in the 18th Century.

I coached the Cross Country team for years at Shawnee before moving over to Seneca. We used to do our hill workouts right on Stokes Road. Its quite a challenging run from the stream between the two YMCA camps up to the top of the hill with the fire tower. 3 or 4 good runs up that hill and you might want to call it a mountain!

 

[Teegate]

I loaned my copy to someone, but in "Iron in the Pines" I recall that the section of Stokes Road starting at Aetna furnace (now Medford Lakes) and running South to Pipers Corners used to be called "Mountain Run Road" back in the 18th Century.

Now the name "Mountain Run Road" has been adopted by a development on Atsion Road. I believe this is way to far West to have ever been a part of the original road:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.833850,-74.800458&spn=0.017219,0.032045&hl=en

....and later known as Mountain Run Road. It was named after a stream....Mountain Run...which feeds the lake Ockanickon, and flows at the base of a considerable hill about a mile below Etna.

 

[ecampbell]

Has anyone walked the old road that started at Hampton Furnace (right next to the bridge on the big clearing side - not the ruins side) and headed out to Hampton Gate. 20 years ago you could drive about halfway back before it just faded into a foot path. I haven't tried it since. You can still see where it comes out on Carranza right by that bridge. I might try it this winter or spring.

I hiked that last winter in the snow. I was attracted to it because I saw footprints of large group that had done it, probably the OCSJ. They left quite a trail of litter, droping gloves, lipstick, mints, hats, ect.

It's dry all the way to Carranza Road. There's a nice footpath that parallels the road for quite away, untill the road gives out. There's quite a bit of earthworks also, not to mention the submerged bridge.

Ed

 

[RMICKLE]

I hiked that last winter in the snow. I was attracted to it because I saw footprints of large group that had done it, probably the OCSJ. They left quite a trail of litter, droping gloves, lipstick, mints, hats, ect.
Ed

I’ve been on many a hike with OCSJ and have never seen people drop litter and such, especially that quantity of stuff. Most of the people are regulars that care about the pines and wouldn’t let newbies trash-up the place.