Ruins found near Bodine Field....

Teegate

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Stu said:
.....wait, it's underground?

:comp:

If you purchase or go to the library and get "Heart of the pines" you can see the furnace and Bud Wilson.

Guy
 
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BarryC

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Well, in a sense it is. If you look carefully inside the fence you'll see a pile of dirt hidden under the vegetation. It's under there.
No bog iron funaces exist in any kind of recognizable condition, except Allaire, and some seem to think they didn't make bog iron there.
Stu said:
.....wait, it's underground?

:comp:
 

jokerman

Explorer
May 29, 2003
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Manasquan
Aren't there a couple more somewhat intact furnaces in north Jersey?

Whoever has insinuated that Allaire did not make bog iron is simply mistaken. It's welll documented. They didn't do too much in the way of making things there, although they did to an extent. It was most used during the time it was Howell works to produce pig iron for use at J.P. Allaire's iron works in New York. I'd be interested in hearing what they think the furnace was used for if any info to the contrary is available.

BTW, it would be great if someone posted the picture from Heart Of Pines of Martha Furnace.
 

Piney1125

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May 1, 2004
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Where can you buy the "Heart of the Pines" book? Where are the copies of the diaries of Martha Furnace today? How about Weymouth? I have also always wondered, what is the difference between a forge and a furnace?
 

Teegate

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Piney1125 said:
Where can you buy the "Heart of the Pines" book? Where are the copies of the diaries of Martha Furnace today? How about Weymouth? I have also always wondered, what is the difference between a forge and a furnace?

I believe the forge/furnace debate has occurred here before, so by doing a search you may find that.

Heart of the Pines is out of print, so you should go to Ebay and add that book to your Favorite Searches list. I bought mine on Ebay for an unheard price of $15. (It was a holiday weekend and people were away) Keep in mind there are two editions, one having an extra chapter. At this moment I can't tell you how to tell the difference, but my copy has 872 pages and it is missing the extra chapter. The book was selling new as recently as last year for around $60 or slightly more.

If you want to read the Martha Furnace diaries, add Iron in the Pines to your search list on Ebay. That always comes up for bid. It is not a complete copy of the diary, but it tells you quite a bit.

http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet...Field.x=46&tn=iron+in+the+pines&sts=t

Guy
 

Teegate

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jokerman said:
BTW, it would be great if someone posted the picture from Heart Of Pines of Martha Furnace.


I have scanned the one photo from the "Heart of the Pines" to encourage all of you who do not have this book to find it and buy it. I have altered the photo to give credit where credit is due, so you will have to deal with that.

Stu, this is what is underground, and I assume the mound of dirt covers the top portion of the furnace which sticks above the ground in the photo. It was excavated in 1968. I missed it by 5 years :(


http://www.njpinebarrens.com/~teegate/post/hp.jpg

Guy
 

Piney1125

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May 1, 2004
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Iron in the Pines

I have Iron in the Pines, I got it at Barnes and Noble in Marlton. I was wondering if there was anything that had the whole diary printed. I am also wondering if the Weymouth Diary is still around or has been reprinted. I'm also interested in the history of Weymouth in general.
 

jokerman

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May 29, 2003
339
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Manasquan
Oh man, she's beautiful. You can see the brick work near the top. Looks somewhat similar to the allaire furnace in that the hearth is one type of rock and then the top may have extended upward with bricks. Wonder how tall it was during operation.

For the person asking about the Martha Diaries, I reported earlier that they have them for reference in the Monmouth County Library system.

I may have read it somewhere, was there a particular kind of stone they used to like to use on the hearth. It was typically of more whitiish color and they would "import" it sometimes. Seemed similar to the type of stone you would see in northwestern NJ. My geology is not very extensive, just sands, silts, and clays, and a couple of rocks.
 
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BarryC

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Some say Allaire made iron, but not bog iron, in other words, just like all the North Jersey furnaces, which used more conventional ore dug in the mountains.
Stu said:
Yeah I remember there being a large mound of dirt....I thought it was odd. The slag was by it, in a nook.

What else would have been made at Allaire?
 
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BarryC

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Iron in the Pines

Oh boy. Weymouth. Now that's a problem. Just a few years ago a man named Robert Johnson wrote a book telling the complete history of Weymouth. He even joined my Group on Yahoo, and also started his own Group. I bought his book as soon as I found out about it, which was before he joined my Group. There was only a limited printing of the book, and then the man vanished. No one has been able to reach him, either by telephone or by email. All copies of his book have sold out, that I ever knew about. It used to be for sale at Palace Outfitters in Weymouth and at the Batsto Visitors Center. He sold them some books and then disappeared. He was selling them through mail order too. In my photo gallery (in member galleries), you can find scans of some news clippings about him and his book when it first came out.
The only copies of this book that exist are in people's collections. It's a medium sized paperback, similar in size to Iron in the Pines or any of Father Beck's books. It's called Weymouth, New Jersey- A History of the Furnace, Forge and Paper Mills. I think bunnymom has one, I have one, Marilyn Schmidt has one, and a couple other people I know. Who knows? One might turn up on ebay or abebooks.com some day. I know of no other book that tells the history of Weymouth, which is why he wrote that one. He also announced (back when the book was new) that he would write a second book which would reproduce the text of the Weymouth Diaries. This second book was never written, to my knowledge.
Strange story, huh?
Barry
Piney1125 said:
I'm also interested in the history of Weymouth in general.
 

Piney1125

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May 1, 2004
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Cherry Hill, NJ
The Weymouth Man

Does anybody have any clue what happened to the man? Is there anywhere else where I can find the diaries? How about the Batsto Store Books? Where else are they found?
 

Teegate

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The Weymouth Man

Piney1125 said:
Does anybody have any clue what happened to the man? Is there anywhere else where I can find the diaries? How about the Batsto Store Books? Where else are they found?


I just did a quick search online, and found a post on Ancestry.com mentioning a book that has what I assume is the complete diary. Here is the post.

***************

Just a clarification to my first post. It was Michael Mick, Jr. who was the strawboss a Martha Furnace. The way I wrote it could imply that I meant it to be his son, John Mick.
There is a book by Henry Bisbee and Rebecca Colesar- Bisbee which is a printing of the Martha Furnace Diary. Michael Mick, Jr. is mentioned often. Michael Mick Sr. is listed as a worker.
Regards.


Here was the reply.


Thanks again For the clarification that it was Micheal Mick Jr. who was the strawboss at Martha Furnace. The next time I can get to New Jersey, I'll go to the library in Mays Landing and Check out the Martha Furnace Diary by Henry Bisbee and Rebecca Colesar-Bisbee. Regards

**************


I believe with all of the info that has been offered to you here, you should be able to find what you want. You are going to have to do some leg work most likely, because a quick search in a few book sites on the web did not turn up that book. That author was writing in the 50's so it may be rare. Contact your local or county library.

Guy
 

Ben Ruset

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Allaire (Howell Iron Works) was most certainly a bog iron furnace. They mined for the iron along the Manasquan River, as well as had it brought in from South Jersey.

They have a huge chunk of bog iron in the visitors center.

If I am not mistaken, Tinton Falls Iron Works (the first iron furnace in NJ) was also bog iron. I believe that they were out of operation by the early 1700s. As such, nobody knows where the furnace was located.
 

Piney1125

Scout
May 1, 2004
65
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Cherry Hill, NJ
I did a search online and found a book titled Family Empire in Jersey Iron: The Richards Enterprises in the Pine Barrens by Arthur Pierce, the man who wrote Iron in the Pines. It contains the Weymouth diary. I am not sure if it is still in print or not. Does anybody here know?
 

Ben Ruset

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Piney1125 said:
I did a search online and found a book titled Family Empire in Jersey Iron: The Richards Enterprises in the Pine Barrens by Arthur Pierce, the man who wrote Iron in the Pines. It contains the Weymouth diary. I am not sure if it is still in print or not. Does anybody here know?

It's out of print, but I have a copy. I'll take a look and see how long the diary is and maybe transcribe it.
 
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BarryC

Guest
Thanks Ben,
You should know, since you've been there. There are people down here who have their doubts that it was bog iron, but I believe now. :)
bruset said:
Allaire (Howell Iron Works) was most certainly a bog iron furnace. They mined for the iron along the Manasquan River, as well as had it brought in from South Jersey.

They have a huge chunk of bog iron in the visitors center.

If I am not mistaken, Tinton Falls Iron Works (the first iron furnace in NJ) was also bog iron. I believe that they were out of operation by the early 1700s. As such, nobody knows where the furnace was located.
 
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BarryC

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Piney,
I'm embarrassed. I have that book and have read it, but did not remember about the Weymouth Diaries being reproduced in it. But I believe that some is left out. I'm not sure.
That book is out of print but easily found at abebooks.com. I'm sure there are many copies that can be bought through that site. That's usually how I buy out of print books.
Piney1125 said:
I did a search online and found a book titled Family Empire in Jersey Iron: The Richards Enterprises in the Pine Barrens by Arthur Pierce, the man who wrote Iron in the Pines. It contains the Weymouth diary. I am not sure if it is still in print or not. Does anybody here know?
 
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