Ruins ID?

[Sue Gremlin]

I hope this isn't a breach of forum etiquette since my search skills aren't so hot. We happened upon a really big foundation yesterday in the pines, and haven't been able to find any information about it. It's a large building (like the size of the big foundation at Friendship), and a small pit feature across the road from it. There may be more features, but we didn't spend a lot of time exploring. You can still see where the windows were on the building. There is a geocache there, but the cache page bears no info.
It's at
N 39 46.235 , W 074 40.758
Anyone know?

 

[Stu]

That's just Hampton Furnace. There's a bit more around the area that I didn't know about until a controlled burning earlier this year.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Thank you, I feel silly for not knowing that. I have heard a lot of reference to it, but never knew where the actual furnace was.
I love your website, by the way, Stu.

 

[onehand]

there was a geocache there, don't know now though.....hint

 

[Sue Gremlin]

there was a geocache there, don't know now though.....hint

Still is! That's how we found it.

 

[4x4Jim]

I hope that hint didnt mean you looted the cache and is no longer found in the area? Hate when I get to one and some one muggled it. Guys have nothing better to do than ruin a good time.

 

[Stu]

I love your website, by the way, Stu.

Aww shucks. I was gonna add a blushing face here but there aren't any.

The current cache at the furnace is somewhat new. There was another here that was archived maybe a year ago. While this one is right on the ruins, the other was a few dozen feet away.

 

[bobpbx]

Putting a geocache right on the Hampton ruins is obscene, and a low class act. What's next, one for Jesse Richard's Grave? How about the second floor of the Batsto Mansion or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Lets not forget to spoil those sites too.

 

[jokerman]

I accidentally looted one several years ago without knowing it. I was off the road in densely overgrown area near UNion Clay Works. I first saw a plastic sword kinda' tied to a tree and then I found a a "bear clock" also tied to a tree. I thought it was just something weird and I took the clock because I had a friend who I thought would think it was cool. He told me that he thought it was from a geocache that he had heard about. He didn't offer it back so nothing more was done. Probably someone will be mad at me that I spoiled this one. I apologize. I'll know for next time. However, if I find them in close relation to vulnerable historic remains, I probably would remove it.

 

[WAMBA]

Putting a geocache right on the Hampton ruins is obscene, and a low class act. What's next, one for Jesse Richard's Grave? How about the second floor of the Batsto Mansion or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Lets not forget to spoil those sites too.

not as obscene as the dead deer that's in there several feet from the geocache. in all fairness the cache is within the ruins but it's placed in a fairly non-obstrusive way and is easy to get to without hurting anything. to me the bigger problem is just the increase in traffic that the cache may bring, and the possibility that people looking for the cache could mess up the ruins. when i found that one i ran into some other cachers and noticed one of them absent-mindedly poking at the walls with his hiking stick, which made me a little uneasy.

in terms of a cache actually being intrusive on a set of ruins, i'd say the friendship one is a little worse than the hampton one because at friendship they actually used bricks from one of the foundations to cover the cache up.

overall, i actually like it when there's caches around these sites because it makes them easier to find when you have coords, but i'd prefer that the caches not be placed directly on historical ruins and i also think that the info page for these caches needs to have an explicit reminder not to mess anything up while searching for the cache.

 

[Stu]

Putting a geocache right on the Hampton ruins is obscene, and a low class act. What's next, one for Jesse Richard's Grave? How about the second floor of the Batsto Mansion or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Lets not forget to spoil those sites too.

Don't whine at me; I didn't place it. I don't really like them right on the sites either.

 

[Stu]

I accidentally looted one several years ago without knowing it.

I think I know about that one. That's been archived for a long time. The placer was actually scolded by a bunch of people because it was too close to Union.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Whoa, nobody said the cache was plundered. I was just there, it's still in place. And it's not in a place that's going to hurt the ruins. It sort of sits on the edge.
I just placed a cache at the site of the Sandy Ridge sawmill (thanks to you guys for the information). I did not place it in any of the actual ruins, just nearby. Is that a bad thing to conservationists? I always thought of cachers as a gentle sort who want to preserve the integrity of places like that. We're always picking up trash, and are very careful not to hurt anything when we place and seek caches.

There's a dead deer at the Hampton furnace? I *thought* I smelled something, but I didn't really want to look.

And Stu, I found your website last year when we were caching newbies, (we see your card all the time), and the site inspired us to explore the Paulinskill viaduct. That was the most memorable caching experience to date, (except for the bear we spotted later that same day at the Blairstown airport). I am glad I have a medium to thank you properly for "showing" us some cool stuff.

 

[Stu]

Cachers tend to be careful with these sort of places; some of us are just worried about the influx of foot traffic and the ever growing possibility of punks up to no good finding these places.
There are some places in the Pines I hope never get caches placed at them.

 

[bobpbx]

Don't whine at me; I didn't place it. I don't really like them right on the sites either.

I wasn't whining, I was stating my angry opinion.

And I should not have included your post in quotes. I fixed that. It was a comment in general to geocachers.

 

[Teegate]

I have friends who geocache and I am sure they know my opinion on the practice and now everyone will.

Anyone who places a geocache at a location where there is a high chance that some other looser will come along and damage is in my book an idiot! And to just read posts on this site and follow behind the individuals who post and place geocaches there is lame. Why not look for a location that you found yourself and place one there! Then when someone comes along and destroys the site you can have that on your conscience.

Guy

 

[Sue Gremlin]

I have friends who geocache and I am sure they know my opinion on the practice and now everyone will.

Anyone who places a geocache at a location where there is a high chance that some other looser will come along and damage is in my book an idiot! And to just read posts on this site and follow behind the individuals who post and place geocaches there is lame. Why not look for a location that you found yourself and place one there! Then when someone comes along and destroys the site you can have that on your conscience.

Guy

Is this directed at me?

 

[gagliarchives]

Guy is right. Find a different spot. I am very uneasy about historic spots getting cachers. I am sure most cachers would show respect to these places and mean no harm, but then again we know that some won't. The latter worries me. We've seen too many things happen in the past.


tg

 

[BEHR655]

I just placed a cache at the site of the Sandy Ridge sawmill (thanks to you guys for the information). I did not place it in any of the actual ruins, just nearby. Is that a bad thing to conservationists?

That is one of the reasons we hesitate about mentioning places like that on this site. While I'm sure you and many of other geocachers are respectful of sites like that, I am also sure there are some that are not. A friend of mine who caches told me of one cacher that liked to drive as close as possible to the cache. That means driving off road/trail. Not good. And this was not some young kid but a middle aged man. What of those that think it's OK to take a little souvenir? I think historic spots are best left alone and that includes Sandy Ridge.

Steve

 

[Stu]

The guy who drives as close as possible shouldn't even be caching. Part of doing it at all is for walking & getting exercise.

I don't even see what the big deal about Hampton Furnace is. First off it's somewhat well known; secondly, there are coordinates and directions for it on this site. I'm not seeing the difference. The argument of it being ruined due to cachers is null and void.