All
This past Sunday while sitting at home watching boring television, i had the urge to go back out first to Smithville (The one around Mt.Holly), i have not been here since i was a kid, my father took me here for a visit.
This small settlement has always fascinated me, and i always on my way to the Pine Barrens while traveling East on Rt.38 say when when i pass the red Smithville Road sign, this is just west of Rt.206 that i have to return for a look see.
I called my friend George and we left for Smithville at 11.00 A.M., i also had some Pines exploring in my itinereary for the day.
This settlement was once called Shreve or Shreveport, but all things changed when Hezekiah B. Smith bought the property from the Shreve Brothers. There were also some old forgotten towns in the area with the names of Cox's Landing, Timbuctoo, Unionville, and Turpentine, they are located on older maps but mostly have disappeared. Smithville sits at the Rancocas Creek.
The following is a write-up of Hezekiah B. Smith from Wikipedia, i do not like to use that source and i hope it is historically correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezekiah_Bradley_Smith
Now for some pice of today's Smithville. The first is of a plaque in the dam area. Notice one name that is recognizable to me William Haines.
An old building that was the machine shop.
A sign depicting the Town of Smithville.
The following was sighted around the picnic tables, a ornament depicting a bike of yesteryear.
Another sign telling the story of the Bicycle Railway, the Bicycle was named the Star. The story of Smithville can be viewed in Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey starting on page 105.
Another informative sign of the Smith Mansion.
The following is a pic of the Mansion, notice the large Eagles at the entranceway, i wonder how much they cost in Smith's days.
Another sign telling the story of the Village Green.
I am thinking that the houses are the restored workers houses.
We then went across the road to the farm complex. The following are some pics of the farm area.
A sign telling the story of the farm area.
This area fascinated George the most, i lost him for a spell.
This pic is looking back across Smithville Road at the Smithville Industrial Conservancy.
It was time now to return to the factory area, another sign telling the story of the factory area.
A pic of a ruin in the factory area.
The following are of two more interpretive signs in the factory area.
After spending over an hour and a half in Smithville, and that is unusual for me, the place was crowded with people, the day was perfect, and i encourage people to go with their families here, there are nature trails along the Rancocas also, it was time to go to the Pines for some Stone and Monument searching.
Arriving at the Red Road and Rt.72, and after traveling the Red Road for some distance we went into the woods to find the first Stone. I am thinking that it is a property line, Guy would know.
We then parked the Jeep at a designated spot and walked the line, that is the Burlington-Ocean County Line, we looked for Monument #29 first and were unable to find it after a half an hour search, we then looked for Monument #30 and quickly found it.
It was getting late and we had quite a walk back to the Jeep, this is the trail that we hiked on.
Notice the snow has disappeared completely, we arrived back at the Jeep and then traveled to Old Half Way to look for a Monument in that area again and were unsuccessful, we then went to the Union Clay Works area for a brief time, just for a revisit to an area we have been to many times before.
Upon leaving the area, George noticed something crawling on his pants leg when we arrived back at Rt.72, it was a damn black tick, unreal, it died a swift death. Also, the sand roads in the area we traveled were well rutted.
We then decided to pay a brief visit to our friend in Tabernacle, and after a short stop for refreshments we went home, in retrospect this was a spur of the moment outing but well worth it. Only 110 miles were put on the odometer today.
Jim
This past Sunday while sitting at home watching boring television, i had the urge to go back out first to Smithville (The one around Mt.Holly), i have not been here since i was a kid, my father took me here for a visit.
This small settlement has always fascinated me, and i always on my way to the Pine Barrens while traveling East on Rt.38 say when when i pass the red Smithville Road sign, this is just west of Rt.206 that i have to return for a look see.
I called my friend George and we left for Smithville at 11.00 A.M., i also had some Pines exploring in my itinereary for the day.
This settlement was once called Shreve or Shreveport, but all things changed when Hezekiah B. Smith bought the property from the Shreve Brothers. There were also some old forgotten towns in the area with the names of Cox's Landing, Timbuctoo, Unionville, and Turpentine, they are located on older maps but mostly have disappeared. Smithville sits at the Rancocas Creek.
The following is a write-up of Hezekiah B. Smith from Wikipedia, i do not like to use that source and i hope it is historically correct.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezekiah_Bradley_Smith
Now for some pice of today's Smithville. The first is of a plaque in the dam area. Notice one name that is recognizable to me William Haines.
An old building that was the machine shop.
A sign depicting the Town of Smithville.
The following was sighted around the picnic tables, a ornament depicting a bike of yesteryear.
Another sign telling the story of the Bicycle Railway, the Bicycle was named the Star. The story of Smithville can be viewed in Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey starting on page 105.
Another informative sign of the Smith Mansion.
The following is a pic of the Mansion, notice the large Eagles at the entranceway, i wonder how much they cost in Smith's days.
Another sign telling the story of the Village Green.
I am thinking that the houses are the restored workers houses.
We then went across the road to the farm complex. The following are some pics of the farm area.
A sign telling the story of the farm area.
This area fascinated George the most, i lost him for a spell.
This pic is looking back across Smithville Road at the Smithville Industrial Conservancy.
It was time now to return to the factory area, another sign telling the story of the factory area.
A pic of a ruin in the factory area.
The following are of two more interpretive signs in the factory area.
After spending over an hour and a half in Smithville, and that is unusual for me, the place was crowded with people, the day was perfect, and i encourage people to go with their families here, there are nature trails along the Rancocas also, it was time to go to the Pines for some Stone and Monument searching.
Arriving at the Red Road and Rt.72, and after traveling the Red Road for some distance we went into the woods to find the first Stone. I am thinking that it is a property line, Guy would know.
We then parked the Jeep at a designated spot and walked the line, that is the Burlington-Ocean County Line, we looked for Monument #29 first and were unable to find it after a half an hour search, we then looked for Monument #30 and quickly found it.
It was getting late and we had quite a walk back to the Jeep, this is the trail that we hiked on.
Notice the snow has disappeared completely, we arrived back at the Jeep and then traveled to Old Half Way to look for a Monument in that area again and were unsuccessful, we then went to the Union Clay Works area for a brief time, just for a revisit to an area we have been to many times before.
Upon leaving the area, George noticed something crawling on his pants leg when we arrived back at Rt.72, it was a damn black tick, unreal, it died a swift death. Also, the sand roads in the area we traveled were well rutted.
We then decided to pay a brief visit to our friend in Tabernacle, and after a short stop for refreshments we went home, in retrospect this was a spur of the moment outing but well worth it. Only 110 miles were put on the odometer today.
Jim
