This kind of selfish and and thoughtless behavior really irritates me. Don't people realize that these old ruins are irreplacable. Once they are gone they are gone forever.
It's bad enough that little is being done to keep what's left from falling apart on its own, but add to that some jackass taking these ruins apart just to save a few bucks on building materials, and soon there will be nothing left of these historic structures but a hole in the ground.
Many of these old structures are quickly being reclaimed by the pine barrens at an alarming rate.
I love exploring these old ruins and a few years ago I started researching them on the internet. I soon realized that with the exception of some snapshots that the occasional explorer would take, that there was no extensive photo documentation of these sites.
So to make a long story short I decided to start a project where I would visit these sites and extensively photograph and document them. So far I have taken thousands of photos of the various ruins at the Weymouth furnace / paper mill complex and of the various ruins at the Hampton furnace / cranberry bog complex. I plan to visit and document many of the other sites in NJ like Bellcoville, Amatol, Harrisville, Martha's Furnace, and so on.
In working on this project I have compared photos I took at these sites just 4 years ago, to photos I have taken recently, and even at supposedly protected sites like Weymouth, there has been noticable deterioration in just 4 years. And that is without anyone removing material from that particular site.
I have seen photos frm the cranberry packing house ruins at Hampton (the large rectangular building that most people think is the furnace) that were taken between 10 and 30 years ago and in them the ruin is much more intact that it is now. I believe that much of the deterioration is from vandalisim and theft.
In the time since I have started this project a few of the structures that I shot photos of just 4 years ago have even partially or totally collapsed.
It's sad that something more cant be done to protect what's left of these historic sites. If we don't do something to stop idiots like the thief you observed from ruining these sites then what will be left for future generations to explore?
I think there is a ranger station near Hampton and I know the site is patrolled regularly. It's too bad they can't install wireless cameras or maybe even those digital hunting cameras that strap to the trees, to photograph people and cars who visit the site so some of these thieves can be photographed and fined.
Something more needs to be done to protect these sites before they are gone forever. Unfortunately I'm not sure what we can do.
Let's just hope that these thieves wise up and realize the irepparable damage that they are diong. Though I doubt they will, or even care.
