Stills, Hills, Pigs, Beer

Oct 25, 2006
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All

First thing before i tell everyone about my outing today with my friend George, i would like to give a toast to longtime Phillies broadcaster Harry Kalas who passed away today and was found in the broadcast booth before the start of a Phillies-Washington Nationals game in Washington D.C.
Thanks you Harry, you will be sadly missed.

Now for the report.

I was sitting around the house today very bored thinking about the next two days which are expected to be rainy, around 12:30 my friend George came over and i said to him how about taking a quick outing in the Pines, at 12:45 we were on our way.

My first stop was to a place that i have passed a multitude of times but never stopped in to pay my respects. The place is called Jacob's Chapel Cemetery, the resting place of the Black Doctor Of The Pines James Still and his descendants, also of many African American Civil War Soldiers.
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Dr.Still was into Herbal Medicine, his cures were known far and wide, patients were leaving their own Doctor's to get treated by Dr.Still.

Here is a pic of a newer Monument to Dr.Still.
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The following is a pic of what i believe to be the original Monument.
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Next is a pic of the Jacob's Chapel Church located on Elbo Lane, a thank you to Jerseyman for telling me the location of the site.
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Next it was on to Big Hill in Leisuretowne to view some Geodetics, a big thanks to Guy, i thought that since it is a guarded community entrance was forbidden, the Guard let us in with no problem, but he did write down my license plate.

After various twists and turns on Leisuretowne's streets we arrived at our objective seeing the following sign.
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Before looking for Geodetics we wanted to see if a great pic taking vista was available on the Hill, we were rewarded, this is a view looking East.
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Now it was time to look for Geodetics, our first find was this structure that George first saw in the distance. I am thinking that this was one of the Fire Tower's support bases.
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Embedded in this concrete was a Marker with an arrow and No.3 on it, i cannot make out the dates, but the word Big Hill is readable.
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Our next find was of a Geodetic which i believe is the Station Marker with Big Hill and the date 1935 at the top, and 1975 below the Triangle.
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We then foung one more Geodetic for a total of three, here is the third and final find, Guy are there any more there than three ? This Marker says Big Hill No1, with 1935 below the arrow.
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Next it was off to Rt.72 to explore in the area Souith East of the JCRR, my first objective was the Pig Slaughterhouse, the following pic shows George amongst the Ruins, there was broken China, Clam Shells, loads of Trash , including the old Beer Bottles, plus some older Whiskey Bottles.
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We then got back into the Jeep to look for another Geodetic that Guy posted some time ago, i drove the Jeep on this narrow trail as far as i could until it got so narrow that we decided to walk to the Geodetic, .079 miles later we reached our objective. The number 10885 is on the Marker, i am surprised of it's location that it is still there.
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We then started our return trip to my Jeep, i removed my two sweatshirts that i had on as they were soaked, being to the spur of the moment outing today, George did not bring his water jug, i commented to him on the way back to the Jeep that i am getting thirsty, lo and behold we came upon a discarded 12 pack of Yuengling Lager, i said to him wouldn't that be great if there were some full ones in there, look what we found, three bottles were left inside, the three 12 ouncers went down quick, they were on the cold side.
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Time now to return home, thirst quenched, i wanted to explore somewhat more in the Slaughterhouse area, driving down a road to the North the road dead ended at a cul-de-sac, the first thing we saw was this endowed Monkey hanging in a tree, notice the Beer Bottle on the next branch up.
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Going back out to Rt.72, we then took Rt.532 back to Chatsworth, then we looked for a second time for a Monument that Jeff found a few weeks back with no luck, returning to the Jeep i picked three Ticks off of me, returning home i found two more before showering, Permithrin time from now on, it in closing was a very rewarding quickee trip, minus the Ticks.

Jim
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
Jim,

I just looked at my photo’s and the cemetery monuments at Dr. Still’s grave were there in 2/23/2002 when I visited. However, I do not see your first Jacobs Chapel photo so I would have to say that is new.

The date on the Big Hill Reference #3 is 1975, and you found all that was there except the Azimuth and that is said to have been covered in fill at the dump.

A nice report! Thanks for being bored today :)

Guy
 
Oct 25, 2006
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Thanks Guy, the Marker with the 10885 on it, the arrow points in both directions, there are other Markers along that path ?

Jim
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,603
8,181
Thanks Guy, the Marker with the 10885 on it, the arrow points in both directions, there are other Markers along that path ?

Jim

I am not so certain in this instance it means that. In any event, there are hundreds of them around, many of them missing. I have the cords of quite a few and have not found many of them. There are quite a few along Carranza Road for example, but the widening has destroyed them.

Guy
 
Oct 25, 2006
1,757
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I am not so certain in this instance it means that. In any event, there are hundreds of them around, many of them missing. I have the cords of quite a few and have not found many of them. There are quite a few along Carranza Road for example, but the widening has destroyed them.

Guy

So is the Marker with the 10885 on it considered a Benchmark ?

Jim
 
Oct 25, 2006
1,757
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Jim:

Looks like you enjoyed another great foray into the Pines; thanks for sharing! It is unfortunate, but my indepth research on Jacob’s Chapel and Colemantown refutes much of what appears on the cast marker in your first photo, so do not take the text there for gospel.

Best regards,
Jerseyman

Jerseyman

Can you share with us all some of what your research concludes in comparison to the writing on the cast Marker, time permitting ?

You have definitely stoked my interest.

Also, i found the abandoned roadbed for the train my grandfather used to take from Medford to between Clermont and Mt.Holly, he used to live on New Road between Rt.70 and Ridge Road, i did not have time to explore the roadbed yesterday.

Jim
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
...."lo and behold we came upon a discarded 12 pack of Yuengling Lager, i said to him wouldn't that be great if there were some full ones in there, look what we found, three bottles were left inside, the three 12 ouncers went down quick, they were on the cold side."

Nice and easy eh Jim? I got a kick out of that. :)
 
Oct 25, 2006
1,757
1
73
...."lo and behold we came upon a discarded 12 pack of Yuengling Lager, i said to him wouldn't that be great if there were some full ones in there, look what we found, three bottles were left inside, the three 12 ouncers went down quick, they were on the cold side."

Nice and easy eh Jim? I got a kick out of that. :)

That was one wish fulfilled, but i am still waiting for that Joey Coyle bag of money to appear.:dance:

Jim
 
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