Stone Searching Fall & Winter 2024/2025

Teegate

Administrator
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Sep 17, 2002
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We did our first test explore today to search for a stone that I have been wanting to find for years. The beavers have the place fully flooded, but not today. We visited a few places to plunge into the woods and realized there is only one way to go. So very soon we will make an attempt and resume heaving searching in November.

Old survey map used by the Wharton survey team to find the corners of Wharton. The red markings are from them.

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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,682
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millville nj
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We did our first test explore today to search for a stone that I have been wanting to find for years. The beavers have the place fully flooded, but not today. We visited a few places to plunge into the woods and realized there is only one way to go. So very soon we will make an attempt and resume heaving searching in November.

Old survey map used by the Wharton survey team to find the corners of Wharton. The red markings are from them.

View attachment 23438
Well if anyone can find them it will be you and Jessica
 
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Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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This morning when we left the house it was still dark as we headed toward Parkdale to look for the stone mentioned above. Upon arrival it was chilly and I was beginning to think I was under dressed. Because the bridge has burned Jessica refused to walk across it so we had to enter at Dutchtown on 206 and drive and walk the rest of the way to our destination. We have been at that point before and found a tree with a nail in it pointing to the location of the first Wharton monument that we still have no found.

On our way through the reeds I took this of sunrise.

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Making it to the tree with the nail was somewhat easy but the future was not so certain.

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This is all that is left of Fleming Pike at this location. A once great road is no more.

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Because of the lack of water everywhere that usually is 2 feet underwater because of beaver, it is completely dry and we walked on ground that has been flooded for a year.

You can see the second Wharton monument at the bottom left corner. Parkdale in the 50's when the state acquired Wharton was still partially owned by others. I am standing on what was private property.

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Looking back it was obvious we were going to have a tough time seeing because of sun glare.

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It didn't take much longer for me to decide that I would wait another year and go myself on this adventure. I kept falling down crossing all of the logs and Jessica is still recovering from a leg injury on a previous outing.

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Then to the Parker Preserve where I noticed odd things in the woods that I wanted to check out. It was a tent someone had abandoned.

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I just have to say that the Parkdale area is a mess. The beavers have destroyed that place killing thousands of trees and removing hundreds of acres of upland that I use to roam on. The road is a mess and rotted trees litter the tracks that use to be interesting to walk down. If you took someone there that never had been to Wharton before they would most certainly never come back. It is slobbish and forever ruined like many of the other area's that I visited years ago, and it is almost all because of beavers. They are a menace. Next, I will tell you how I really feel about them.

:bang:
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Back in 2018 Jessica and myself looked for a monument and old post at the southern end of the Birches property along the Tom Roberts Branch. The swamp was flooded at the time and I was not able to locate the monument. It was there in the 1950's during the Wharton survey.

Today, we made another attempt at it and again stopped to view the bog that is under restoration by Bill Haines the current owner.

Today

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And 2018

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Another view further south.

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We finally made it to the monument and old post area and as expected it was dry. I could walk around fairly easily and finally found the location because of the presence of a wood stake.

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Then my walking stick hit a metal stake.

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Not sure if the old post is the wood with the stake around it. Doesn't seem to be.

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And then my stick hit this from 2013.

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An enjoyable 4 mile walk according to my watch.
 

Teegate

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We were out early this morning and home by 10:15. Our goal was to look for a stone on the easterly side of a hill along the Tom Roberts Branch. I figured there would be briers and I was correct. But they do not look impossible to get through so we will give it a go at another date when it is slightly warmer.

Along the way we searched for and found a few Wharton monuments that most surely have not been visited in 75 years. The state owns all the property around it so there is no reason for anyone to go there and look for them.

It took a few minutes but we prevailed.

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This one was easier to find.

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We were right at the Tom Roberts branch so we ventured out to check it out. This is the reservoir for the Birches cranberry bog that you can see in the distance in the below photos.

We were here.

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You can see the buildings at Birches to the right of the sand pile.

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Teegate

Administrator
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Sep 17, 2002
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Yes it was. I saw your post and I had already been planning on going. I would have made it today but we had limited time as we had to meet up with my brother so I decided to skip it. I will get there soon or semi soon.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Bob ... I made it to the hill today. It was much easier than I thought. I walked back and forth on the easterly side of the hill but was not able to find the stone. The deed says easterly side of the hill but it does not say the slope of the hill. It could be east of the hill itself. The top of the hill is fairly easy to walk but as one goes down it is slightly thicker. Once I reached the bottom the woods opened up and was much easier to walk around in. I have looked again for the deed to try and calculate the location better but I have failed to find it again so far.

The hill.

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The top.

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Teegate

Administrator
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Sep 17, 2002
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No. It is a nice place with more exploring to do around it. It may be my new favorite place to explore. On the way there close by the hill I found this. It is a hunters mark because I saw others on cedar trees nearby and they were staggered.

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The only thing I found on the hill was this.

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Once I find the deed I looked at I will return to look for the stone and explore more. I will have Jessica the next time to help me. She is just getting over a cold today so I was alone.
 
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Rooftree

Explorer
Mar 24, 2017
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Haddon Township
Both of you discussed this hill back in February 2023. Guy, you showed the deed on post 16. You are looking for a post, not a stone. There suppose to be one in Roberts Branch too.

 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I just found the deed and Rooftree is correct. It is a post and not a stone. I never changed my info and forgot that it was a post.
 

Teegate

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The deed is the sale of the Atsion property to a lawyer who was commissioned to sell because Raleigh defaulted on it.
 
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