I should have said, "
Yes, I was referring to charcoal kilns. My bad; I didn't take note of what thread I was posting to.
Tar Kiln Locations?
- Thread starter manumuskin
- Start date
Have you found any Tar Kilns above the Mullica (north) I haven't.Most of them seem to be maurice River twp,Dennis twp and estell manor twp with MRT being the winner I"d say,Millville also has quite a few as well.
Meant to post this a awhile ago but never got around to it. Al, is this one of your tar kilns (or charcoal pit)? Noticed it on the LIDAR imagery and went to check it out, thinking it might be the foundation of an old building. To my surprise, it was virtually invisible on the ground, I could have walked right past it and never noticed. It's just a depression in the ground and a raised area around it where the dirt was piled. No rubble or anything was visible although I didn't do any serious examination.
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.00/39.392056/-74.897627/lidar2021bw/0.00/0.00
There are some other larger ones East of there that I did not check out yet.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.391559/-74.891909/lidar2021bw/0.00/0.00
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.00/39.392056/-74.897627/lidar2021bw/0.00/0.00
There are some other larger ones East of there that I did not check out yet.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.391559/-74.891909/lidar2021bw/0.00/0.00
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Those two to the east have identically situated runnels.
This slope map you have is interesting Boyd. These are the same eastern ones. Has to be mounded. I wonder of these were charcoal mounds. Look at all the light round donuts in the area.
Yes - those bullseyes are very interesting!
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.00/39.391565/-74.891914/us3depSlope1/0.00/0.00
That area is near my home and I find it very interesting. Driving down this road and looking at the 3d view on my phone, it's very striking to see the difference between the lowlands and the hills in the distance. You really wouldn't be aware that the terrain is so different just to look at it on the ground.
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.43/39.399941/-74.903747/mbx3dspectrum/-132.60/73.80
Have also wondered about the structure that's shown on the USGS topo for quite some time. Have looked all around but there's no trace of it anymore. I actually thought that charcoal pit might have been it when I looked at the LIDAR.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.390185/-74.898209/pines1999/0.00/0.00
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.00/39.391565/-74.891914/us3depSlope1/0.00/0.00
That area is near my home and I find it very interesting. Driving down this road and looking at the 3d view on my phone, it's very striking to see the difference between the lowlands and the hills in the distance. You really wouldn't be aware that the terrain is so different just to look at it on the ground.
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.43/39.399941/-74.903747/mbx3dspectrum/-132.60/73.80
Have also wondered about the structure that's shown on the USGS topo for quite some time. Have looked all around but there's no trace of it anymore. I actually thought that charcoal pit might have been it when I looked at the LIDAR.
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.390185/-74.898209/pines1999/0.00/0.00
those are tar kilns.I haven't made it to those yet but close to it.I have been to almost every one west of manumuskin now and am working my way east ward. yes you could walk right over some of them and never notice it,especially if covered with brush which most are. I have seen some that stick out that are on completely bare ground. I wil;l send you a link of some that are just cxharcoal pits.They are scattered all over this area and are about a foot or 18 inches high and about ten ft across. https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.430346/-75.105473/lidar2021bw/0.00/0.00 when you dig into these right under the duff /root layer is charcoal,same when you dig into the kilns but after a foot of charcoal you hit clay on them
PS I see your exploring Manumuskin country.I guess you won't be upset then when I work my way into Boyd Country
Oriented down slope. These were troughs where the tar would run-off into buckets.
There are tar kiln dripping pans near tributary heads all along the Manumuskin. The pair at Cedar Branch, tributary of the Manumuskin, are just above the intersection of Mattox Road and the trail to Canute Neck or Parsontown below Bennetts Mill. The "runnels" identified by Bob are in the right place for pitch gutters used to fill 32-gallon barrels (320 pound) barrels to be punted to a boat- or shipyard for distillation. Tar kilns are often repurposed as charcoal pits, although there is a record of pine tar cordial being made along the Manumuskin up to the start of the twentieth century. Mattox Road connected Walkers Forge (where Mattox had an interest in the Richard Somers sawmill) with Cumberland Furnace. Mattox Landing is the old name for Mauricetown further down the Maurice River. A Mattox also ran the Blue Anchor Tavern. A Blue Anchor (Mattox; =Union) Road meets up with the above mentioned Canute Neck trail at Parson's house in Parsontown, linking the Blue Anchor Tavern via Inskeeps Ford. The Manumuskin kilns are working by the mid eighteenth century, run by Swedes, Finns, and Dutch—e.g., Hans or Hance of Hance's Great Bridge. Hans or Hance may be Hance Steelman, but so far his surname remains a mystery. I'm busy writing papers and a book on the ice age landscape but will be back soon.
I can't thank Boyd enough for the handy maps. He has done much to advance our understanding of Pinelands geography. Well done!
Spung-man
I can't thank Boyd enough for the handy maps. He has done much to advance our understanding of Pinelands geography. Well done!
Spung-man
Spung have you ever found any evidence of either one of these houses? I have looked several times and can find no cellar holes or even people plants hinting at occupation in the past.
Attachments
Those kilns sure look similar to a spot on LIDAR by me that I've yet to check out. Gabe pointed it out to me on LIDAR when we were recently walking around the area. Once the snow melts I plan to take a look
Here is the spot
Here is the spot
Boyd, about the high ground by you... The hill east of the Steelman sawmill site is Stony Hill and the one west of that mill site is Skunk Hill, presumably for the coaling going on there. Charcoal camps were often called skunktowns because of their acrid smoke.
I believe that structure on the USGS quad map at the head of Cedar Branch was a steam-powered sawmill. Aren't there four concrete piers there?
Spung-man
Thanks again Mark! I will have to look more closely after the snow melts. Looked all around a few years ago and didn't see anything, but I certainly might have missed those piers.
Interesting! However my post was rather ambiguous, I didn't mean "near me" literally, that map link is about 6 or 7 miles from my home, near the charcoal pits we were discussing. The screenshot/link I posted above is here, facing South West.
https://boydsmaps.com/#15.66/39.399919/-74.903661/pines1999/0.00/0.00
The Steelman sawmill is truly "near" me, about a mile from my home and of course that area also fascinates me!
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I have been all over this corner,just parked there a couple weeks ago and have seen no structure there but there are some big chunks of stone if I remember right pushed up by the state to widen the road and make an area big enough to park a couple cars.Perhaps these chunks of stone were from a structure that sat there once?
I was also wondering if it got destroyed by widening the road. But looking at the aerials again right now, I was looking in the wrong place. This is the parking area
https://boydsmaps.com/#20.00/39.390693/-74.897658/njgin2007/0.00/0.00
I was looking just West of the red flag, inside the crook of the road. But overlaying the topo, I now see the structure is almost 250 feet south and West of there (at the green flag).
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.390218/-74.898200/pines1999/0.00/0.00
Looking at the LIDAR, there appear to have been changes to the roads over time, perhaps the vertical line here led to the sawmill? Worth checking that out on the ground. Last time I seriously looked for the structure was long before we had the benefit of this high res LIDAR.
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.00/39.390218/-74.898200/lidar2022hd/25.20/0.80
So, apparently, the corner was the wrong place to look!
https://boydsmaps.com/#20.00/39.390693/-74.897658/njgin2007/0.00/0.00
I was looking just West of the red flag, inside the crook of the road. But overlaying the topo, I now see the structure is almost 250 feet south and West of there (at the green flag).
https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.390218/-74.898200/pines1999/0.00/0.00
Looking at the LIDAR, there appear to have been changes to the roads over time, perhaps the vertical line here led to the sawmill? Worth checking that out on the ground. Last time I seriously looked for the structure was long before we had the benefit of this high res LIDAR.
https://boydsmaps.com/#19.00/39.390218/-74.898200/lidar2022hd/25.20/0.80
So, apparently, the corner was the wrong place to look!
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Boyd I was for some reason thinking this was at the next intersection north. I have been all over this intersection as well years ago looking for a hartman Map stone I never found.I have seen no ruins of any kind here but something like a saw mill mostly buried in duff with just bolts sticking out I may have missed/If there was anything really noticeable there I"m sure I would have seen it.I literally tromped this area for weeks looking for the stone I never found.