Test Pits on the top of hills..?

[Scroggy]

I think in the Kobbe map, "The Alligator" is associated with the small circle at the five-way intersection (which would otherwise be unlabeled), rather than the ridge.

It seems reasonably clear that there was an Alligator tavern at that point, judging from the previous thread, for whose name we have two competing origin theories:

1. Ship's figurehead (Kobbe)
2. Shape of ridge (WPA)

Beck mentions "the Alligator Ridge" in passing in "More Forgotten Towns" without explanation. Perhaps, like Stop-the-Jade Run, this is one of those cases where the true explanation is lost to time.

 

[GermanG]

I agree, I think your evidence is compelling. They knew these areas had stone, but at the time they had no idea it was due to inverted topography.

Another way of thinking about it is that sedimentary rocks usually don't form atop mountains!

 

[Boyd]

Found this at the top of page 309 of "South Jersey Towns, History and Legend" by William McMahon. Guessing it's a different Alligator though....

"On October 25, 1782, about a mile South of Barnegat Inlet, a crew under command of Captain Andrew Steelman of the privateer Alligator unloaded goods from a British ship which had run aground on the sandbar."