Tuckerton Fish Factory

[marshstomper]

Last weekend, we went out to explore the abandon fish factory in tuckerton. we canoed through the ocean (worst idea ever. haha), because the fish factory's on an island. we took a million pics, but there wasnt anything really out of the ordinary there. no record papers left behind, no ghosts....just owl pellets and thorn bushes. but it DID feel pretty amazing to be on an island all alone....until the coast guard showed up...so we had to hide in the factory for an hour or so til they left. but, despite that damper, we saw an owl, an osprey, and even a pretty big fox, like, right up close. i guess he came out to explore our noises, and got terrified when he saw some humans on his island. hahah here's a couple of pics.

^^Giant boiler!

^^different boiler shot

^^Green shingle house

^^Main factory from the green shingle house

^^Between the boilers

^^Water tower

^^Pipes and stuff

^^Some greasy gross valves.


If you go out there...watch out for the coast guard! cause it put a total crush on the trip having to hide for an hour waiting for them to give up.

 

[Stu]

When we were doing research to head out there, we contacted the Coast Guard and they gave us the OK. Really the only person who gave us any trouble was the guy we rented our dinghy from.
A huge owl swooped down at us inside the big building.
A good portion of the island is covered in poison ivy.

 

[marshstomper]

hahah maybe we saw the same owl. thanks for the tip tho, next time we'll contact the coast guard. i didnt know they were so nice...hahah i shouldnt have been so scared, i thought they were gonna give us a ticket or confiscate our canoe. lol

 

[GermanG]

While I've explored there as well, you have to be careful. Someone answering the phone at the Coast Guard might say it's ok, but the island belongs to the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife, not the CG. I was out there twice long ago, once with a kayak, which was easy to nestle among the phragmites, and the second time with my 18 foot center console, which was kinda foolish. Their no access policy is due to liability, which is a concern of every landholder these days. The foolhardy and sue happy minority have ruined it for the responsible majority. With everything out there on the verge of collapse, it's not considered a safe place for the general public to have free access to.

 

[MarkBNJ]

Great pics, Marshstomper. I've never been out to this site, but in general places like this can be so dangerous that you can understand the property-owner not wanting people wandering around. I remember exploring Rose Island in Narragansett Bay years ago. Some friends and I went out there on a 4th of July afternoon, intrigued by its history as a WWI and II Naval installation. We hadn't been on the island thirty minutes when my friend Bill walked through a seemingly solid clump of grass and fell ten feet straight down into a concrete bunker. Fortunately he is a tough guy, and wasn't badly injured. Unfortunately there was a blind goose down there as well, that had apparently been trapped for a long time, eating bugs and drinking rainwater. It's immediate attack had something to do with the speed with which Bill clambered up a fallen beam and out of that hole. Can laugh it at now, but it might have been much worse. We ultimately discovered that the island was honeycombed with such openings.

 

[LARGO]

Nice shots, be careful out there though, as German stated, John Law may take a dim view on your visit. It's been awhile since I've been up to it. Crabbing and fishing at the bridges is a fond Tuckerton memory of my youth. The Stinkhouse always being like a beacon in the distance, like an old friend you come to visit. Only upstaged by the Coast Guard station. But take away those, and the other things of man, and you've got a wild place you could lose yourself in as a kid. I stopped by there on Sunday after our visit with German to knock around. It is sad how built up it is closer inland but you can still get that feel of the old people and the old ways the farther out you go.
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/data/414/medium/039.JPG

That was Sunday just around noon. I will say Miss Stomper, I admire the canoe approach. I imagine it must have been a little snotty getting out there. My view was from here...
http://gallery.njpinebarrens.com/data/414/medium/046.JPG

Funny, I was looking at how more and more skeletal it appears and wondering what those effects were doing inside. Now I see, and from the very same weekend. Thank you!
Sam & I went on to a little here and a little there but all the while my thoughts were as lost in those reeds and marshes like as the wind was that swayed between them. I stood for awhile at the now long gone recieving area from the fishhouse onland, where I used to sneak about in and out of it's walls and down into the pit that would be where the weigh scale was.
It also is gone now, and equipment sits atop the pad.
It was a nice stop on the way home. I thank you again for sharing your visit. Be wary for your safety out there though.

g.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Good pictures, stomper. How long did it take you to paddle there? Were the waters really choppy that day?

 

[Boyd]

Thanks for posting those photos, have always wondered what it was like in there. I have a lot of photos taken with a telephoto lens from Great Bay Blvd, but have never been on the island myslef.

 

[doc]

Very neat place. Maybe one day I shall have to paddle my way out there.

 

[GermanG]

It's not a very long paddle, and on a calm day or in a favorable wind it's not too choppy either. The biggest thing to be careful of is boat traffic. The channels around the factory are popular fishing spots and other boats not fishing right there are zipping by on their way to the inlet.

Other interesting sites to visit while in that area are the old indian shell mound just off Great Bay Blvd., the ruins of an older fish factory on Story Island to the north, and the remains of the Tuckerton wireless, over on Mystic Island.
Tucker's Island is another neat place to visit by boat. Most agree that it is referred to as Tuckers Island only out of nostalgia, and is merely a sandbar that emerged in the vicinity of the original island. And if you are driving down Great Bay Blvd with kids, you can point out the highest land you see to the south. That's Leed's Point and we all know who was born there in 1735!

 

[woodjin]

Nice report. I have thought of kayaking out there myself but never got around to it. How smelly was it?

 

[Stu]

Somewhat related - I heard that off the shore somewhere is some sort of house that can only be reached by boat. From my understanding, it's stand-alone and not on an island or anything. I don't understand how.
It's supposed to be used on an honors system - whoever is there cleans it up for the next person. I'm not sure just where it's supposed to be, but it's in the ocean. Makes no sense to me unless the 2 people telling me about it really botched it up.



Anyone know anything about this? Sounds pretty silly to me, but you never know.

 

[LARGO]

Somewhat related - I heard that off the shore somewhere is some sort of house that can only be reached by boat. but it's in the ocean.

To find your house/Island...
Just a thought, If you have a roundabout idea of where it is... have you tried some arial mapping, google maps, MSN birdseye, Etc. ??


g.

 

[bobpbx]

They pulverized Menhaden there, right? I"ll bet the "grease" you saw on those valves was what they were after; Fish Oil and Meal.

 

[RednekF350]

Somewhat related - I heard that off the shore somewhere is some sort of house that can only be reached by boat. From my understanding, it's stand-alone and not on an island or anything. I don't understand how.
It's supposed to be used on an honors system - whoever is there cleans it up for the next person. I'm not sure just where it's supposed to be, but it's in the ocean. Makes no sense to me unless the 2 people telling me about it really botched it up.



Anyone know anything about this? Sounds pretty silly to me, but you never know.

Its gone.
It was not in the ocean but in the Mullica.
It was in the canal shortcuts in the big river "S" bends a little east of where the Bass River dumped to the Mulllica.
It started as a small shack built by a clammer on a clam lease parcel and grew to a full blown house for over the years. I have pictures of it but I can't find them right now.
The Irons family owned it and duck hunted and fished out of it for a long time.
I met Tim Irons at a Ducks Unlimited dinner a long time ago and he gave me a brief history.
I was told the house did indeed have an open door policy and one could stop in and sit for awile if so inclined.
They battled with the state for a long time over the rights to the land and hazards to navigation issues and lost the last of their battles about 10 years ago .
Here is the approximate location.
http://mapserver.maptech.com/homepa...maptech.com/homepage/index.cfm&latlontype=DMS
Scott

 

[woodjin]

That is interesting. It brings to mind that old shack that is down that road on the mullica, just by where you get on/off the parkway at exit50 from route 9 (the route 9/parkway extension). I've been down that road to the rustic old shack and garage back there. I guess it is privately owned. It reminds me of that only because it is a house in the marsh, not because it is acessable.

Jeff

 

[ICANOE2]

Thanks for the pics and report.
Be careful out on the cold water. I hope you wearing your pfd.
I have been fishing around there many times since the mid 70's and always wondered what was up there.

Stu,
There is a house on an island about a quarter mile out in the bay west of Beach Haven. It's across the channel from Morrison's (if it's still called that). At the bay side end of 2nd street.
Maybe this is the one you heard of.
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.569141,-74.249093&z=17&t=h&hl=en

 

[Frolickin]

I have been there. I think the island is a great exploration. As I recall, it was about a mile paddle. There was a stiff wind the day I went there, which made paddling more difficult. Lots of poison ivy, as I recall. The catwalks looked tempting, but that would surely present problems.

 

[Stu]

A river sure makes more sense than the ocean. That's probably what I was hearing about then. Good to see the truth was somewhere in there.

 

[tree huggin tracker]

ever since i was young i've gone fishing out there with my family.. my dad and i always said we'd go exploring there someday. good pics, and nice to know about the poison ivy!