Tuesday with Alfie

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,238
4,331
Pines; Bamber area
Hmmm. That is quite interesting. Are the ends curved? That's what I see. That conjures up all kinds of ideas in my head; none plausible. Sled-hauling wood or moss. An early aircraft with ski's.
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,555
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millville nj
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Bob,
indeed i first thought it was a sled too but what your looking at appears to be some kind of long leaf spring.the problem is the lower half of the object is buried in the muck. it is however about the size of a large dogsled so maybe you are right.the object was so blended in that to get a good pic backed up was impossible and if you get too close there isn't much info conveyed.their was not the slightest trace of any road to this object and no traces oi any bogs or manmade ditches.the meadow itself appears to be natural and quite round.I told Bill it was a carolina bay which scientists believe were created by meteor impacts:).actually if I had a theory it would be that sometime in the past a large fire burnt through the humus and root layer here to bare ground and when the rains returned it made a small pond which being generally above the water table is dry half the year and turned into a grassy medder.beings it's round the fire may have started in the middle of it and burnt itself out gradually on a no wind day????In any case the fire had to be less then 4300 hundred years ago:)knowing the barrens I'd say much less.as a matter of fact we were black with soot by the time we got out of there from the previous blaze several years ago.
I'd much like an expert opinion on that object if anyone with antique knowledge could find it in their time to take a wander out there and look at it.the woods are not rough.no briars at all and just vast patches of inkberry to push through.thats why on the google earth winter image there appears a vast green swath.it is inkberry,riddle solved for me.
Al
 

oji

Piney
Jan 25, 2008
2,101
487
63
Browns Mills
From what I see (my view is slightly slanted) the brown rectangular object looks like a fuel tank. It is attached to a frame with the ends of the leaf springs attached on either side and the curved piece in front is a bumper.Possibly other pieces were made of wood and are long gone.
 

glowordz

Explorer
Jan 19, 2009
585
8
SC
www.gloriarepp.com
I'm glad you added the Tulpehocken photos, Whip. Those rivers in flood are an amazing sight and the chilly blued confluence is lovely. The Toop-Wading confluence is one of my favorite spots in the barrens.

Contrast:
cIMG_0831.jpg

Conflluence. Tulpehocken left. Wading right. The rivers are extremely high; the Wading's channel virtually impossible to detect.

Last October.
T_7.JPG


Beautiful in any season!

Glo
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,238
4,331
Pines; Bamber area
take a wander out there and look at it.the woods are not rough.no briars at all and just vast patches of inkberry to push through.thats why on the google earth winter image there appears a vast green swath.it is inkberry,riddle solved for me.Al

Al and Guy and Jeff, we walked right by that on the Warren Grove Burn PBX hike. We could not have been 10-15 yards away and did not see it.

Al, one of my favorite spots is at the southern end of that spung. There are some large trees (large for the plains) and I think I remember remarking how big a sassafrass was that was there--very tall. Its like a little grove out there, a little retreat with a nice grassy area.

Here is the spung...woodjin and Paul
watermark.php

Here is the grove
watermark.php

And the sassafrass
watermark.php
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,238
4,331
Pines; Bamber area
You've really got me thinking about this Al. You're right, there are no roads to it. How about this....if you remember, Lakehurst NAS in the 1920's thru 1950's was an important development and test area for Lighter than air. They did some strange things back then...trying different things out. I wonder if that was some sort of crazy section to a dirigible gondola. They did need an engine and stuff to power them, so that would explain the gas tank. Or maybe even it had something to do with what they were doing with the bombing range, just over 2 miles from there. Something experimental attached to a dirigible.
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,555
2,470
59
millville nj
www.youtube.com
From what I see (my view is slightly slanted) the brown rectangular object looks like a fuel tank. It is attached to a frame with the ends of the leaf springs attached on either side and the curved piece in front is a bumper.Possibly other pieces were made of wood and are long gone.

i think you see far with your slanted vision Oji.
Grasshoppuh
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,555
2,470
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
You've really got me thinking about this Al. You're right, there are no roads to it. How about this....if you remember, Lakehurst NAS in the 1920's thru 1950's was an important development and test area for Lighter than air. They did some strange things back then...trying different things out. I wonder if that was some sort of crazy section to a dirigible gondola. They did need an engine and stuff to power them, so that would explain the gas tank. Or maybe even it had something to do with what they were doing with the bombing range, just over 2 miles from there. Something experimental attached to a dirigible.

what sent me to that area was a remark and some coords from Guy as to a very nice vernal pond.I figgered since I'm headin out there i might as well hit a few more ponds while I'm there so i made a route and hit about eight ponds along it.yes i can see from your pic it appears to be the same one.the object could very well be something hanging from a dirigible.the bottom part of the feature is covered in grass and perhaps some mud though i believe sand wouldn't be far down.i would take a little shovel and the bottom parts could be excavated in no time.it appears to have been dropped from the sky.build like an automobile chassis but way too narrow,possibly a sled but why leaf springs? perhaps some kind of logging buggy to drag out logs to the bigger trucks? who knows?
Al
 

whippoorbill

Explorer
Jul 29, 2003
675
121
65
Bridgeton
IMG_0887_Painting.jpg


Our hero crosses spung to discover unidentified landed object.

"Take its picture, Whip!"
"No!"
"Post its picture, Whip!"
"No!"

Glo ... thanks for the confluence seasonal comparison. One of the sweetest spots in the barrens, I'd say. Hope to cross paths with you there, again, someday soon.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,238
4,331
Pines; Bamber area
Superb Bill, as usual. I like the golden water flowing over the spillway.

Al, are you wearing something akin to sneakers on this Tuesday outing in freezing weather? What does Momma say about that?
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,555
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
Bob,
those are slightly over the ankle rubber boots.my days of wearing sneakers in winter are long gone.matter of fact i never wear them.I'm either in boots or barefoot,no in between with me.rubber boots and hip waders do make the feet ache after a long walk but the keeps the feet dry.I also wore two pairs of socks.cotton under a thick pair of woolies,I did this because Momma said.
:)
Al
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,555
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
I was recently talking to my Dad about the object we found in the swamp.my dad ran away from home when he was 16 and did a year in oregon as a lumberjack before his parents found him and he said they had sleds with leaf springs on them to support the weight of the logs.he said they were used to get the logs out in the snow to the trucks on the road.he said they got 16 ft of snow once and were stuck in a cabin for two weeks with choppers dropping food in through the roof hatch.this was in the early 60's.so now I'm thinking the object could be a sled used to haul logs out of the cedar swamp on westekunk swamp either to 539 or a sand road that accessed the blacktop.
Al
 

glowordz

Explorer
Jan 19, 2009
585
8
SC
www.gloriarepp.com
This is a magnificent winter tapestry, woven with pale threads and studded with brilliance.

I like the ivory and jade and cinnamon-brown fungi; the muted blue-green forests; the chilled azure streams; the sepia birdscape. They complement the ice-diamonds set in flame, and the silvered tree-islands adrift in lacquered black, and the rush of liquid sapphire transmuted to gold.

Perhaps most poignant: the single stalk, spattered by frost but bright with hopeful green.

Thank you, Whip, for roaming.

Glo
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,653
8,265
Al,

If you don't go back yourself, you and I can head back there one day and also check out Bob's stone. Then we can clear away the brush and look it over better.

Also, as soon as it warms up in March and we have a decent day let head out to the Great Swamp by Wescoat and look for the stones I sent you the cords for a while back.

Guy
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,555
2,470
59
millville nj
www.youtube.com
Al,

If you don't go back yourself, you and I can head back there one day and also check out Bob's stone. Then we can clear away the brush and look it over better.

Also, as soon as it warms up in March and we have a decent day let head out to the Great Swamp by Wescoat and look for the stones I sent you the cords for a while back.

Guy

sounds good to me.are the westcoat coords stones or concretes or is it unknown at this point? also i remember a track you sent along which you believe a stone to be near the junction of mullica and sleepy creek.it's prime season to look for that one also and lets not forget the potential stone out by the WU point on the last pbx hike.that may be a wet hike so a temperate day may be best for that one.
Al
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,653
8,265
Wescoat are all monuments. The rectangular tracks I sent are mostly stones. Most likely pre 1824 or so.


Guy
 
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