Washington Tavern

[MikeBickerson]

Alright, so what is this ruin on the Washington Turnpike? Other than a picture taken on a digital camera in 2003 (man, my phone takes better pictures than this now... technology).

First time I saw it was 1993 or 94 when I went on a Scout hike past it, and was told it was the remains of the Washington Tavern.

Years later, I was told that was a misconception, and that it was instead something built by Joseph Wharton, and definitely not the Washington Tavern. I have no idea where I heard this, or who told me, or even if I was told it or read it somewhere.

I searched for "Washington Tavern" on here and didn't find any threads ( ), but there is no place better than here to ask!

 

[Broke Jeep Joe]

It will be interesting to find out, I have always been told it is the ruins of the stables for Washington Tavern

 

[h2ochild]

Here's some info on the Sooy/Washington Tavern that matches what I have heard. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM6DFV_Washington_New_Jersey

 

[manumuskin]

I have also always heard that ruin to be Washington tavern.It's definitely Washington and it's the largest foundation there so i would presume it's the tavern.

 

[smoke_jumper]

I've always known it as a barn or packing house from the Wharton Era for the orchards. But I've only heard it never actually researched it.

 

[Teegate]

I believe it is the stables Wharton used. I have heard so many things but I think Budd Wilson said stables.

 

[woodjin]

The Sooy Tavern, later named Washington Tavern is further down the road. Those are commonly referred to as the Wharton pit silo or stables but I always thought that the construction looked like it pre-dated the Wharton area. I have wondered if it might have been around at the same time Sooy/ Washington tavern was.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I've never seen a horse stable with a basement, which is what we're looking at here. Also, if you were building a stable, would you make the partition between the "stalls" out of brick and stone? I think it's unlikely given the extra unnecessary expense of the stone.

I'm more inclined to believe the pit silo theory although it resembles a bunker silo more than anything else.

Here's some pictures to give you an idea of what they looked like. I'm linking to them, not displaying them directly for copyright reasons:

http://www.crestprecastconcrete.com/images/saltshed.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ULBuJsR4M20/maxresdefault.jpg

Judging by the 1930s aerials it looks like there was a farm there at one time. (I think the map pin is where the silo is, and it seems to be a structure with a roof. I wonder if whoever built it robbed the stones out from the other ruins nearby. That would explain why the wall looks so old.

 

[46er]

Could also be an ice house, there is one in Batsto.

http://www.batstovillage.org/ice-house.htm

 

[GermanG]

While certainly not rock-solid evidence, the closest I've found is Arthur Pierce's description in his book, Iron in the Pines, where he cites former Wharton Estate caretaker Leeson Small describing the ruins as that of a combined barn and pit silo. He also describes in detail the location of the tavern site.

 

[h2ochild]

I'm curious as to why the adjacent road by the ruins is named "Iron Pipe". Anyone know why?

 

[flash]

Almost as mysterious and intriguing as the 'hotel' remains in the same area

https://flic.kr/p/aTQdke

 

[Boyd]

Was reading Beck's Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey today and just stumbled on this in the chapter about Joe Mulliner (p 171-172)
____________________________________

At old Washington, not far beyond, the ruins of the inn can still be found. The outline of the building, traced by the stones in the long grass, shows it to have been one of unusual size. Washington was a main stop and its inn must have held many rooms. In the depths of its cellar we found the carcass of a doe. [....]

Old Washington, with the foundations of many buildings above the ground still showing and with a forgotten pear orchard in bloom, is the locale of another Mulliner story.
____________________________________

Now Beck's historical accuracy about various things has been questioned, but since Forgotten Towns was published in 1935, he was describing what we now see in the 1930 aerials (which were taken in the "early 1930s" according to the metadata).

 

[Teegate]

Yea, his accuracy may be questionable. He made many mistakes as we all do at times.

 

[Boyd]

IMO, if you read Beck in search of "historical accuracy" you are missing the point of his work. For me, it's all about his folksy style and the people he describes. I love his works, they transport me to another era where life was simpler. The Pines were mysterious in the 1930's, before we had the internet and GPS devices. We can never go back to that innocence today, but reading Beck is the next best thing.

And that description of Washington struck me, because we can look at the 1930's aerials today and see exactly what he saw - like a portal into the past.

 

[Teegate]

Without him much of the history of the pines would have been lost. However, I get a sense that he trusted his memory way too much and when he returned home to write he made errors. It is easy today for us to go back quickly and verify what we saw, but it must have been much more time consuming back then for him to do that.

 

[MikeBickerson]

I also like Beck because he captures the imagination better than any other pine barrens writer.

 

[manumuskin]

I like Beck as well.I used to take him to the Barrens with me all the time but that doesn't happen much anymore:-(

 

[46er]

I liked Beck's at one time, but it got too expensive.

 

[oji]

I like Beck as well.I used to take him to the Barrens with me all the time but that doesn't happen much anymore:-(

The Frogman!