in my travels today i was heading from tuckerton to chatsworthi was on chatsworth rd about 5 miles east of rt 9....on the left hand side of the road i saw some kind of ruins..so i turned around to investigate....it was a big brick wall and at least one cellar hole...it was fenced off..the brick wall was not solid it had archways in it....on the outside of the fence was a was a brick and concrete slab with a drain pipe on the bottom of it with some rusty lookin water coming from it.....so my question is....what the heck was i lookin at????? thanx.....tom
what was i looking at??
- Thread starter capttom
- Start date
That would be the Harrisville ruins. Harrisville was a paper mill and town that burnt and was abandoned in the early part of the last century.
Steve
Steve
Yeah, look into that town further and you'll find more ruins. One of the most interesting towns the Pines has to offer. Also the saddest to know it was in good standing not too long ago...based on your concept of time. Mine is skewed. That WAS the first ghost town I came upon,actually, I would've driven right past it (my skills are much more acute now), but my girlfriend said "hey what was that?" and we went back and we saw it and the artesian well, still flowing. It's funny but seeing the ruins didn't start my obsession that day. When I started reading books (aka Beck, Pierce), then I strated approaching the Pine Barrens with a vigor. It's funny that road that cuts right through Harrisville is a 'new" convenience and they say 50+ years ago that ruin was isolated and would have to be come across by way of old trail. I wish I could have adventured it like that. The "new" road throws off the flow of the old town no matter how hard you try to not have it do so. That IS an old main street that is truly gone! God Bless Harrisville, stay away WNJ! BTW, has anyone ever seen evidence of the old Bovine Tavern down that way. I remember a reference to seeing pilings associated with an old bridge onsomeone's canoe trip, which was great info, but imagine its origin is only a guessable supposition?
hey joker man thank you for the insightful info....i know what you mean about not noticing whats around you...i am noticing stuff now on roads that ive travelled all my live and never noticed before....or at least if i saw the stuff it didnt register....i went back to harrisville on my way home tonight...wanted to look for the other ruins you mentioned.....but unfortunatly it was raining cats and dogs when i got there..i know this because i stepped in a poodle when i got out of my truck>>>LOL...i drove down a few of the dirt roads but didnt see too much..execpt for the possible cellar hole right at the begining of the road..on the grassy part not far from the fence.....when i left and got back on the main road639???not sure of the number but it goes all the way to rt 9 at the new gretna house...anyway only a couple of miles down the road i saw an abandoned house or something on the right hand side..so i turned around and went to see what it was...i was dissapionted to see that it was a cinderblock structure that had burnt you could still see the charred furniture out back...looks like the fire happened quite some time ago...i get the feeling this place was a hunting club...anyone know??