More Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey by Henry Charlton Beckįamily Empire in Jersey Iron by John Pierceīatsto Village: Jewel of the Pines by Barbara Solem Want to learn more about the history of the pine barrens and its ghost towns? Check out some of these great books:įorgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey by Henry Charlton Beck The visitors center features a beautiful museum that was redone a few years ago, which explains the history of Batsto and the pine barrens.īatsto also features one of favorite events – the Batsto Country Living Fair – each October, which is well worth attending for the antique engines alone. Today, Batsto is the best preserved of the old pine barrens towns, a place where you can visit the Richards/Wharton mansion, walk through the blacksmith shop, or wander through the old sawmill (which still functions) or gristmill. The whole complex found a new life as the home base for Joseph Wharton’s pine barrens business empire, at which time the mansion was used as a summer home by the Wharton family. When bog iron was no longer as profitable, the Richards family (of course the Richards family) started making glass, which extended the life of this pine barrens town. It made canonballs for George Washington’s army during the War for Independence and throughout its history produced iron slag that was later made into stoves and other products in the early days of the United States (including the fireplace backs for Washington’s home at Mt. A New Jersey Colonial Williamsburg, this old iron/glassmaking town goes back to the pre-Revolutionary War days. One of the improvements that has come to Atsion of that period is that the old Richards Mansion is open for tours now, which is a great way to spend an hour if you can make one of the correct times during the season.Īs author Barbara Solem states right in the title of her book on Batsto, this is the “Jewel of the Pines”. After the iron era, there was a shortlived farming community here called Fruitland, followed up by a cotton mill here, and finally the purchase of the property by financier Joseph Wharton, who used it for various enterprises.Įven during my lifetime, the village has been disappearing, but you can still see the concrete Wharton era barn, the old church, the schoolhouse, and the remains of the cotton mill here. The centerpiece of the village is the 1824 Richards mansion, which has an imposing location on the dirt Quaker Bridge Road, which would have been the highway through the area at the time and not Route 206. Like most iron towns in the pines, it was later acquired by the Richards family. The glassworks come complete with explanatory signs to help you understand the glass blowing process!Īnother old furnace town, this one was started by Charles Read before the War for Independence. Drive right up to the parking area on the park loop and take a walk around. You can’t wander more than a hundred feet in this park without running into the remains of one of these old buildings, many of which are still pretty intact for being 100 years old.Īs a bonus, the Estell Glass Works remains are also in the park. That’s right, this whole park was part of a massive ammunition factory complex during The Great War (aka World War I). Sure, there are eighteen miles of hiking trails here, but forget looking for nature and start looking for a munitions factory. You can also explore the John’s Woods Preserve across the way, which has some more of the remains of Weymouth. With the stack sitting by the Great Egg Harbor River, this is perhaps the most picturesque of the pine barrens ghost towns on this list. The remains visible today are the remains of those two paper mills. After the furnace and forge closed down, a pair of paper mills was established here. A furnace and a forge were both in operation here by 1802, and were taken over by Samuel Richards (remember that name, it’ll be back a lot this post) early in the 19th century. Weymouth is the site of an old iron works. Weymouth Road near the intersection with the Black Horse Pike Without further ado, here are SIX ghost towns you can go explore! #6… So don’t let those worries get in the way of exploring! You won’t need dirt roads to get to any of these, or need to venture deep into the woods where your car will get stuck. Note before we start, all of these are state or county parks and nearly all are manned continuously by park employees. But they all have their own, fascinating history. And they are definitely short on tumbleweeds. Sure, there weren’t many shootouts in the pine barrens (except Hampton Bogs that one time). (Note – Bodie State Park in California).īut the pine barrens have dozens of ghost towns of their own.
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