New Jersey Wilderness: The Pine Barrens
By: Joe Volz Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2006-06-27 17:57:59.145449-04:00
We drive through mile after mile of sparsely inhabited, flat pine woodlands with only the occasional interruption of a small town or a gas station or diner. The sandy soil seems unable to sustain much other growth than scrub pines and a few scattered cranberry or blueberry bogs. Once, in colonial times, iron ore was pulled out of these bogs. Water is plentiful. Underneath the land is an aquifer holding about 17 trillion gallons of water, often less than 20 feet below the surface.
We are driving through the Pine Barrens, a one million acre wilderness the size of the Grand Canyon located, oddly enough, in New Jersey. Interestingly, the nation's most crowded state—1,100 residents per square mile—harbors a great wilderness in its southern half. The central part of the Pine Barrens has less than 20 people per square mile and takes up one-fifth of the state's land area. It is only an hour's drive from Philadelphia and just a few miles off of New Jersey Turnpike Exit 5 at Mount Holly.
The Pine Barrens, as described by writer John McPhee in his classic book of 40 years ago, have hardly changed. In his words, New Jersey's central transportation corridor is "one great compression of industrial shapes, industrial sounds, industrial air and thousands of and thousands of houses webbing over the spaces between factories." Yet the Pine Barrens are an entirely different New Jersey—a different state of mind. McPhee writes, "The people are concentrated mainly in small forest towns, so the region's uninhabited sections are quite large—20,000 acres here, 30,000 acres there."
Yet, most Americans have never visited this wilderness and I would guess that most New Jerseyans, particularly from North Jersey, have not tarried there, either. But there are wondrous sights to see and things to do. And the inhabitants, who call themselves Pineys, are the best natural resource of all.
Starting Point—Chatsworth
The Barrens do not have any great, or even near great, metropolises. The Pineys don't want a lot of people as neighbors. But if there is central village, it's Chatsworth at the intersections of Route 532 and 563. Stop by the Chatsworth General Store and with a bit of luck, proprietor R. Marilyn Schmidt will be there. Ms. Schmidt is a walking goldmine of Pine Barrens lore and is perfectly willing to share her knowledge.
I overnighted in the Barrens—the marketing folks like to call them the Pinelands to counter the mis-impression that the place really is barren. The 40-year-old motel in Medford, called the Flying W, boasts not only a swimming pool (called appropriately enough the Landing Strip Beach Club) but an airport for small planes. The original idea was to provide air transportation to workers building the Alaska pipeline—now it's a resort whose motel is 100 yards from the runway.
The Flying W offers a world class Sunday brunch, but don't arrive before 10 am. The staff will still be cleaning, and, like some other Pine Barrens businesses, will not alter their slow pace just to accommodate tourists who always seem to be in a hurry to go no place. The idea in the Pine Barrens is to take your time whether you come to fish or hike or bike or go canoeing on the numerous streams—or visit historic buildings.
Multipurpose Guides
Our guide, Brenda Connor, is typical of many of the hard-working outdoor people I met in the Pine Barrens. Brenda does it all—runs a cranberry bog with her husband, operates a knick knack store—the White Star General Store—and runs White Star Tours, driving the van herself. In her spare time, Brenda home schools her children.
She wouldn't think of living anywhere else. "The wilderness is in my own backyard," she says. And she is proud of how rugged the people are.
"I never saw a man with a cold," she told me as we drove the scrub pines. Fires have long since destroyed the virgin forests. "And then I met my husband and he got a cold! I asked myself, 'Do I get a refund? He's broken.'"
The Jersey Devil
Brenda pointed out that if we were lucky (or perhaps unlucky!) we might spy the infamous Jersey Devil. The Devil has been haunting the pinelands for centuries. He is said to be a mystical creature, half horse and half man with a forked tail. He has been allegedly seen to fly with bat wings.
Ben Ruset, a local writer, says "many strange things" have happened in the Barrens but none so strange as the Jersey Devil's doings. The story is told that back in colonial times, a woman known as Mrs. Leeds found out that she was about to give birth to her 13th child and exclaimed "Let the devil take this one!"
Folklore reports the baby's feet grew into hooves, his back developed wings a nd a tail, and his face twisted into a horse's head. Upon birth, he flew up the chimney and began raiding small animals on farms. Naturally, the Pineys were frightened of this apparition and reported many sightings. Even a hero from the War of 1812, Navy Captain Stephen Decatur, insisted he saw the Devil on a visit to the pinelands.
The Devil seemed blessed with eternal life, because the greatest number of sightings occurred in January of 1909, when all sorts of people thought they saw devil's footprints or the devil himself.
So what do the experts think of these tales? Maybe the Devil was just the vivid imagination of people motivated by fear of the wilderness or by too much alcohol. Come to Piney Barrens to search for yourself. There are Devil hunts every so often—ask Marilyn Schmidt about them!
Basto Village
The intact iron mining and smelting village of Basto, located in Wharton State Forest, is a tourist must-see. Here, iron ore was smelted into pig iron. Founded 250 years ago, these ironworks supplied cannon balls to George Washington's army and later made pots and kettles until higher-grade iron ore was found in Pennsylvania. You can visit Basto Village's 30 historic buildings, including a still-operating saw mill, and the master's mansion, which was located conveniently near the iron smelter so the boss could keep an eye on production.
Whitesbog Village
One thing Piney Barrens land is good for is growing cranberries and blueberries. Colonel James Fenwick bought a tract in the Barrens in 1857 and started what became the largest cranberry farm in New Jersey, employing 600 Italian immigrants brought in from Philadelphia to pick the crops. The resultant village of Whitesbog is now part of Brendan T. Byrne State Forest and open to visitors.
The Winery
In addition to cranberries and blueberries, grape growing and winemaking is becoming sophisticated in the Pine Barrens. The Valenzano Winery in Shamong is a family-run business, which takes advantage of the native crops to put out cranberry and blueberry wines. If these are too sweet for your palate, try their bottles of merlot or a chardonnay. The owners say their prize-winning wines compete favorably with better known Napa Valley wines. Despite the industry accolades, the owners face a marketing problem when it comes to selling their wines. Wine drinkers just can't get used to the idea that good wine can be made in New Jersey.
Piney Talk
Marilyn Schmidt, the proprietor of the Chatsworth General Store, has put together a booklet on Piney expressions called "Piney Talk." Here are my favorites:
Happy as a skunk in a whirlwind—extreme happiness
Stump jumper—backwoodsman
Snappering—catching snapper turtles to make snapper soup
Jersey lightnin'—locally distilled applejack
Jagged fingernail—stepmother
Bannisters—guardrails along highways
Additional Information
Books
Find these books online at Borders.com.
- The Pine Barrens, John McPhee, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, May 1978
- Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey, Henry Charlton Beck, Rutgers University Press, December 1984
- Exploring the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, R. Marilyn Schmidt, Pine Barrens Press, October 1996
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