I’m taking Easter off; this post appeared on Patreon in a slightly different form. I’m sending it to free and paid subscribers, to give a taste of the posts that appear in The Pine Baron section of the newsletter. Adventures I’ll be sharing soon include: mudding it through back roads to the ruins of Hampton Furnace; a visit to the 1500-year-old Tuckerton Shell Mound of the Lenni-Lenape; and a tour of the Indian King tavern, where the Revolution was plotted and the Declaration of Independence was signed in New Jersey.
I took a personal day and visited the Pine Barrens, because the weather is breaking and I know the trails will be crowded this weekend. The winter has been bleak and dreary, and the sun was a welcome blazing eye in the sky this day. This is the first "ghost town" of the Pine Barrens that I've visited. I've been to Batsto village, but that's maintained as a museum. It doesn't really count. This was miles down a pocked dirt road in the middle of Wharton state forest, and I ran into two mountain bikers and their dog on the way.
This reminded me of the abandoned towns in the Quabbin up in Massachusetts that I've explored with my friend Andy, banjo picker extraordinaire. (If you dig American roots music check out the Capharnaum County Magicians Society.)
This time I was on my own, jouncing down the road in Sarah's Honda CR-V and desiring a Jeep Gladiator as my midlife crisis mobile. I'm not paying 50 grand for a Jeep with a leaky roof, so the Honda will have to do. (update: I got a Subaru. It came with a granola dispenser).
Friendship was a cranberry bog village founded in 1868 and abandoned in 1934 or earlier. There was a schoolhouse that was moved, and the houses were torn down, leaving cellar holes and concrete slabs in a clearing in the Pines near Hawkins Bridge.
They are in a decent state and safe to wander around. It's a peaceful area to bike or drive with an all wheel drive vehicle. You can take a car if you're careful.
If you don't want to get bounced on potholes in the packed sand, you can stop at the Carranza memorial instead. It's a tragic story born of goodwill. Emilio Carranza was a Mexican pilot who embarked on a goodwill flight from Mexico City to Washington DC in response to Charles Lindbergh's flight to Mexico. Carranza made it to New York City before returning home in a break in the stormy weather that turned out to be the death of him.
He crashed in the Pine Barrens and the wreckage was found by a family of picking berries, and his body was recovered and returned to Mexico by train after a funeral parade down Broadway. Mexican schoolchildren donated to build this memorial at the crash site, a stone monument marked with a tribute to Carranza:
Messenger of Peace... The people of Mexico Hope that your high ideals will be realized... Homage of the children of Mexico to the aviator captain Emilio Carranza who died tragically on July 13, 1928 in his good will flight.
It was vandalized in 2005 by Nazi scumbags and consequently restored.
The American Legion holds a tribute every year on July 10th. I missed it last year because it was a hot summer day and I didn't want to leave the pool. This year it's on a Sunday and I hope to go.
The final image is of Mighty Joe at the Gas and Grill in Shamong, one of my favorite New Jersey Town names. Joe is also a memorial. You can't read the sign but he was the son of the gas station owners, a bodybuilder with that nickname who died young. What better memorial to a tragedy than a statue that surely makes many people smile each day as they drive past?
I also stopped at Waller's Deli for a deliciously decadent Chicken and Waffles Breakfast Burrito. It was amazing, and this Piney institution earns its rep as a must-visit Jersey food destination. I could sing a song about that burrito. It was that good. Crunchy, sweet, and delicious. It could use some spice, so next time I'll bring Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.
That was a great day, and if you find yourself in the Pines near Shamong, you would do well to follow in my footsteps.
Such a brilliant post, right down to the granola dispenser!