Hike #1027; Hightstown to New Egypt

Hike #1027; Hightstown to New Egypt

4/9/17 Hightstown to New Egypt with Neil George, Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Marissa Panton, Jennifer Tull, Rob Gearheardt, Michelle Elizabeth, Corey ?, Marina Font, Susan L Duncan, FlipFlop Duncan, Lance R Beden, and Natalia Gokhman

This next hike would be a point to point on another I’d been proposing to do for a really long time. The main route would be the historic Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad, much of which is now Union Transportation Trail.
I tried scaling off several different hikes, at the recommendation of my friend and former co-worker Doug Kiovsky (Snoop Dougie K) from Hunterdon Parks, and found one that would work with a winery visit along the way. When Doug saw the trip, he also recommended a second winery that was good in the area.

The P&H rail bed in Hightstown

So, thanks to Doug, I had a hike with two winery visits along the way. It looked like it’d be a good one.
We met near our end point in New Egypt. I chose the spot because the supermarket there in town was just off of the old railroad right of way, next to where it crossed the Crosswicks Creek. We shuttled to our start point after meeting there.

Old whistle marker in Hightstown

It took a little doing, but we managed to find parking in town, near an apartment area in front of signs that didn’t say anything about having to be a resident. It sat directly on the old railroad bed, so we could walk right from there on the line to the west for a bit.

Historic image of Hightstown Station

The place we parked appears as though it was probably the site of the old Highstown Station. This was a really cool hike for Neil in particular, and I was very glad he could make it, because this was his home town area, where he went to high school. I love sharing that kind of experience with friends, because they can feel sort of what I did when I started leading the hikes, building off of these places they knew so well growing up.

Historic map of the rail line

The Pemberton and Highstown Railroad was completed for it’s 24 mile length from it’s two namesakes in 1868. The Camden and Amboy Railroad bought most of the stock, and so were in control of the line. As such, Pennsylvania Railroad became controller after it’s future acquisitions.

The Pennsy continued to own the line, but the Union Transportation Company was created to run the line in 1888. This is where the Union Transportation Trail takes it’s name.
The height of service on the line was around 1910, though another resurgence happened when Fort Dix Air Force Base was constructed and the line was regularly used.
Pennsylvania Railroad resumed operations eventually, but because the Pemberton and Hightstown was not included in Conrail, it continued operations on it’s own when Pennsylvania Railroad went to Conrail.

P&H locomotive

Passenger service continued until 1931, but could not compete with buses and growing automobile popularity. Freight service continued regularly until construction of the New Jersey Turnpike. This severed the line, and the first section south of Highstown was abandoned, one of the sections we’d be walking.

P&H locomotive

In 1977, the railroad could no longer fund it’s operations and NJ Department of Transportation made them close. Other sections of the line were abandoned in sections starting in the 1950s, and all but the section to Fort Dix was abandoned by 1980. The remaining stub remained in service, but Fort Dix no longer needed coal for it’s operations, and so the remainder of the line to Mt. Holly was abandoned in 1984. Monmouth County Park Commission purchased the first section and opened it as a trail in 2010, with other sections to follow soon after.
We followed the right of way, which was closely paralleled by a path parallel with Railroad Ave out to Summit Street. We checked out an old whistle marker along the way. The path was above the original grade, which had been somewhat plowed in.

Former Mercer Street crossing

At Summit, we turned right to Mercer Street because the rail bed went into private land. We then turned right on Mercer (Rt 33) and stopped by a store on the way.
The railroad used to go along Mercer Street here, and then crossed at an angle just to the west of us. We would not be able to follow this section because it’s been too developed over, and what little we could get on would require a ton of development road walking and maybe bad bushwhacking.

#4 4-4-0 on the P&H

I didn’t realize it at the time, but there was a junction here with another branch that went to the southwest. I realized later (how could I forget?) that this was part of the Camden and Amboy Railroad’s original route! This was the path of the first locomotive driven passenger railroad in the US in 1832. The line opened in 1831.

1884 map showing connection between P&H and the Camden and Amboy

To me, it’s amazing that a town like Hightstown does not capitalize more on this amazing history. Such a hugely significant point in American Industrial History took place on this route, and we saw barely any historic waymarkers.

The John Bull

The John Bull, which operated on this line, is today the oldest functioning steam locomotive in the world, having started service in September 1831. In fact, it is the oldest functioning self propelled vehicle in the world. I have visited this train myself, and it’s quite a site.
We continued from Mercer Street across the highway following Neil. He knew a good way to connect over toward the high school by way of a path on the south side. We skirted a cemetery, then walked around the high school to the east. We then crossed directly across their school yards to the south.

Wet area

When we got to the tree line, we followed a path into the woods, which soon dissipated. There were some obstacle things the school used to use around, but most of the woods were wet and uninviting. We attempted to cross anyway. Fortunately we found a log to cross to get over the wettest section.
We turned right briefly on Airport Road, then left onto Endeavor Blvd. It makes a loop, and we made the first left onto another section of it, which soon led us to a nice paved trail leading to the east into a wooded area, then around a retention pond for the development.

Development path

We emerged on Fulham Way, then turned right. We went right again on Moorsgate Circle, and again on Chancery Place. We turned left on Sussex Lane to Conover Road, then turned left briefly to Woods Road.
A short walk on that road took us out to East Windsor Township Park which had their local Turnpike Park Pathway, a looping trail that makes it’s way through the woods north and parallel with the New Jersey Turnpike. We kept to the left on this, which started out as a paved pathway. A secondary paved pathway went to the left and and skirted the edge of a retention pond near another development.

East Windsor Park and Parkway Path

Soon, a woodland foot path turned off to the right, the main body of the park was here. We passed through a nice section of rather tall woods heading to the south.
Eventually, we emerged at a power line clearing. The trail seemed to go another way, but we continued to the right following the power line path. It didn’t take long before we reached another power line clearing heading to the south. This was the route of the Pemberton and Hightstown Railroad. We turned left to follow it.
It was nice and clear, just not formally developed as a trail here yet.

P&R Railroad bed

As we reached the southern end of the park property, there were some washouts on the former railroad bed. Occasionally, some railroad ties were still in place along the way.
It was near to the south end, where the railroad was severed by the NJ Turnpike that we met up with Susie and Lance with Flip Floop (Zip Line).
There was a huge swamp land on the north side of the Turnpike, and we were definitely not going to dash across. We turned to the left on another management road which led us just a short distance out to Windsor-Perrineville Road where we could safely cross on the overpass.

Along the Turnpike

Lance and Susie had parked out along the road on this side, and Lance did a “flip flop” of his own by driving between points and walking with us for a while here and there.
He got to Susie’s car and met us over at the winery, which was pretty close at this point.
We turned left after crossing, and then right into the Working Dog Winery access road, which was the old railroad grade.
Natalia met up with us at the winery. We all went back and waited for our wine tasting. It was a pretty good place, and the area in back was very well set up. There was even a food ventor, so we got some sandwiches and such.

Working Dog Winery

After having a nice break, we headed back over to the railroad bed. Lance and Susie helped Natalia get her car to the better parking lot, and we were on our way to the south.
Historically, the settlement and possible former station stop where the winery is located today was called “Allens”.

Old P&H rail bed

The rail bed was clear, and there were no signs saying not to follow it. Google maps showed it all as a through road, so when I planned this it seemed like it would be just fine. This ended up being one of the weirdest sections of the hike.
We followed a wide, grassy management road for a while, and it got weird when we came to a sort of cattle gate. Again, it didn’t say to keep out, so over we went and continued on. We found ourselves in the middle of wide pastures with fences on either side. The rail bed might have a public easement over it, but this section was definitely not technically open to public. It was too late to go back now, we could see Old York Road straight ahead.

Done with the questionable section...

We had to go over one more gate, and there was a house and farm buildings everywhere. I feared someone would see us and I’d have to explain everything, but fortunately we had no problem at all. There was a sign when we reached Old York Road that read “Stop, this is not a through road or part of the trail”.
The trail was definitely finished, and very recently so, south of Old York Road, It was actually too wide and open for my liking. We would have boiled if this had been a Summer hike, but it was actually about the right temperature for what we were doing.

Assunpink Creek crossing

To the left, the Assunpink Trail of Assunpink Wildlife Management Area broke off. I’d followed some of this in the past, but it will merit future explorations.
We crossed over the two branches of the Assunpink Creek on new trail bridges along the railroad bed. The wetlands here were quite lovely. The trail then took us out to Herbert Road at a location known as Sharon, another former station stop.
I had been to this point once before, but I don’t reven remember crossing the old railroad grade when we went by. At the time, the trail was not done and it probably just looked like a farm access road.

Camden and Amboy main line on my hike in May 2011

The previous hike had been in May of 2011, and we actually crossed over the former Camden and Amboy main line, which had tracks in place on it. I had thought that was what was to become Union Transportation Trail when I looked back on it, but in retrospect I missed this line altogether.
So, this was the only spot where this hike had connected with previous ones, but I hadn’t realized it at the time that we’d been to that spot. We continued south from here through very open field sections. It was overall pretty relaxing, especially after our previous stop.

Well that's weird...

To make the route even stranger, the vague section to the north had no private property signs at the north, even though it apparently is, and incredibly obvious trail with crushed stone aggregate surface had a “no trespassing” sign facing directly onto it. Weird.

We crossed a nameless tributary followed by another called the New Sharon Branch. and another nameless one on the maps. We passed through a farm area with several buildings adjacent to the rail bed, and then crossed New Canton-Stone Tavern Road.
After that, we passed directly beneath Interstate 195 by way of a large concrete box culvert. Directly after that, we crossed a tributary known on maps as “Negro Run” (probably one of those old place names that was never changed like the ones out in PA). Soon, we crossed Allentown-Lakewood Road and continued south

I-195 underpass

We then passed another industrial site, and continued through an area with woods to the left of us, where we spotted some sort of ruins.
They were off to the right of the trail, and appeared to be holders for some sort of giant tanks. One section of them had fallen over like dominoes, while the other section remained up in place. This was another one of those places we find attractive like an adult jungle gym. We climbed around for a bit and used the spot as a nice little break area before moving on. This area was known as Imlaystown.

Ruins

Just to the south, we crossed over Doctors Creek on a very newly redecked old railroad bridge. The pressure treated wood surface was still new and yellow in appearance.

Ruins

Just after crossing Doctors Creek, the trail turned to the right and left the railroad bed.
I would assume there was an issue with the private farm just to the south of there which the railroad bed closely parallels. We headed through some fields and over a brook to the east. The trail then passed a new parking area and headed out to Sharon Station Road. We followed the trail parallel with the road to the south, but then turned right for our next winery detour at Allentown-Davis Station Road. Indeed, the area on the railroad was known as Davis Station.

The group at Cream Ridge Winery

We headed out along the road to the intersection with Polhemustown Road, where we reached Cream Ridge Winery, a nice place with benches all out front made from the tail gates of various pickup trucks. Working Dog was nice and the wine was good, but I found Cream Ridge to be just as good, and their openness and friendliness was much better. The lady we dealt with had a lot of personality and was happy to see us there.

Locomotive on the P&H line

Once we’d finished with our tasting, Jack, who had his ever ready carbon fiber guitar, started playing some songs. A woman at the tasting counter called out a request for some Beatles. Of course, we’re both huge Beatles fans and he can play just about anything. I don’t recall what the first song was we did, but I do remember singing “It’s Only Love” and “I’ve Just Seen A Face”.

UTT south of Davis Station Road

We continued from here back out the way we came along the road, then reached Sharon Station Road, which is Forked River Road heading to the south.
We didn’t get any food at the winery, and so our next stop was for a delicious extended lunch at a restaurant called “The Roost” at Cream Ridge Golf Course. I had a delicious mushroom burger with seasoned steak fries that really did the trick.
After lunch, we continued back toward the Davis Station section of the Union Transportation Trail. It rejoined the railroad bed just at Davis Station Road.

Locomotive on the P&H line

The trail skirted a development on our left, and then passed through more farm land. We then crossed over a tributary known as Miry Run, followed by Burlington Path Road. After more farm land we crossed Jonathan Holmes Road.

Historic image of Hornerstown Trestle

The railroad bed started to bend to the right a bit in a cut unlike the others on the line. This was the dead givaway that we were heading to a more substantial valley. Just beyond, we crossed over Forked River Road at an angle, just beyond which is the old Hornerstown Trestle, probably the largest bridge on the entire line, now re-decked for pedestrian use.

Hornerstown Trestle

I was rather surprised to see that the old trestle still utilizes it’s entire old wooden superstructure. Usually I would expect such a bridge to be torn out completely and replaced by some sort of prefabricated metal arched thing.

Historic image of Hornerstown Trestle

We crossed the Hornerstown-Ameytown Road in Hornerstown and continued on the trail to the south.
By this point, I was ready for a change of scenery. It was certainly not the most interesting trail. It would be definitely a good one for a night hike, but I wouldn’t want to do it again. It’s just too wide and doesn’t feel like a trail, and it gives the feeling that we’re on the same thing forever.
There was parking when we got to Millstream Road, and the trail appeared to end. We walked up into the parking area, but the railroad bed was overgrown below. We used a piece of it with a rough cut path to get up.
Just beyond, we followed a parallel field and came out to Rt 537, Monmouth Road.
The railroad bed looked easily passable beyond, and there were no signs saying to keep out. I was anticipating that this would have to be a parallel road walk, but this was quite great.

Old P&H Railroad bed

The next stretch was down in a bit of a cut again. It was a bit wet in places, but nothing we couldn’t handle. From time to time, it puddled up pretty badly and we had to walk around the outside of it not to get our feet soaked.
There were houses skirting the right of way, but then soon after mostly fields and woods again.
After a section of woods, we came to the property adjoining the Plumstead Township School District. There was a new trail access from both sides, and the one on the right had nice split rail fences already in places. It was looking like this section was to become a trail soon.

Old bridge site

We could actually see railroad ties still in place for some sections here. They were covered over mostly by years of grass and such, but I would imagine development of this land will probably include leaving the ties in place.
As we moved away from the school lands, there was a small tributary parallel with the rail bed to the left of us. It descended more as we neared Bright Road getting closer to New Egypt.
We soon came to the worst missing bridge spot on the hike, an entirely washed out former bridge site with major wetlands below. I was in front, and so decided to assess the situation before anyone else could catch up.

Missing bridge spot

Fortunately, someone had constructed a small foot bridge over the tributary below. One end of it was already washed out. One on the trail would be inclined to descend from the fill to the east, but a climb to the west leads out and around to where we could get right across without getting wet. I held back to make sure Jack and Sarah would be okay to get to that spot.
Everyone reached the bridge sight alright, and we soon made it out to Bright Road. I was totally blown away by the sign I found at this former crossing: Union Transportation Trail. All of this we had been walking was in fact open sections of trail, just not over developed like the spots to the north.

The rail bed nearing New Egypt

The reasoning for this was now abundantly simple. We had left the wealthy Monmouth County and were now in Ocean County. It appears that they will be developing this further as a trail like sections to the north, but I’m not in a hurry to see it. This was much more interesting and easier on the feet with the grassy surface.
It’s a weird section, because not much is done north of Monmouth County really, then the right of way goes into Ocean only very briefly, only to New Egypt, which is in Ocean County. It then heads into Burlington County. Because it’s so out of the way and does not reflect the needs of the county as a whole, it’s no wonder Ocean County has been lax on it’s section.

Evergreen Rd crossing today

The rail bed remained clear on to the southwest, bending in direction. We passed through a very pleasant section toward New Egypt just as the last daylight hung on. We exited the trail at a U-Haul dealer off of Evergreen Road in New Egypt just in time.

Evergreen Road crossing New Egypt historic

Just ahead, the railroad crossed Crosswicks Creek, which might have been a larger bridge than the Hornerstown one, but I can find no photos of it anywhere.

Excursion on the UTT

New Egypt was apparently at one time a major hub for the railroad activity, as it even had a turntable at one time.

Old turntable in New Egypt

New Egypt itself was settled early on as part of Plumstead Township, named for Clement Plumstead of London who acquired the land in 1699.
The settlement of New Egypt was first called Plumstead’s, then Egypt, and at some point renamed New Egypt.
We had to turn left to pass through the main part of town because we needed to cross Crosswicks Creek on the Main Street Bridge. I hadn’t realizd it, but there’s a nice footbridge over the creek just to the south of Main Street which I should have visited.

Old New Egypt freight station historic image

We turned right to the parking area for the New Egypt Market once we got across the bridge.
It appears much of this right of way can be followed down to Wrightstown, and then beyond with a short detour around Fort Dix to Pemberton. I’ll have to look at the maps and plan for another trip like this one in the near future, probably when it gets cooler again in the fall. The line is quite fascinating, and it connects with other rail trails at the south end. New Egypt market place is a good jump off point for it.
Everyone staggered into the lot; it was obvious the hard surface of the trail takes a toll on hikers often times more than the more rugged terrain.
The moon was already up, and it was a beautiful night. We shuttled those of us who went to the start back, and were off for home.

At the end

This was a great route for me because it really introduced something almost completely new to me. With only one connection to anything I’ve ever done, it’s amazing that such a long stretch of NJ has escaped my constantly moving feet. It just goes to show there is still so much more, and there remain so many more hikes we can do like this one. This is good consolation that we’ll always have something to do, even close to home.

Historic P&H excursion