Hike #1091; Pittstown to Lebanon

Hike #1091; Pittstown to Lebanon

11/16/17 Pittstown to Lebanon with Sue Bennett, Dan Asnis, Shane Blische, Celeste Fondaco Martin and Benny, Shayna Michaels, and Red Sean (Patrick Ó Ríoghbhardáin) Reardon.

Historic dissertation from Shane in italics.

This next hike would be a strange point to point night hike, another one of those strange mish mashes of things I concocted which would put together favorite places we’d done with other stuff we hadn’t.
This time, the hike would be between Pittstown and Lebanon NJ. The start of the route was the old Lehigh Valley Railroad lines, which are always really nice, and then the rest of it would be a bunch of odd stuff no other group would ever attempt to do.
We met after I got out of work at 3:30 at Hunterdon Hills Plaza off of Rt 22 in Lebanon, then shuttled down to Pittstown to start out.
Shane met up with us to start the hike down there, but he walked off far ahead before we had a chance to meet him in Pittstown. We parked at the lot across from the Pittstown Inn, formerly the historic Century Inn, with the barn reading “So this is Pittstown..are you lost?”.
We walked up the road a short bit, then down hill on the gravel drive to the long abandoned Pittstown Station.

Historic image of Pittstown Station

I walked down the driveway further than I normally would to get a photo for a then and now composition. I had an historic photo of the station from the southeast, so I needed a new one.

Pittstown Station today

Shane was no where to be seen, although Celeste thought she saw him wandering off along the railroad bed up ahead.
The Pittstown Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad is 3.7 miles long, and now part of Capoolong Creek Trail in Capooling Creek Wildlife Management Area.

Pittstown Station

The Pittstown Station I believe was abandoned with the branch around 1968. The line was an agricultural railroad that lasted even after the blight killed off the peaches in the area in 1890.

Pittstown Station today

It’s sad to see the station in such poor disrepair. My friend the historic preservation architect, Michael Margulies has plans of moving the old station to the Peach Exchange, where he’ll be able to work on and preserve it. Right now, on state land, there are complications that are keeping things from moving along positively.

Historic view of Pittstown station during a better time, circa 1925

The Lehigh Valley Railroad Pittstown Branch was first chartered in 1890 and was completed in 1891. Throughout its lifespan, it has had a rocky and tumultuous history. Just before the line was opened, a blight in 1890 killed off the local peach orchards, negatively affecting the Pittstown Branch's fortune. The crops eventually recovered and by the 1900s the peach industry was booming once again.
Aside from peaches being shipped by rail, milk, grain and lumber were other major products that were brought into and out of Pittstown by rail. Unfortunately, another blight in 1904 again negatively impacted the peach crops. It took several years for the crops to return to good health. The peach industry finally died out after World War Two. Passenger service was provided on the Pittstown Branch; aside from combined passenger and freight station at Pittstown, there were flag stop stations denoted "Kings" on Kingstown Rd. and "Sidney" on Route 617/Sidney Rd.
Passengers wanting to get to Jersey City or Phillpsburg would disembark at the lavish 3 story Lansdown station and catch a mainline LV passenger train there. There were less passenger trains on the Pittstown Branch compared with the Clinton Branch. The November 1935 Official Passenger Guide mentions three passenger trains were assigned to the Clinton Branch, one daily except Sunday, one Monday to Friday and another on Saturday. There was only one mixed train that ran daily except Sunday on the Pittstown Branch at the time, departing Clinton at 11:30am, arriving at Lansdown at 11:36am and at Pittstown at 12:05pm. A fifteen minute layover would occur at Pittstown, then the train would head back to Clinton with a stop at Lansdown at 12:50pm arriving back at Clinton at 12:56pm. Trains running straight from Clinton to Pittstown used a direct connection which crossed the LV mainline by way of diamond frogs. Passenger service on both lines were terminated not long after. Freight service continued well into the 1960s; milk would be picked up at Pittstown station while lumber and grain was delivered to a lumber and feed company south of the station. Mail was also picked up/dropped off at Pittstown station. The last run on the Pittstown Branch occurred in 1968. The Lehigh Valley Railroad filed abandonment of the line that same year with track removal occurring not long after. In 1973, the right of way was converted for recreational rail-trail use and today is the Capoolong Creek Trail. Pittstown station has been decaying for over 40 years, desperately calling for help. -Shane

Pittstown Station

We continued along the railroad bed from here, and crossed over a driveway. Dan caught Shane on the cell phone, so I think we ascertained that he was ahead of us for sure at this point.
We continued ahead, and Shane came into view in the distance for a bit. We soon reached Whites Bridge Road, which has a very nice white painted pony truss style bridge. As the story goes, the bridge was originally like all the other truss bridges in the area, painted a light green color. One day, someone came along in the night and painted the entire old bridge white. When the bridge was replaced, it was kept white by the county.

Unfortunately, the original Pony Truss bridge which spanned the Capoolong Creek at this point was torn down and replaced with a two lane structure.
We continued from here across the road at an angle, and Shane disappeared into the distance for a bit more. I started getting a bit closer to him when I got near one of the little bridges over a tributary to the Capoolong Creek, but then he moved on ahead a little bit more too fast. He likes getting good close up photos of the historic bridges from different angles.

Pittstown Branch just north of Pittstown

Shane and I had a little spat on line about stupid stuff, and so I hadn’t talked to him in a few days, so he was staying ahead of me. We sorted things out though and it was fine.
In the section beyond Whites Bridge Road, the rail bed goes onto a somewhat narrow, washed out bit closer to the creek, and then crosses over Kingstown Road. Shane noted that there used to be a station on this area, called Kings Station. It would have been a small shanty station, like a simple shelter. It would be a flag stop, meaning the train would only stop if there was a passenger looking for a ride.

Pittstown Branch

Shane waited up at this crossing because it wasn’t obvious where the rail bed went from that point. The right of way goes over a swath of grass in the intersection, but the trail isn’t immediately easy to see.
The road splits in two at this point. Lower Kingtown Road continues beyond where we crossed to the right, Upper Kingtown Road continues to the northeast, and simply “Kingstown Road” leads to the west from the split. We continued back into woods and moved a bit further from the creek.

Pittstown Branch

The rail bed soon passed through a meadow area, and past a lovely old barn to the right. We crossed Upper Kingtown Road next, and then continued through a bit more meadow before emerging along the edge of the creek once more.
We remained along the creek for a little while more, and then emerged at a driveway crossing. The rail bed first went on the driveway, then continued on a shelf as the driveway went down to the parallel left. We soon reached another road crossing of Lower Kingstown Road. We crossed direct, and continued on the right of way back into the woods straight ahead to the next crossing.

Whites Bridge Road

We held up again at Sidney Road, Route 617, and Shane explained that this too was a flag stop with a shanty station. This spot was Sidney Station.
It was starting to get pretty dark at that point. We headed across, and the trail rather closely paralleled Landsdown Road. We came somewhat near to a back yard which opened up to the trail, and there was a dog going nuts in the yard as we went by. We hurried on and were soon out to the northern terminus of the trail, at the former site of the junction where Pittstown Branch joined the Lehigh Valley Railroad main line.

Old Whites Bridge Road in 2005

The site was once a major station stop, and Shane explained that there used to be a “frog”, a fitting that allowed tracks to cross, directly over to the Clinton Branch on the other side.

Whites Bridge Road now

There was also a three story station that used to stand a the junction. There is a blue history sign that mentions it, but I had always been told that no photos existed of it.

LV grade near Whites Bridge

I realized recently that I in fact did have a photo of it, worn and in sepia that I’d had on my computer. It was not straight and didn’t look great.
Because I don’t think anyone else has a copy of this one, I edited it and made it level, then did some fine tuning to make it look nicer. I then put the Metrotrails logo on it, because I know people will want it. I usually don’t do things like that, but some of these things that only I have, I will try to do what’s best for the organization, because once I put it out otherwise, no one will make mention that it came from my own collection and everyone will have it.

LV grade along Capoolong Creek

We walked across the tracks here, and then turned to the north on the former Clinton Branch. This one was abandoned much later than the Pittstown Branch, I believe in 1982.
In addition to farm and other goods, there were passenger trains on these lines. This particular one operated a small engine known as a “Dinkey” carrying short passenger trains. The local dinkey was affectionately named the “Doodlebug”.
We continued along the first bit, where it really isn’t trail yet. Railroad ties are still in place, and until the past ten years, there used to still be rails on this.

Pittstown Branch

We had to walk carefully to step over where there’s a small culvert, then we came out to Lower Landsdown Road. We crossed directly, and beyond the rail bed is the Landsdown Trail. Unlike Pittstown Branch, which is pleasant and simple cinder surface, owned by NJ Fish, Game, and Wildlife, Clinton Branch is now Hunterdon Parks, and so it’s far wider and has the hard packed crushed stone surface I don’t care for.
We continued north and crossed over the Capooling Creek on the former rail bridge, then continued as the trail neared the South Branch of the Raritan.

Pittstown Branch

We continued through woods, then through some more open meadows as we could hear and see some of the lights of interstate 78 in the distance. We crossed over Ramsey Road which access water authority property, and then continued through darker woods, and passed beneath 78. I remembered working for Hunterdon Parks and having to come down under this bridge to cover over graffiti painted on the underside a few occasions.
After the underpass, we soon passed by the old Clinton Station, now owned by the Fox Lumber Company. Their other office building was made to look train station like to match the historic station they restored so well. It looks cool.

Old Pittstown Branch

We cut to the right after the station, across parking areas and then along Main Street heading east over the South Branch of the Raritan. We made a pit stop at the Krauszers food store to get food and snacks, and then were on our way to the south.
We walked down Leigh Street a bit, and then passed beneath 78 yet again. Soon, there is a trail that goes off to the right side into Hunt’s Mill Park. It passes by a couple of houses and then heads into a park, open on the left, and parallel with Rt 78 on the right.

Pittstown Branch

The name of the park is probably taken from the original Old Red Mill, which is actually called Hunt’s Mill, built in 1810 by Ralph Hunt. I’m not sure if there was another mill where the park is today, but it’s possible.
We continued along the right side, keeping with the path, which took us out and around a nice little pond. We were for a moment close to the South Branch of the Raritan again, only on the other side from where we were when on the old Clinton Branch. We continued south for a bit there, and the trail went to the left twice to emerge into a parking area for the park. We followed the access road south.
It didn’t take long before we reached the main entrance to the park and lots. From this point, the hike took on a different identity, because it was all weird stuff that I just threw together.

Clinton Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad history from Shane:

The Clinton Branch was chartered and built by the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1882 to reach the town of Clinton from the LV mainline at Lansdown.
There was more passenger than freight service on the Clinton Branch, apparently boasting eight trains a day at one point during the early 20th century. General freight commodities shipped on the line were lumber, grain, milk and coal. In later years, Fox Lumber Co. opened its doors by the Clinton depot and received service from the railroad. Grain to a nearby grist mill was delivered on a frequent basis. An Agway facility eventually opened not far from Fox Lumber.

Clinton in the early 1950s, with Agway siding at left, station track with boxcar, coaling trestle track and Fox Lumber siding. Originally taken by C. L. Andrews.

Immediately passed the depot was a coaling trestle for a coal dealer.
Passenger service died out during the 1930s but freight continued for almost five more decades. In 1976, LV was absorbed by Consolidated Rail Corp. (Conrail). The Clinton Branch, still in service, made its way into CR's Final System Plan and continued to be used for freight purposes. By 1980, freight was drying up on the line. The grist mill and coal dealer closed. Fox Lumber and Agway found their ways to get by with getting goods trucked. The last train ran in 1982 on the Clinton Branch. Trackage was officially abandoned soon after. For a while, track remained intact. In the last twenty years, track was sadly removed for the Capoolong Creek Trail. A small segment survived at Lansdown, being used to store old equipment such as maintenance of way contraptions (ballast regulator, spike driver) and a hopper car. This track was removed in the last seven years. - Shane

Rare historic image of the Lehigh Valley Railroad station at Landsdown

Lansdown station around 1925. Being a junction between the LV mainline, the Pittstown Branch and Clinton Branch, Lansdown was a bustling center of activity. Since there were no through trains to Clinton and Pittstown from Phillipsburg and Jersey City, Lansdown was made as a transfer point for passengers to switch from the local Clinton and Pittstown trains to mainline trains and vice versa.
There were most likely offices on the third floor for the Pittstown Branch and Clinton Branch superintendents. The station existed from 1891 to 1935. Although Norfolk Southern still hauls long freight trains through Lansdown daily on the LV mainline, not much goes on in the area today. A former passing track acts as a storage track today. -Shane

The entrance road emerged on Haver Farm Road. From there, we cut to the right at an angle directly across the street and through a retention pond area that was well mowed. We emerged on Mitchell Lane, and turned left. The road became Country Club Drive. We followed this up a hill, and waited near the intersection of Regional Road for Dan to catch up. From there, there was a nice grassy swath to the right, and we followed that a bit further from the road until we got to a spot we could cut through to the golf course.
We headed to the east and picked up the paths that pass through, and tried our best to follow them across. This was a really nice place to be at this time of night. Totally peaceful and no one around. We continued on down a hill when a building with lights appeared to the left, and then ended up in another section of the course. We then headed gradually up hill a bit and reached the end of the course near some apartments. I watched my phone GPS closely to make sure we were keeping with the right area.
We briefly skirted Westchester Terrace, and then followed along the backs of duplex or apartment buildings to the east. When we reached the end of the mowed section to the south, we turned left, to the east, and continued to skirt these buildings atop a hill, and then on grass directly alongside the buildings. This was also another really nice place to walk.
When we got to the east end, we had to turn north. We didn’t want to just keep going around the outside of this place; my plan was to cut through the short distance to the east to end up behind The Arc of Hunterdon County. Near that easternmost building in the development, we found an open spot into the woods where we didn’t really have a path, but it was clear enough to head down hill through the light undergrowth. The route took us to a little ridge drop off where there was a retention pond or something in front of us. We had to cut to the left a bit. There was a seasonally wet area with low lying grass, but fortunately we were able to step through it without getting our feet wet. This took us to another slope, where we carefully ducked under the small trees and headed up hill to a box in the woods, probably some kind of power conduit or something. We turned right there, and it soon brought us out in back of the parking lot for The Arc and for Ingersoll Rand or something.
We turned right and followed the parking lot to the south for a bit, till we reached the south side of that, and turned east. Red Sean met up with us there, where there was ample parking.

The group at the high school

Together, we followed the parking lot further to the east, and looked to the south for path cut throughs to get us to the North Hunterdon Regional High School yards. It was looking bleak for a short time, but there was soon a good path that brought us to the fields. We turned right when we got there, and followed them to the west side, but we’d have to go too close to the buildings to the south if we continued this way. Rather than have any problem, we went back to the east, then headed south further away from the buildings. There was something going on there at the time, because lots of cars were coming and going. Probably some kind of sports game. We continued across an access road and then around more ball fields of some sort.

The group at the high school

We made our way around, and then turned to the right because we were trapped within their fence area. We couldn’t get out to Regional Road to the south side without getting around them. Red Sean was familiar with the campus, so he told us to get to the west just a bit and there was a way through. We made our way out of the fenced area and into one of their parking areas. There were people around there, but no one bothered with us at all. We headed out to Regional Road, turned left, and then soon were able to turn right into more school owned fields, which had a mowed path around the westernmost side, parallel with Route 31 to the east. I was very happy that this path worked out well, because it meant avoiding a nasty road walk on 31 I didn’t want to do.

Late night pavement walking

When we got to the south side of the fields, then turned left out to 31, we noticed that there was no good crossing. The busy highway had a median, so to cross here we would have to run out, get over the median, then cross the other two lanes. Honestly, there was hardly any traffic, but not everyone wanted to hurry over this. Red Sean, Shane, and I went over it that way, while the others opted to head back north on 31 and cross at Regional Road. Shane went out into an adjacent field to wait in the grass.
The lot directly across was municipal court and police station, and even though we weren’t doing anything wrong really, we didn’t want to have any problems, so we stood behind a container or something facing away from the building. An officer pulled right up the lane across from us, but didn’t see us all behind it. We opted to move off further into the field where Shane was just in case.
When the others came back, we all crossed the police parking lot, then used the grass out to the far back of it. We descended to an unpaved access road out the back which emerged on Valley Crest Road and continued following it to the east.
It was a really pleasant back road, with hardly any traffic. Really the perfect route for this hike. It did get a little tiring when it started to go up hill somewhat steeply.

Me looking serious

We reached the intersection with Stanton-Lebanon Road, and then turned to the left. While at the intersection, I seem to recall a cop going by. We’ve been getting stopped on just about every hike just to see what we’re up to, and it’s always fine. This seemed to be about the same situation.
From there, we turned left, and then reached the access to Round Valley. We crossed the road and cut through weeds and across lots heading to the north. We walked along the beach, and then along the pathways heading to the north, which took us to a loop in a path. There’s an informal trail with an opening in a fence that leads to the boat launch, which we followed on to the east a bit. There are two parking areas, and we saw someone parked out on the east one. Before we even got a chance to go over to it, I could see that it was fenced in, so we’d have to go back out the main entrance to the launch instead. We followed from there to the north, and Google maps showed their being a bike path that leads down into Lebanon, on what appears to be the original route of Stanton-Lebanon Road from before the reservoir was built.
I at first thought we’d have to go all the way out to the access road, because there was a gate and chain link fence blocking the road. It even had barbed wire on top.
As a last-ditch effort, I figured I’d walk around to the left to just have a look.

Old barn on the old road

Amazingly, the thing was wide open. Just a few feet from the locked up gate, there was a mowed easy swath of open mowed grass around the outside. All of that effort for chain link and barbed wire was completely pointless because anyone can obviously drive a car right around it at any time.
We walked down hill on the road, which passed by a modern building. Just past that, the mowed trail on the old road route headed into a somewhat open scrubby woods.
It was a pretty easy, gradual down hill walk, still somewhat paved from what we could see.

Old building

We came to a sharp right hand turn, where I thought the road should have continued straight, but we went right. The road weaved back to the south, and soon reached an old white colored building. There was also the masonry foundation of an old barn across from it. The road appeared to end here. I figured that the point where I thought it should have continued straight must have been the turn.
I since checked the historic aerials and roads and such. This was actually not the old Stanton-Lebanon Road it would seem. It shows that the road was just a dead end that went to the farmstead, and that it originated in Lebanon, not from up above where we walked. That road was developed in the early sixties when work began to construct the reservoir. Round Valley Reservoir became a functioning reservoir in 1968, and the recreation area didn't open until '77.
The road we had been walking before, Valley Crest Road, used to continue into Round Valley, and there was an intersection with Round Valley Road just below present water level with a few homes. The road continued north and is now Cherry Street heading into Lebanon.

Old barn foundation

The farmstead apparently once had a house and other barns as well, but nothing we could see at this time.
We backtracked for a bit, and made our way to where the intersection would have been. I cut through a little bit of brush, and thought I was on the road, but then kind of lost it again. In walking through these woods, I stumbled back on the road in a short while. It's had a couple of trees fall over it, which is the only reason it's not totally clear the entire way through.
Once we were back on it, it was totally obvious. The old road followed the land contours along the South Branch of the Rockaway Creek heading to the north, and crossed over it at some point. The bridge was missing, so we had to climb down and up over it, but it wasn't too hard.

We continued further down hill, and came to our final surprise before emerging on the still used Knox Lane: the Central Railroad of New Jersey underpass.
I was totally surprised to see that this was an original underpass at the railroad now used by NJ Transit. It had nice masonry abutments, and it was surprising that they'd go to such an extent for a single farm, especially since there were othe roads just to the east and west that could be used as new access. It was also quite surprising that the road was not gated or at least blocked in some way.
We continued down beneath the bridge, then up Knox Lane to the intersection with Brunswick Ave, then turned right on Myrtle Ave.
We turned left on Main Street, and soon reached Rt 22, where directly across was Hunterdon Hills Plaza. We finished the hike without having any problems (despite the fact that we saw a prohibition on parking I'd not noticed when we started off).
This hike was a great test for more of the odd things I'd like to try for the night hikes. I've been looking over places we'd gone so many times in the past with new eyes, ready to check out new places and work out routes that will be appropriate for darker conditions and during hunting season. We got done earlier than average and still managed to get to some exciting new places.