Hike #832; Spruce Run Turnpike

Hike #832; Spruce Run Turnpike

3/13/15 Spruce Run Turnpike with Michele Valerio, Wilma Vargas, Cory Salveson, Linda Whiteford, and Larry Philips.

The group at New Hampton Inn

For this, the first night hike again in a while, I figured it would be a good to post the Spruce Run Turnpike trip I'd done a couple of years in a row. The historic old highway route that connected Oxford NJ with Clinton NJ is still mostly paved roads, a predecessor to Rt 31, but mostly not on the current alignment of that highway making for a great hike when there is a good amount of snow cover. It was the perfect decision for this hike.

I posted the meeting point as the A&P supermarket in Clinton, from which point we'd shuttle to Oxford. Only Michele and Wilma showed up for the hike at Clinton, but we'd be joined late by Cory, Linda, and Larry in Washington.

We headed to our start point, at Oxford Central School, and began our hike by walking into Oxford and past the historic iron master's house, the Shippen Manor.

Shippen Manor historic view

The stately structure looks wonderful these days. When I was very little, it was falling apart badly.

Shippen Manor

The Spruce Run Turnpike started right about at this point on it's way to Clinton from it's northern terminus. There is a good collection of historic buildings here, the Shippen Manor being the first of them.

Historic view of Shippen Manor in Oxford

Shippen Manor was built between 1765 and 1770 by William Shippen II. The Shippens were a prominent Philadelphia family who acquired title to the Oxford Furnace in 1741.

Shippen Manor as it appeared in 1911

The building passed through multiple ownerships until the 1980s when it was in deplorable condition. I remember the front porch, which was a single story as I recall, was badly collapsing.

Shippen Manor now

The building as a Georgian style structure with two foot thick masonry walls constructed of local stone.

Oxford with the Oxwall Building in early 2002

Oxford and Oxwall site from this hike

The Oxwall building would have been the first one we would have passed, but it sadly burned down a couple of years back. It was the original Company Store associated with the mines, and would have been a nice revitalization piece for the town if it could have been saved. I recall it was deemed arson, but nothing ever came of it. Sadly, I have only one photo from my past hikes which includes the Oxwall building in it, from early 2002. We continued past this point and Jillane sent me a photo of a book she was just given on historic architecture of Warren County.

I was shocked to see she got a copy of it; it had been one of my favorite books to take out of the library since I was in elementary school in Port Colden. I remembered a photo of the wheelwright shop prominently inside, so I took a photo and sent it to her.

We turned left on the historic road route past the Wheelwright shop and then the old church on the right, which was originally the mill associated with the original Oxford Furnace.

Historic view of Oxford Furnace

The Colonial furnace still stands behind a later addition, and both have been repointed in part with grants from the Warren County Municipal and Charitable Trust Fund. Often there are matching state and county grants to get work like this done.

Oxford Furnace

I gave some local history, and pointed out where the Warren Railroad went behind the furnace from 1856 until 1862 when the tunnel was completed. We continued along the road, and I explained how I want this section to be part of the Warren Highlands Trail. My plan is to have the trail come off of West Oxford Mountain and follow streets through town past the most important historic structures including Shippen Manor and the furnace. It would then cross Rt 31 at the traffic light for safety.

The main street became Mine Hill Road, heading out of town, and there was the ruins of the old water tower on the left hand side. The thing is deteriorating more every year, and now has only a couple of the vertical boards remaining of it. Corey Tierney, Director of the Department of Land Preservation had asked what it was somewhat recently, and it seems I was the only one who knew. It's a shame it couldn't have been saved. It's way too far gone now.

Old water tower falling apart

We continued up hill and past the big mine pit that had once collapsed part of Mine Hill Road. My grandfather always told me to stay away from it because if I fell in I'd never get out. The hill ahead was the worst of the entire trip. I had been having some breathing problems, and I've been getting winded very easily. I was feeling it on this hill.

Once at the top, we descended toward Washington, with some views to the left side now opened up after Hurricane Sandy a while back. We continued down hill and crossed Pohatcong Creek, then ascended slightly along Fairway Estates toward town. I remember those developments being nothing more than farm fields when I was little, and I walked through them with my grandfather before development.

Cornish Mansion historic view

We headed across Jackson Valley Road/Kinnamin Ave and the road changed names to Belvidere Ave. It was still concrete surface until a few years ago. We crossed where the Morris Canal crossed, then passed the old Cornish Mansion. Washington was once the organ capital of the world, with Cornish Organ factory and others, as well as a Baby Grand Piano factory. The old Cornish Mansion looks nothing today like it did in it's glory days. I believe it's all apartments now.

Washington House, where Washington started

We headed a little further to the Quick Chek where we stopped to use the restrooms and get snacks. Something was going on because the police were running around. Scotty's Stadium Pub was across the street, and so I went in to talk to them about the upcoming 18 Year Anniversary Hike on the Warren Railroad I'd planned. I wanted to be sure it was cool to have our party thing there afterwards. They seemed fine with it. I wasn't too keen on having it at this particular bar, but my mom hangs out there and sort of got us permission, and I had no other plans set aside for it.

We approached the center of town, which was where "Washington" actually started, with the northeast corner of what is now Rt 57/Washington Avenue and Belvidere Avenue.

Historic view of downtown Washington

Washington is not exactly named after George Washington; it is named after a bar that is named after George Washington. The "Washington House" was a stage coach stop way back, named for the first President. It was built in 1811 on the northeast corner of the intersection between the Easton-Morristown Turnpike and the Spruce Run Turnpike's crossing. Spruce Run Turnpike was part of an important stage road to Trenton.

The corner of former Easton Morristown Turnpike and Spruce Run Turnpike today

The settlement, then part of Mansfield Township, took the name of the popular rest stop. We too took a rest here, but went into Sal's Pizza for a slice or two before moving on.

Historic view downtown Washington

We continued on the next leg of the old route, now Broad Street, descended a bit, and then reached where the house had burned down a couple years ago. We made a spur of the moment decision to head two blocks to the east and visit our friend Gregg Hudis. We headed up to Washington Heights apartments and surprised him at his front door. I wanted to give a few minutes for Cory and Linda to meet up with us anyway, and so this allowed for the time, and I would have wanted to stop and visit Gregg anyway. He would have loved to have done this hike, but he was stuck on call for work and had to be by the computer at all times.

Cory and Linda parked and joined us, and together we returned to Spruce Run Turnpike route, down to cross Rt 31. The next leg of it was Springtown Road. Larry joined us along this. He drove by shortly after we made our way onto this road, and parked near the corner of Rosewood Lane. We continued walking the road, and I pointed out before we reached Asbury-Anderson Road how the alignments had changed. It was obvious that the main through route was originally an alignment from Springtown Road, onto present Asbury-Anderson, then straight onto New Hampton Road. It can only really be seen from one vantage point. We continued on to New Hampton Road from Asbury-Anderson, went up hill, then descended to cross the Musconetcong River on the somewhat new bridge there.

We turned right on Musconetcong River Road, still the original turnpike route, and entered  New Hampton after passing the old school house. The little village has lots of lovely old stone structures. I explained to everyone why the town of Hampton is actually newer than the town of New Hampton. The railroad was built in 1853, and the junction there in 1856, and so the town became known as "Junction". When there were too many junctions and this rather ambiguous name no longer cut it, they took the name "Hampton Junction" because the nearest other town was New Hampton. The junction itself was abandoned in 1955, and "Junction" was dropped from the name.

As we were leaving New Hampton, we stopped for a break at New Hampton Inn. This is sort of an old man dive bar, and I'd always wanted to go in on this hike, but no one ever felt up to it. So, we just passed it by, but not this time. We went in and each had a beer, sat and relaxed for a short while. I actually am not much into bars, but in this one the music isn't too loud, it's spacious, and we can hear each other talk. I thought I'd like to have one of the Hikers' Hootenanny's here one time if they'd be up for it. Might be worth looking into for next year.

We left the bar and continued out to cross Rt 31, where the old turnpike is now the main street through Hampton. We headed up hill gradually through town, passed the old church I'd attended, and then went under the former Central Railroad of NJ bridge. I pointed out to everyone where my Great Grandfather, George Prall Allen's barber shop used to be, and where my grandfather was born. I then pointed out where the blueprint shop was just past it on the left, where my grandfather got all of his prints when I was growing up, and where I used to buy hard copy USGS maps to scale my hikes before I got my first computer.

I thought about it after I'd said it, and how antiquated it made me sound...."Back before I had a computer". I can tell people of days I sat up scaling off hikes using a ruler and USGS quad maps. It wasn't so long ago, but the world is so much different now. The blue print shop is of course closed and has been for years. A 911 memorial is in a pentagon shape along the road just past it. I don't feel old, but I've definitely seen a lot, and it's a mind trip.

I keep thinking about some of the actors that are coming up now, how there are adults that were born in the 1990s. I see characters played on movie clips and realize I'm technically old enough to be their father, but when I look at them, I see them as older than me. It's really so strange.

We headed out of Hampton and crossed Rt 31 onto the main drag into Glen Gardner, more of the historic route. I love the Glen Gardner section with it's ambient lights, it's own stage coach stop turned fancy restaurant and bar. The homes are built onto the hillside to the east and normal level to the west. My great grandfather had another of his barber shops in this town later on, which I also pointed out. When we got to that point, I called my grandfather, Eldon Allen, because it was his 81st birthday, and chatted with him a bit, letting the whole group chime in.

We then headed on out to Rt 31 to make a pit stop at the liquor store there to get snacks and drinks. Linda got some delicious Cheetos and shared them with me. There was a lady in there who was very interested in the fact that we were hiking the historic Spruce Run Turnpike route, and she offered a little more information. Further ahead, there is a section of the old highway right next to the current one that has a series of houses on it. She told us that that was called Irishtown. I had never known that, thinking it was all called Glen Gardner.

From there, we continued through Glen Gardner to the former main road back to 31. That road had been cut off some time around 2008 or 9, and could no longer be driven out. We stepped over the guard rail and had to follow a section of Rt 31 south. There was road work going on and their bright lights made it seem almost like day time as we went by them.

We continued on to the Irishtown section and walked that road, then beyond onto 31, then back off the historic route again where it diverges at Buffalo Hollow Road. We made our way across 31 from there to cross the Toyota dealership, which is built partially on the old road, then followed the abandoned road section to along Spruce Run Reservoir. The pavement is still there, as well as the old concrete bridge over Willoughby Brook. We headed to that spot and stopped for a moment. There was a guy with a flash light out on the dry reservoir we could see from the old road walking around. We continued from here, and then the old road headed away from the waterfront and up hill toward Rt 31. Someone had built a trail coming from a private residence I believe, with a little foot bridge over a tributary to the reservoir.

Larry stayed on the main highway for this section rather than walk down. The rest of us headed across 31 and onto another piece of the historic road parallel with the golf course. It's still paved, but now inaccessible to vehicles. When I was little you could still drive it and there used to be a house on it I think.

We got off this road section, then crossed 31 for the last time headed north. We were getting pretty hungry, and so we decided to stop by the Valero gas station for a snack or something. When we got inside, there was some rather disgusting looking heat lamp food that had been sitting out we were told for eight hours. I told them I was hungry but didn't want to buy anything that gross, so they gave it to me! It really was pretty disgusting, but I ate most of it. Linda had some, maybe Cory did, I don't remember.

Eating eight hour old pizza courtesy of Valero

We walked further along Rt 31 munching on horrible pizza, watching the traffic get lighter on Rt 31 as we were the only crazies out there. We made the right turn onto Rt 513, the historic turnpike route, heading down hill into Clinton. There are good sidewalks here and it was a nice casual stroll down hill to cross the South Branch of the Raritan River. There was a light shining on the Old Red Mill we could see from the bridge.  Often times there has been no light on it, which I thought was rather stupid for such an historic landmark.

Old Red Mill

I figure people come from all over to see the Old Red Mill, the town would be smart to keep it illuminated at night because it will be a tourist draw. Michele and Wilma didn't make the turn to see the mill, but rather kept going to the cars. I think Larry did too. We headed from there back through the well lit down down area, then on a side street back to the A&P where we were parked.

This would be one of the last night hikes I'd have to deal with where there was such a heavy amount of snow that a road walk would be necessary. I'm glad I got to do this hike again this year, because it gets me out there, showcases some really great history and little downtowns, and brings back a lot of memories while adding new ones.