Hike #836; Clinton, Pittstown, and Frenchtown

Hike #836; Clinton, Pittstown, and Frenchtown

3/27/15 Clinton to Frenchtown with Gregg Hudis, Michele Valerio, Wilma V, Dan Asnis, Larry Philips, Michael J. Margulies, Susan Duncan, Lance Beden, and Peter Van Wallendael (with Rich Pace segment)

The group at Beneduce Winery

Our next trip would be yet another night hike, this time much of it a repeat of a hike I had run in February 2011 between Clinton and Pittstown. I knew at the time that the route would lend itself well as a night hike, but I never got around to scheduling it until more recently with the discovery of the Beneduce Winery.

On a day off recently, Jillane and I payed a visit to the Great Swamp Greenhouses. This was located literally on the edge of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, but we found out while there that the same family owns this vineyard and winery in Hunterdon County. When I found out it was in Pittstown, within a couple of days I knew it could be incorporated into a night hike rather easily.

I scheduled the event, planned for meeting at the Frenchtown Cafe, old station site on the former Belvidere and Delaware Railroad in Frenchtown. Shortly after posting, Michael Margulies, renowned Historic Preservation Architect in the area, posted his own "FRIdeas" event with his friend Pete in town, with the concept of dual posting this event with my hike.

I met Mr. Margulies several years ago when I served on Warren County's Municipal and Charitable Conservancy Trust Fund Grant Commission. This Commission is charged with the task of listening to presentations and performing site visits to applicants for both land preservation and historic preservation in Warren County. An uneven third of money goes to the Municipal and Charitable while the other two go to Farmland Preservation and Department of Land Preservation. The "MCCT" has a certain amount of money with which to fund eligible projects, and there is never enough to fund them all. It is an extremely difficult task to decide who gets what because there are always excellent projects vying for funding.There would often be heated debates between land preservation and historic preservation advocates. It was always fortunate that many projects regarding historic preservation were those of the calm and eloquently spoken Mike Margulies. Insightful and logical arguments with strong presentations made his among the best we saw on that board. His resume included the old mill/church in Oxford and Van Nest/Hoff/Vanetta Farmstead on Rt 519, and in Hunterdon County the Old Red Mill, most photographed historic structure in the state.

Stress from work was still driving me crazy. Since the announcement of my promotion had been pending, I had been faced with a never ending barrage of written reprimands intended to make me look incompetent thereby justifying the promotion of someone else that would have to transfer to Spruce Run. They would gain an employee rather than promote an existing one. I had finished a chain saw training course the day before and had the extra hours to burn, so I headed down to Frenchtown a bit early.

I needed the extra time to calm down from work, so I stopped by the store for a snack, then headed on over to the station. I saw Mike M walking near the station, and was soon greeted by Michele. Dan, who had just done his first hike with us for the anniversary trip, was already out for his second try. The others poured in slowly, and Susie and Lance would meet us at the start point. They were cutting out early and spotted her car ahead of time. Larry was running behind and I had to have him meet us closer to the start. We got a bit of a late start.

Historic Clinton Station

I had originally hoped to go by the Old Red Mill. Since Mike is the architect there, I'm sure he could offer some unique insights that would have been of value to the group, but we were already running a bit behind. The Beneduce Winery closed at eight, and I had called to let them know we were coming. This time, we parked directly at Fox Lumber, which now has the old station.

Historic map of Clinton

Clinton has changed quite a lot over the years, from a manufacturing town to a struggling suburb, then slowly became an artsy high end town like Lambertville and New Hope. The town is located where the South Branch of the Raritan River is joined by the substantial Spruce Run Creek, which made it a prime mill location.

Old overview of Clinton

The Lehigh Valley Railroad was completed out to Perth Amboy in 1875, but bypassed the town of Clinton by a couple of miles. Shortly thereafter a spur line was extended from Landsdowne on that line up into Clinton. The line served both passenger and freight service at first, but in later years passenger service was discontinued and freight dwindled.

Clinton Station historic view

In the 19th century, there were many railroads that operated short lines to towns like Clinton. These short lines were usually serviced by a "Dinky", a smaller engine with limited passenger cars compared to the larger through line which had multiple coaches.

Pittstown Branch in Pittstown historic view

 Many railroads would apply affectionate nicknames to their engines. The Clinton Branch Dinky was referred to as the "Doodlebug". Today, the only Dinky still in operation in the state of NJ is the one in Princeton. Although the engine is of course newer and the tracks have been modernized, it is still locally referred to as the "Dinky".

Historic Clinton Station

Like most lines, the Clinton Branch failed and was abandoned. I'm certain I must have walked this line with my grandfather at some point, but I don't recall it. The first time I recall hiking it was in the early 2000s by myself, after a long walk from Pattenburg and a solo walk through the mile long railroad tunnel in icy conditions.

Former Lehigh Valley Railroad station in Clinton

I remember passing by some county parks employees in a truck while walking out the line. The ties were still in place then. I did not return to this trail again for a few years, until the trail was developed. I eventually went to work for Hunterdon County and helped to maintain it. The trail was dubbed "Landsdowne Trail" for the village area it connected to.

We started hiking from the station house heading south. Historic photos don't quite seem to match up with the current station building leading me to believe that the existing structure was a freight station, and that there was a separate passenger depot that no longer exists.

Historic view of Clinton Station

There was a little bit of ice left on the ground, but walking was mostly pretty easy at this point. We followed the trail from the station area south beneath interstate 78 with it's huge amounts of graffiti (I used to have to go down there to paint over it regularly), then continued along the right of way south.

Landsdowne Trail, former Clinton Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad

I got a hold of Larry, who had run behind, and he would meet us on the south end of the Landsdown Trail. We continued south, and the South Branch of the Raritan came in closer to the left side of the trail, with tributaries feeding into it from the widening wetlands. We made pretty good time on this section.

Historic 1914 view of the Clinton Branch along South Branch of the Raritan

We crossed over the access road that led to the water authority place, then continued through the Landsdowne Meadows section. This was one of the last properties acquired by Hunterdon County during my time working there. The right of way led us out of the meadows and into some wetland woods, with standing water at an extra high level due to the snow melt off. I pointed out to everyone the large island in the South Branch giving the illusion that the river was much smaller than it really is.

When we reached Lower Landsdowne Road, Larry pulled up and parked along the side. The trail officially ended here, but we were able to continue right across on the abandoned right of way with ties still in place to the former junction site. This section still had rails on it until a few years ago, and there was even a sort of hopper car parked on those tracks. The rails were removed soon after the car was taken away.

Former Clinton Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Landsdowne

The section was not too tough to walk. A narrow foot path followed over the ties, and there was one somewhat new washout from the last time I'd walked it. I discussed with Mike the history of the station that used to exist at Landsdowne, and how the historic marker for it said that it was a large three story structure. I had never seen a photo of it, and just again searched on line for one. I'm not sure one exists.

Old shelter along Capoolong Creek

Another shelter below Capooling Creek Trail, the old rail bed.

We reached and crossed the active former Lehigh Valley tracks, then headed across Landsdowne Road to the Capoolong Creek Trail, former Pittstown Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. I had run many hikes on this line over the past decade, and never really tire of it. While the Landsdowne Trail is nice, I feel it's really too wide and not rustic enough. The Capoolong Creek Trail remains somewhat unimproved and narrower than the other rail trails that just seem too overboard.

The route led us across Sydney Road and Lower Kingtown Road, and regular Kingtown Road. Along the way, I pointed out to everyone the old concrete railroad shelter sitting along the far shore of the creek. I had always thought that it had washed down to this site, when all of a sudden, someone pointed out another one! I don't recall who spotted the first one, but then Larry spotted yet another! After seeing two, I figured two of these shelters could have washed down stream to this site, but after the third and a possible fourth, we were fairly certain they were placed there.

The shelters on the close side of the stream were directly below the rail right of way. They must have been taken from another location where they were no longer needed and dumped into the railroad fill after some sort of major washout. The only other thing I found weird about this was the fact that they were made of concrete. That would date them probably around 1910. The structures were probably still fairly new by the time of the abandonment of this line.

Pittstown Branch, now Capoolong Creek Trail

We continued on along the trail along lovely shelves above the creek. Some of the washouts were rather substantial, leaving little of the trail left, but still easy to pass by.

We discussed the horrible situation we face with the seemingly stupid rivalry between parks and land preservation versus historic preservation. Michael and I acknowledged the fact that issues of history and ecology should be partnered together, but have recently been pitted against each other for a bigger piece of the pie. The Corporate Business Tax money and how it's been split up after Question #2 on the last ballot has become quite a controversial thing. On one hand, this is the bread and butter of the parks, used to fund various needed projects throughout the state. On the other hand, many historic sites are in dire need of repair, and I certainly can't agree with state spending in many park areas from what I have seen. It sounds like the best answer would be to have reasonable oversight on how the money is spent, but even then there are a whole new list of potential problems.

The history versus ecology item seems to span everywhere I visit. Even on the Catskill Mountain Railroad issue in NY for which I have been very vocal, one group is trying to remove a tourist railroad in favor of a trail. Why we cannot have both is beyond me.

The group on Capoolong Creek Trail

We could see the cars on parallel Rt 513 as we neared the town of Pittstown. While walking, a group of kids came up toward us, then dashed up the hill to the left. The way they clamored up this ridicules weed covered slope to a farm field above made me think they were afraid of us for some reason.

We went on by them and then passed another kid with bushy yellow hair and glasses. He asked us if we saw the other kids and I told him where they were. He explained that they were looking for a geocache. That explained everything a lot better. He continued ahead opposite direction of us.

Historic Pittstown Station

We reached where the railroad came to a more level grade with the farm fields nearing the Pittstown Station site. It's hard to picture this area once bustling the way it did. In this area, there was a young girl sitting on a log to the left of the trail. I greeted her as we walked by, and asked if she was also looking for the group that was behind us. She said she was, and I told her we saw the buy with bushy yellow hair and glasses behind, and that the others were some distance beyond him. She said there were more people still ahead of where we were going, and that she needed to let them know they were ahead, so she walked with us for a while. She told me she was from Lebanon Township, but she also said "I don't know where we are, I'm not from around here". I thought how strange it seemed to hear someone say they were from Lebanon Township, only a couple of townships away, and consider that "not from around here". We soon came to her friends and she joined them, we continued on ahead.

Historic view of Pittstown Market

We soon reached the depot area of Pittstown. The area used to be the Peach Capital of the state at one time. In the mid 1800s, it was a huge trade, and by the 1880s, railroads were built specifically to haul them. The most substantial undertaking for this venture was the Rockaway Valley Railroad built in 1888 from Whitehouse Station to Morristown (Watnong Station). The Pittstown Branch was similar, but after the blight killed off all of the peaches in 1890, there was still enough agricultural and passenger service need to keep the line going.

Pittstown Station

The station today is a very sad sight. The old slate roof has holes where the water continues to get in. It's days are numbered if someone doesn't step up and really make something happen. The township now owns the property, having taken it over from the state, but it's hardly in better hands.

Historic Pittstown Station

Motorists out on the road would not even know it's there. There are no signs on 513 stating there is a trail, or state land at all, let alone a station down there. Michael had secured some funding to refurbish the station, but he was more enthusiastic than the township was at the time, and so it did not happen. Even the boy scouts we were told were interested in putting a tarp over the roof and asked for only $100 to purchase the tarp and do it. The town would not put up the money for the tarp, which is despicable. I thought further that, how $100 really isn't much, and if someone really wanted it to happen then a tarp could surely have been purchased. I'm actually thinking of asking the Metrotrails board if we'd like to purchase the tarp for them.

Michael pointed out that the building across from the station is actually a giant four seater out house with a storage area attached. This structure did have tarps over it, and we went behind it to look in. Indeed, this was an outhouse with several seats. If ever there was such a privy worthy of historic preservation, it'd be this one!

We left the railroad bed and headed up the gravel drive to Rt 513. We continued on Rt 615 leaving town, which followed the Capoolong creek up stream. We passed an historic mill building on the left, now at least partially used as a house it seemed.

Old mill in Pittstown

There was a white truck below moving about a bit, and a car parked out front. I continued walking beyond the old mill with only Larry closely behind. It must have looked strange because I'm sure no one ever walks this section of the road. The guy in the truck drove up and parked in the driveway to the lower end of the mill and watched as we walked on before returning to where he was.

We made our way next to the road beside a little pond at Rogers Park also, which I didn't know existed. Below the road to the left, the old mill race emerged. It was very recognizable as a berm that carried water. Some of the mill race closer to the old mill had been filled over next to the main road. The thing was visible for a while, then abruptly ended. There must have been a dam and mill pond here at one time, but I observed no evidence as such from the road.

We continued along the road as open fields appeared on the left. A new service road had recently been constructed for the power line across to the left of us. We walked a little farther on and turned right onto Sky Manor Road going up hill. This was a much nicer, smaller road. There was an old spring house immediately on the left side into the woods, but it was too dark to get a good photo by this time. Near the top, we had open fields of fields and light residential areas around us. Sky Manor Airport was nearby, and after a sharp bend in the road to the left, the Beneduce Vineyards were on the right. We entered the main driveway to it, which was surprisingly longer than anticipated, and headed to their tasting room.

A girl drove up to us on the driveway and asked if it was our volkswagon parked up there. I said it wasn't, not realizing that Susie had left hers there earlier, as she and Lance would be cutting out early. We were a bit behind, so had just barely enough time for our tasting. The girls at the counter were nice, but I could sense that they were slightly irked that they had to stay a bit later for us. The one girl said that she had hiked just about every trail in NJ. I get a little cocky when people make claims like that to me, since it's very safe to say that no one alive has hiked as much of NJ as me at this point. I started heckling her a bit about what trails she'd done. She said "Sit down and we'll do your tasting", half playing around, half serious. When we said we were doing a night hike, she said she couldn't imagine doing such a thing due to liability, and that her boyfriend runs a hiking guide organization for New Yorkers. She told us some stories of the horrors that befell them, with people showing up with shorts and sandals for a winter hike, angry that proper gear was not supplied. Much of this sounds familiar to me, but I think for the most part Metrotrails gets people who know what they're in for. It's certainly more of a special interest group, open to anyone, but not for everyone.

We did both wine and cheese, which was $10. Susie got me a bottle of wine, their famous red. We tried all the different kinds they had, and all were pretty good. The cheese was great too, I just wish there was more. I'd have pigged out.

The room was a warehouse, very big with barrels everywhere. I like how every winery we visit is very different where we have the tastings. Some have standing only, or limited seating tables we stand around. Some have large open rooms with tables we sit around. Although this was a warehouse, it was not at all distasteful or unattractive. We were able to get a group shot of us all in front of a giant barrel which was pretty cool. Michael suggested it, which was a good idea.

We left the place feeling happy, then turned right down Sky Manor Road past the airport. There were a few cars on this road, one of which was moving way too fast and would certainly killed any of us he plowed over. For the most part, we saw no one. We continued along Sky Manor Road, which came to an offset intersection, and we continued straight on Senator Stout Road past the high school. This road too was still lightly traveled, very good for a night hike.

I chatted with Pete a lot on this section. He knows a lot of the people I know in Warren County, and we talked about social stigmas, and about keeping a degree of crazy stuff in our lives, balancing professionalism and youthful camaraderie. We shared each others bottles of wine we got and had a nice time walking the back road.

We reached Palmyra Corner Road, turned left, then immediately right onto Creek Road, by far the best road section of the hike. It's great to hike even during the day time because it parallels the Nishisakawick Creek. A tributary to it first is along the road in a small gully, but the main branch comes in a bit further down. The road is more lightly traveled than any of the others were were on, and after Tinsman Road came in on the left, I don't recall seeing any other cars.

Rich shows me his trail system along the Nishisackowick

I called up my friend Rich Pace while I was on the road. He lives on a farm just up hill off of Rt 513, and had constructed his own trails on the property along the Nishisakawick. I'd been meaning to get down there to explore them with him, but haven't gotten around to it. Rich told me to call him when I was close, and he'd walk down to the creek to say hello.

He came down, and so I went down the slope and waded across the water to meet him. It wasn't too deep, and so I hiked with him down stream on the nice paths while the others stayed on the road above. When we got to the end of the land he lives on, I said goodbye and headed back across the creek, then up the slope back to the rest of the group.

We continued down the road and past the little park on the right with the foot bridge over the creek to nowhere. I'd been here on the previous hike, but there wasn't much sense in heading over there this late. Michele and Larry took off super fast beyond this point. We came into the town of Frenchtown and the well let buildings provided us with the first substantial light in a while. Michael was architect on several of the buildings on the east side, which he pointed out. The streets were completely vacant at this time, and we walked west down toward the bridge over the Delaware, near where the cars were parked.

Success: Frenchtown

Gregg, Michele, Larry, and Wilma had all gotten to the cars and were heading back to Clinton. Michael was in some pain, but handled the hike very very well. Walking on pavement is actually harder than doing trails for such long mileage when it comes to muscle and joint pains. He noted that he sits behind a desk so often, but he really handled it better than most who come out with us for the first time.

Pete was thinking the same thing as me; we were right by the bridge over the Delaware, how could we resist not crossing it? Pete, Dan, and I headed over the Delaware, hearing only it's sound below us. The bridge had enough light to see, and looked really cool at this time of night.

We headed back across the bridge and and I drove Dan back to his car in Clinton.

The hike was a great distraction for me from everything that was going on, and the great conversations I had with everyone help to put in perspective the craziness I've had to deal with. So many people just accept inadequacies in life for whatever reason, be it the feeling of helplessness or the thought that change is not possible. I just went for a great hike, and for those eight or so hours and 15.5 miles (16 for those who crossed the bridge) it made all the difference in the world.