Hike #856; Stow Neck to Wheaton Island

Hike #856; Stow Neck to Wheaton Island

6/14/15 Stow Neck to Wheaton Island with Ric Giantisco, Lyz Hagenbuch, and Cory Janusz

At the Eagle watch site

This next hike would be another in the Jersey Perimeter series, again in the Delaware Bay area that seems to go on forever on one hand, but on the other I hate to see it pass by. The experiences are all so different and interesting.

We met at Wheaton Island, at a parking area a short distance from where we'd done the last big Jersey Perimeter trip, from Wheaton Island east toward Bridgeton. The four of us shuttled in Ric's car then to Stow Neck, near a spot known as Stretch Point. Stow Neck Road is one of the long dead end roads out in the middle of nowhere.

NJ Perimeter so far

This bit of the NJ Perimeter was one that I thought might have some more interesting stuff than some of the previous ones. These sections are always heavy on road walking, but this one looked like there was quite a bit of other good stuff as well.

When we got out of Ric's car, we were swarmed by Strawberry Flies which put a damper on the hike. We couldn't really enjoy the pretty view of the estuary, the channel that connects the Malapartis Creek with the Stow Creek. We had to make haste and get away because it was the only way to keep the Strawberry Flies from biting.

Corey's presence was greatly appreciated because he has the uncanny sense to spot anything living, anything that moves, in such a way that I have never seen matched. He immediately spotted a juvenile Bald Eagle. This hike may have had the most Bald Eagle sitings we've ever had on one of my hikes. We started walking up the narrow Stow Neck Road among the estuaries, and Fiddler Crabs were crossing the road like crazy. They all have one small claw and one big claw. I jokingly call the big one the pimp claw.

Plank walk

Soon, we came across a boardwalk thing going across the estuaries to some sort of a house. We had to check it out. It turned out to still be used, though no one was present. Quite a strange place to have a house, accessible only by way of a plank walkway some good distance off the road. There were good views of the Salem Nuclear Power plant from these estuaries.

We continued on the road to the next fork. Here, we turned right to follow Long Bridge Road over an area labeled the Canton Drain, parallel with the Stow Creek heading to the north. The flies were still relentless, so we just continued on rather quickly. Cory ran ahead on the rest of Stow Neck Road because he thought he saw a turtle in the road that needed saving, then he came back to join us. Once together, we did come across a Painted Turtle crossing the road. We checked it out, and when we put it down, it moved super crazy fast in a way you would never think a turtle could move! It was actually quite comical.

1688 Cuff Cemetery

When we got to the next road, Main Street/Canton Road/Rt 623, the Cuff Cemetery, established in 1688 was directly across. We of course could not resist the urge to explore this historic site. Newer graves (and by newer I mean 1800s) were across the front section, while the oldest from the 1600s were field stones farther in the back of the cemetery.

We walked all the way back and checked out the old field stones. Many of them were completely illegible. It's nice that this old cemetery is at least maintained unlike so many others of such antiquity.

Cuff Cemetery

We started following Canton Road to the east. This took us across the Stow Creek on a bridge. Along the way we came across a Diamondback Terrapin. This is a sort of sea turtle, but Corey explained that it was also able to live in fresh water, and  is one of the few terrapins that can do so. Note that sea turtles are usually referred to as Terrapins, land turtles are known as Tortoises, and freshwater turtles are simply turtles.

We continued along the road, totally hot and sweaty. The day was becoming brutal. Fortunately, there was a side path to the right that led to an Eagle watch platform. Corey went out there earlier to look around, but he said there was really nothing now and the nest was probably moved. No matter, it was a trail I'd not followed and it would be a good place to take a break. The Strawberry Flies had let up, and so we had a nice sit down out at the platform. It was in poor shape and was obviously never used. The path went through a swath of woods, then along a cultivated field. Almost not noticeable.

The heat was really getting to me. We had a conversation about finding a hose or something, and I mentioned how we might find one of those "Spew Levers" at a school we passed. I couldn't think of the name of those hose type of things that are out in open fields, with a lever that when pulled up spews out water. "Spew Lever" seemed to be a fitting name for the contraption. Lo and behold, on this stretch of road we came upon a vacant house with a Spew Lever in front. We enjoyed cooling off with it.

SPEW LEVER!

After the spew lever, we continued on Canton Road to state land on the right side, which was not marked in any way, but I'd found it on online sources that show what lands are public and what are not. We began to skirt the edge of a cultivated field to the right, away from the road, following it's perimeter. This took us parallel with the Stow Creek's estuaries as closely as we could follow. We eventually came to a farm lane that went through woods to the next fields, and we followed it.

When the road came to more fields, we found an abandoned restroom building. I knew this was all technically part of Stow Creek State Park, but was this ever a more developed park to justify this restroom building? Probably not, this was pretty bad and in the middle of nowhere. We continued along a woods road that led out to another area of fields from here. I had to walk the perimeter of these ones, so we headed around. It was really  hot and it was more extreme exposure, so at first I couldn't wait to get done with it.

House ruins

The one cool thing we found was on the north side of the fields, in a small island of trees was the ruins of a very old house. One would never know this house was there unless they were right upon it. It was old brick construction and likely dates back to the 1700s. It appeared to have been burnt down. The fields around it bore no sign of a former road to reach it. This had been sitting derelict for quite some time.

We returned via the same road that took us to these fields, then passed the restroom and walked the perimeters of the next ones. This too was an area where certainly there used to be a house, which has long since been removed. Perhaps it was a park office since there's a restroom nearby. We could tell because the area where the house would have been had planted Norway Spruce, and various other ornamental plants, trees, and flowers. After following the border of these fields, we had to head back toward the road partially the way we had come in, then cut to the right, to the south, to get back over to Rt 623. There would be no way of getting across the stream known as the Denn Branch without crossing on the road.

We followed the road south, then turned left when we got to Landing Road. There were signs reading Stow Creek State Park. I figure this is one of the least visited NJ state parks that is actually acknowledged by brown park signs. We walked the road to the south, and eventually came to fields and another abandoned house on the right. It was newer. There was no way in to explore it because it was buttoned up so well. The fields offered us some really good views of the Salem Nuclear Power plant with it's pillar of steam rising up.

Pillar of steam

We continued out of the fields and onto Landing Road, and followed it to the end, to Stow Creek. It was a lovely little spot, but the strawberry flies were starting to get bad again. I thought to just leave, but it was too hot. I wanted to get in, but there was so much muck and silt at any approach to the creek that I at first hesitated. I checked over near the car top boat launch spot, and there I found a spot where there was less muck, and I went on in. The water got very deep fast, and so the muck, which by this time I had been referring to as "Spoo" (much to everyone's amusement), was tolerable and soon at a depth that I could ignore it. It didn't take too long before the other three were in there with me. Surprisingly, the strawberry flies would not bother us while we were in the water. My best guess was that fish would jump out of the water to get them if they got too close to the surface, so we spent some time in there relaxing.

Stow Creek and spoo

When we finally made our way out, we were again bombarded with the merciless flies, so we hurried down Landing Road, and then onto a side road along fields to the south. These roads eventually took us to the next point of interest I'd been hoping to see, an old abandoned brick house.

The house was rather hidden at the end of a long lane. It had chain link fence around the entire thing and it looked like it might be rather impossible to get inside.

1700s Wheaton House

The strawberry flies were getting worse, and we couldn't stand it, so we thought to scale the fence to go in until I think it was Corey found a hole that got us inside. As soon as we set foot inside the old brick structure the flies pretty much stopped bothering us. The only part of it that had any flies in it at all was the first room we entered.

The lower floor of the building was set up well, with corner fire places in some of the rooms. The basement had old braces of sticks holding it up, but the rest of the house looked a bit more modern to me.

Inside the Wheaton House

The second floor was in pretty good shape, and was connected by a "Jersey Staircase". These stairs are the ones that spiral or curve. We explored the second floor with no trouble from bees or flies or anything. It still seemed very sturdy despite the fact that it had stuff growing through the windwos and all. If I had to guess, I'd have thought the building was constructed in the 1800s, but we were told contrary to that later.

In the hooose

I checked out the third floor, in which many of the planks for the floor had been removed. I had to walk around on the beams being careful not to fall on through. Corey had some delicious beer he shared with me out of his thermos thing which kept it very cold all day. This was a really nice break, and we sat down again on the bottom floor before moving on. None of us really wanted to be back out in the flies.

We continued on to skirt more fields. I had been told there was a cemetery out there in this land, but there was no seeing it. It must be in some obscure spot back there. As we walked, the bugs got worse and worse. We did our best to follow the state land boundaries, but none of us could quite tell where they were supposed to be. All I knew is that somehow, we got off of the state land and were being attacked by flies. We hurried out toward the nearest road we could, knowing that we'd have to trespass across another farm land.

farm farm farm

There was a guy riding a mower out there, and fortunately he was very friendly. His name was Kevin Coll (spelling), and he laughed heartily at the fact that we came out sweaty and running from the strawberry flies. He said that people going into that land often get lost and end up on his farm, and he was fine with it. He explained that the property we came off of was known as the Shestakoff Tract, and that it used to be much nicer and you could follow farm roads around the entire thing, but since the state took over they pretty much do nothing with it.

He also told us about the house, which was very interesting. He said that it was called the Wheaton House, and that it was the home of the owners of Wheaton Glass, a prominent industry in south Jersey (it's why we have towns such as Glassboro). He told us that the brick house was built in the 1700s, which surprised me, and that there was another one there earlier, built in the 1600s which is now just ruins and nothing really standing. He tried to describe to us where it was, but it would be impossible to get in to. He also told us about where the cemetery was that we must have missed running from the bugs. He also said it was very badly grown over, so we might not have been able to access it even if we knew right where it was.

We continued from here out Canton Road to the south, passed a fork in the road with a lovely big Sweetgum tree where Chestnut Road went left, continued on Gum Tree Corner Rd south and crossed the Chestnut Creek/Raccoon Ditch on a bridge.

We turned right on Stathams Neck Road, and skirted some more fields. We moved along rather quickly for this stretch, cut across some fields and made our way down to some more of the power company land. We eventually got to the Flax Point Road, which I wanted to walk down. I had planned a previous hike to start or end there or something, but the road was closed off when it used to be open, so we couldn't get down and I changed the hike. This time we would try to do it. We followed it down for a ways, but it then was marked with lots of 'no trespassing' signs just before reaching the water, so we didn't go to the very end. We started getting eaten alive by the flies again on this road, so Corey headed back super speed. Lyz, Ric, and I headed out for a ways further before turning back too. There was no way of cutting through the fields that we could see to get to Wheaton Island Road faster, so we just booked it back to Stathams Neck Road and turned right.

Wheaton Island Road

The road narrowed and was quite pretty, and had some nice big trees along it. The bugs also got a little bit better as we went further down this for some reason, but not too much. When we got to the Stow Creek again, I wasted no time looking for a spot to get into the water and escape the dreaded flies like we had done before. It felt great. We'd worked up quite a sweat, and Lyz and Ric were soon in behind me. Corey opted to sit this one out and head on home while we enjoyed the water.

Stow Creek

We joked in the water about all of the silly terminology that had been the underlying theme of the day (though I can remember only "spew levers" and "spoo".). We then went to a diner for some dinner where Ric treated me to an all you can eat dinner of chicken and dumplings. I was so bloated and knocked out from the food that I couldn't make it home without pulling over to sleep for a while! Lyz joked that it looked like they had brought a homeless man in from the streets to get a good meal the way I was waddling and limping around the place.

All in all, it was a really happy day and a fulfilling close to another piece of the Jersey Perimeter. With this completed, there were only three more full day hikes and a handfull of segment pieces left to complete the perimeter of the state