Hike #911; Spruce Run Turnpike
Downtown Oxford
Our next adventure would be another night hike, and a repeat of a successful Winter one we’d done a couple of times in the past.
The Spruce Run Turnpike route is among the best of the road walk night hikes we’ve ever done. The route is steeped in history, and it’s very pleasant to walk through the little historic towns along the way.
The historic old highway route connected Clinton NJ area with Oxford Furnace. It probably came about around the same time as the Union Furnace (1742) to connect with the Oxford Furnace completed the year earlier.
I had originally planned to do a hike on more trails, but it simply would not work with all of the snow we still had on the ground. I measured how much was left at Hacklebarney State Park while working earlier in the day, and it was still a foot and a half.
Snow measure
The Spruce Run Turnpike was the perfect hike.
I had the group meet at the old A&P in Clinton as I had in the past, only now the A&P was closed. It was still partially plowed, but not much. It was enough to get our cars in. Sandy drove us to the start point in Oxford by the Central School.
Annika gifted me a nice pair of Merrill hiking shoes, as well as socks because she was so sick of seeing me wear garbage shoes all of the time. She made me put them on and wear them for the entire hike. I actually felt very nimble in the new shoes, because there is very good grip on the bottom of them, unlike the things I was wearing which have absolutely no sole at all.
We started the hike by walking over the foot bridge over Furnace Brook, then out to the main street by where the Oxwall building used to be. Oxford is so much stranger now that the building is gone, with the signature black water tower abandoned in the middle of the property. I wish they had at least left the water tower up for some reason, anything, an observation deck one day, just for looks, but it’s too late now. We turned to the left along the main street toward the Shippen Manor. I passed along the history of the area as we went along, starting with this.
It was the northern terminus of the Spruce Run Turnpike, by the furnace in front of Shippen Manor, built in 1755. With Oxwall and the tower gone, the only good thing is that it shows the manor house more prominently.
Shippen Manor today
Shippen Manor was build in 1755 (although some sources say 1754), and it has been considered to be the finest example of a colonial iron master’s house in the State of NJ.
The estate was that of William Shippen II and his brother Joseph Shippen II.
Shippen Manor in 1910
The Shippen Manor sat at the center of a 4000 acre estate owned by the Shippens around the Oxford Furnace. The house is a Georgian style masterpiece with two foot thick walls.
It was necessary to own a lot of land because charcoal was needed in the colonial days to power the furnace, and small trees were used to develop charcoal in hearths.
Shippen Manor
In later years, the Shippen Manor was known as the Fowler Mansion, and it fell into very bad disrepair in the 1980s.
I remember going by with my grandfather often, and watching the front of the place in shambles. The porch was deteriorating to the point where part of the side was hanging, ready to fall seemingly any time.
I was excited watching it, thinking one day we’d drive by and the entire porch would have fallen off of the building. I didn’t even know the history of the building, nor did many. We didn’t even refer to it as the “Shippen Manor” until Warren County stepped in and preserved it.
Prior to restoration
Shippen Manor is now a sort of community center. They have a little band stage in the front and do bluegrass concerts, and there are historic tours there regularly. And it looks fantastic.
There is so much more history to the site I would love to see showcased.
With the Union Ironworks, in High Bridge and Union Township, Union Forge Heritage Association seems to be a bit better with outreach and interpretation. Every time I have something going on either William Honachefsky Jr or Michael Gronsky Jr are on hand to give us a tour, or at the very very least comment and add historic notation to what we post. I feel like that’s something that is very sadly absent in Warren County. We have an equally historic site, but fewer people telling it’s story.
Shippen Manor Today
I do the best I can telling the stories of the area. I told everyone how the old iron master would open his doors on the holidays and all of the workers would have a feast in the manor house. I told them how after the advent of the railroad, things changed.
Historic view of Shippen Manor
The Warren Railroad arrived in 1856, and until the Van Nest Gap Tunnel was completed in 1862, the rail line circumnavigated West Oxford Mountain and County House mountain in a circuitous route that went directly behind the Shippen Manor.
Shippen Manor 1911
I remember the first time I toured the building with my grandfather, they told us how the back of the building was originally the front, but I was surprised that no one mentioned anything about how the railroad went right behind it. Maybe they didn’t know. I found out when my grandfather purchased for me a copy of Lowenthal and Greenberg’s “Lackawanna Railroad in Northwest New Jersey”.
Shippen Manor historic view
I was lucky that when I had questions, my grandfather, Eldon Allen, was (and still is) always patient enough to answer. If he didn’t have the answers, he bought me a book on it.
The plaque that was once above the Oxford (Van Nest Gap) Tunnel is now built into the rear wall of the structure. That’s a long story for another time though.
Scranton home
Behind the manor is the former home of W. Scranton, from the railroad era. The Scrantons had interest in the iron mines of Oxford in direct relation to their interests in the coal fields of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre PA area.
The Scranton House, behind the Shippen Manor has recently been converted to a Bed and Breakfast, which is great for our Warren Highlands Trail plan because it allows for another opportunity for lodging along the route. The Warren County Freeholders are very keen on the economic development the trail could mean for the county. We don’t benefit much from the Appalachian Trail because there are literally no businesses on the trail. In creating the Warren Highlands Trail, I am designing the kind of trail I love to backpack, not necessarily what the AT is.
Historic view of Oxford Furnace
We turned onto the former Spruce Run Turnpike, now the main street through Oxford, with the old wheelwright shop on the left, and the church on the right. I pointed out that the church was originally the mill associated with the furnace, but the mining company wanted the property the original church was on, so they traded and converted the old mill to a church.
Oxford Furnace today
The old furnace has been re pointed and looks great, and I pointed out that the bowing out wall on the old mill/church was being repaired with grand money from the Warren County Municipal and Charitable Conservancy Trust (a board on which I served till recently), one of the many great projects by historic preservation architect Michael J. Margulies.
Historic view of Oxford Furnace
The rear furnace was the original one, built in 1741. It is the third oldest furnace in America that utilized mine iron ore. The only earlier furnaces smelted bog iron, harvested with difficulty from swamps like the ones in south Jersey.
It was expanded on to include the front furnace. The old furnace was re-pointed in the early 2000s and the front one more recently, with a cover added to the top where the brick addition once was. I remember when I was little that the old structure was fenced in with chain link and barbed wire. It’s nice that it is the interpretive site it is today.
I showed everyone more of the 1856 Warren Railroad right of way, which is right behind the furnace, and the old station used to be back there as well, prior to the 1862 tunnel alignment. The station actually remained in service for many years after, and the 1856 line was used as a spur from the main. We walked around for a better view of the old furnace and the fine restoration job.
Historic view of Oxford Furnace
Originally the area known as Oxford was what is now called Hazen, closer to Belvidere, but the furnace changed that. The area on Belvidere Avenue between the two was originally a separate town, known as Pittengerville.
Oxford Furnace today
We continued from the furnace up the main street, past probably the smallest library in the county, and the old churches. I pointed out where the abandoned church had been, that was torn down several years ago, and then where the 1856 Warren Railroad crossed, aligned with present day Axford Avenue.
View on West Oxford Mountain, former Spruce Run Tpk.
Just after that was the later alignment of the Oxford Iron Mines Railroad, and then the spur line to the mine that is now on the right side of Mine Hill Road heading up hill, formerly the Spruce Run Turnpike route. West Oxford Mountain Preserve is on the left, and a county owned right of way will be used to connect the Warren Highlands Trail to West Oxford Mountain Natural Resource Area. About a year ago, the property was scouted with permission by Land Preservation Director Corey Tierney, head Planner Dave David Dech and myself for potential use, and we’ve since acquired land to make the trail happen. We hope to begin development of that section of trail within the year.
View on West Oxford Mountain from former Spruce Run Tpk route
We made our way up hill past old mines, and through a small part of the community. After the crest of the hill, we passed the last house where I was bitten by a German Shepherd when I was five, hiking the same route with my grandfather, and reached the area where Super Storm Sandy took down many trees affording a good view to the Pohatcong Valley.
New Washington development
My brother Alex Helbing passed by when we were walking and honked at us.
We continued down hill and across Pohatcong Creek, then ascended along Fairway Estates with a new development going in on the right, in what used to be farm fields. It’s a shame to see open space go without any sort of greenway in place. Every time I see one of these all I can think of is how there are these nice paved paths that are sort of developers incentives going in everywhere, and Warren County has so little of it. My vision of the future of the county is a great deal more of this, but so much of this falls on municipal level and there aren’t always people of vision in place, or they just don’t know because they don’t share the common frame of reference.
Morris Canal Crossing; Belvidere Ave
So many memories come about on these local trips. I remembered visiting my friend “Salad” we called him, Brian Julius, and I crashed my bicycle badly at the intersection at the bottom. Somehow smashed the derailer into the spokes and couldn’t get up. Helped me a lot to get unstuck so I could get home.
We continued up hill and then toward former Morris Canal crossing.
Historic view of Belvidere Ave toward Morris Canal crossing
Spruce Run Turnpike from the Jackson Valley Road and Kinnamin Avenue crossing is now Belvidere Avenue. This is mostly the old upscale Victorian section of town south of the canal, but to the north wasn’t so much. I pointed out where the canal once crossed and shared the history of the neighborhoods.
Historic view of Belvidere Ave
A block to the east of the historic main road was a section that was black during the days of segregation, but it’s also an important time for black history.
In a time not long after the abolition of slavery, a black man could not only own his own home, but be a canal boat captain. The Morris Canal meant opportunity, and such was the case for Captain James Campbell who lived within sight of Belvidere Ave. “Jim Camel” he was called in Jim Lee’s “Tales the Boatmen Told”, a well liked and respected canal man. The Captain Campbell House has also received funds to become a sort of museum along the canal as well.
Few realize that we have a lot of good black history that’s not been interpreted in NJ. For example, the first black man voted in the state of New Jersey in 1799. Blacks had the right to vote until Suffrage; when women were revoked the right to vote. Blacks were revoked the right in papers of the time “for good measure”. Newark NJ had a fair hand in Suffrage, as locals complained heavily that women were voting more than once, showing up to the polls wearing different hats.
The Morris Canal was completed by the early 1830s, and extended from Phillipsburg to Newark NJ. It was extended by 1842 to Jersey City, and was the greatest climber of the world’s canals. It was one of two canals to cross the state of New Jersey. The canal was abandoned in 1927, but is now a greenway initiative for Warren County as well as the rest of New Jersey.
Cornish Mansion historic
The next point of interest we came upon was the Cornish Mansion, which I detailed on the previous hike where we passed the same.
Washington NJ was once the Organ capital of the world, and at the front of that was the Cornish Organ Company.
Joseph B. Cornish sold organs in the 1870s, and bought out the organ company Dawes & Wyckoff.
They had factories in Washington and sold directly to customers via catalog. He was later joined in business by his son Johnston Cornish, who later became Mayor of Washington, then member of NJ senate. The capacity of the company was about 8,000 organs per year in 1900. In addition to Cornish organs and pianos, other similar businesses were in town, including a Baby Grand factory.
Historic view of Cornish Mansion, 1800s
The Cornish Mansion was originally the Mattison Mansion, built by Dr. John Vanderveer Mattison in 1860 in what is known as “Rococo Style”, also known as “Late Baroque style”.
Historic view of Cornish Mansion, early 1900s
“Rococo/Late Baroque style” is a decorative art style of architecture that finds it’s origins around the year 1600 in Rome and the northern part of Italy. Rococo was considered more graceful, but also more outlandish than the original Baroque style.
Cornish Mansion, early 1900s
The original version of the house was said to be red and black in color, and lasted that way until the death of Joseph B. Cornish in 1910.
Cornish Mansion, 1912
Son Johnston Cornish continued to live in the mansion, but reportedly spend an insane $80,000 on complete renovation of the building. Although today we see the original Rococo style as the more beautiful, it was not the trendy look of the times.
Cornish Mansion, 1968 from "Washington New Jersey Centenniel History and Program"
Johnston Cornish’s son, also named Joseph B., also lived in the mansion, but he later sold it to the Klu Klux Klan. Several more owners of the house followed until it was purchased and segmented into eight apartments during the Great Depression, in 1932. In 1933, a serious fire damaged the mansion, but was saved. Significant changes can be seen in the rear area roof.
Cornish Mansion, 1998 by Thomas Allen Kelley
The mansion looks much different today, with more trees in front, and still segmented into separate apartments. Most drive right by the structure not knowing the incredible past it had, and how amazing it once looked.
Cornish Mansion in January 2015
We continued down the road past the post office, and the fire department. I pointed out the original fire department building on the right, with it’s front garage doors turned into sort of store fronts. I still can’t get over the fact that “The Vault” youth center is immediately next door to Scotty’s Pub.
We stopped in Quick Chek for some food and drinks before moving on, and sat briefly in the front seating area. I always have friends coming and going from Quick Chek, and I saw my friend Mr. Josh working there, and Sean Kimball came in as I was leaving. I love the hometown vibe of the place. We continued to the main intersection where Washington Avenue/Rt 57 connects Belvidere Avenue and Broad Street, the next bit of the former Spruce Run Turnpike. Washington is founded around this corner, which was the crossing of the Spruce Run Turnpike and the Easton-Morristown Turnpike. I always like to tell everyone that Washington is not named after George Washington, but rather a bar that was named after George Washington.
Washington House historic
The Washington House was a stage coach stop built in 1811 with a portrait of George Washington on the front. The settlement was originally called Mansfield, which is why the cemetery a short bit down Broad Street retains the name “Mansfield Woodschurch Cemetery”.
The image states that the Spruce Run Turnpike once went from Belvidere to Trenton, and I’ll have to look more into that. I was always told it connected the iron works at Oxford with Spruce Run, which at the time may have been a Belvidere address. I understand that the road to Trenton from Clinton was the Union Road, described as the road from “William Trent’s House” (Trenton) to “The Union”, the 11,000 acre tract owned by William Allen and Joseph Turner purchased for their ironworks in 1742.
Historic downtown Washington
The current building on the site of the Washington House was built in the late 1800s. We continued down Broad Street over the Shabbecong Creek, then ascended over the former Morris and Essex and later Lackawanna Railroad to pass the former Mansfield Woodschurch Cemetery near it’s corner. The original church here burned down and the congregation split, with half of it going to the Musconetcong Valley Presbyterian Church outside of Hampton in 1837.
Castner Graves
The graves of the Castners who were murdered in Changewater in 1833 stand with creepy and eloquent writing in the middle of the cemetery. The supposed murderers were tried twice, Double Jeopardy, illegally and hanged. The murder is still considered a mystery today.
We headed down and carefully crossed over Rt 31 onto Springtown Road, the next bit of the old turnpike. Sandy convinced Bob to stay with us, because he was sore and ready to walk home since he lives nearby. He decided to muscle on through and continued to walk with us down Springtown Road.
We followed Springtown Road south to Asbury-Anderson Road, which is now a main road, but the Spruce Run Turnpike was actually Springtown Road to Asbury-Anderson Road to New Hampton Road. The original alignment can be seen from either side looking toward the intersections, only the larger road has changed the look.
1874 Beers Atlas map showing Spruce Run Turnpike route to the left.
The 1874 Beers Atlas of Warren County shows the former alignment and how the roads worked together at the Sullivan and Shields properties.
We continued across onto New Hampton Road and headed over the hill down to cross the Musconetcong River on the through truss bridge that replaced the older open grate bridge in recent years.
On the other side, the Spruce Run Turnpike route turned right to pass into New Hampton. We ascended a hill and passed the old New Hampton School, now a Lebanon Township history museum. We then descended to the Shoddy Mill. I recently discovered the original mill was destroyed by fire, but in part rebuilt with the present day brick structure attached to the south side, and some cinder block changes on only the first story of the original masonry mill on the river side. It was interesting to learn that it was originally a three story grist mill, with just a portion surviving today.
We continued on through the little village and passed many historic structures, some of them dating back to the late 1700s, others to the early 1800s.
Historic New Hampon coach stop
One of the last buildings was the old stage coach stop.It’s a beautiful old building that was falling apart for years, but has been well refurbished as a private residence today. Just past here, the New Hampton Inn is one of the craziest “old man bars” one will ever come across, but we decided not to go in this time.
We headed out to cross over Rt 31, which was once Rt 30, then Rt 69 until college kids were stealing all the signs. An abandoned old highway bridge is just to the right. We carefully crossed the highway and entered Hampton on the former Spruce Run Turnpike, now the main drag through town.
Hampton was not always known as Hampton. The settlement was planned to grow around the Musconetcong Valley Presbyterian Church, out on Valley Road which is the first intersection in town. The church is about a mile out of the present town, opened as mentioned earlier after the church in Washington burned, in 1837.
At that day in age, other than industry, towns always popped up around the churches, as community centers, but the church could not anticipate the arrival of the Central Railroad of New Jersey in the early 1850s. In 1856, the Warren Railroad, predecessor to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western made it’s junction with the CNJ line in present day Hampton, and so the community grew around it.
The church goers did not want to travel far out of town in the Winter months, and so a new church was built in the new town, and they could attend Winter services there, and warm weather services in the valley. The Presbyterian congregation continues that practice to this day, and it was the church I was a member of with my grandfather until I was about 18. My grandfather still attends every Sunday.
Old Hampton Station, now gone.
The town was referred to as simply “Junction” for years, but that generic name apparently was not good with all of the other railroads being built, junctions appearing everywhere. The nearest other town was New Hampton, and so the town took the name “Hampton Junction”. This continued to be the town’s name for years, but the junction, as well as the the entire former Lackawanna main line from Hampton to Washington was abandoned in 1955, torn up in 1959. The name was shortened to simply “Hampton”, and so now there are misconceptions that the town of New Hampton is newer than Hampton, though that is not the case.
My grandfather grew up in Hampton, and I pointed out the house he was born in, and where my great grandfather, George Prall Allen, owned his barber shop on the main street. It was sort of a community center. My great grandfather moved to Hampton after marrying Gladys Snyder. Location had to do with disapproval of his father, Edwin Allen of Delaware.
We continued from Hampton, up the main street and back to Rt 31 where the Spruce Run Turnpike turned left into Glen Gardner.
Historic view of Glen Gardner Inn, then Clarksville Inn
We walked down through town, which is built interestingly into the slope of part of Musconetcong Mountain, on the edge of the Spruce Run Creek. I contacted my friend from work, Tom, who lives there, but he didn’t get the message to come out and say hi in time for us to pass.
The Glen Gardner Inn was on the left when we came through, an historic stage coach stop on the site of an earlier hotel built in 1760. It was owned by John Eveland, and the town was known as Eveland or Eveland’s Tavern. The current building was constructed in the 1880s after the arrival of the Central Railroad of NJ. It was also once known as “Sodom”, labeled by a preacher for illicit or debaucherous behaviors there. Later, it was also known as Clarksville, after a local postmaster, and then finally Glen Gardner after an industrial family from New York City moved in.
We continued through town on a lovely street, and we passed yet another location of my great grandfather G. Prall Allen’s barber shops. I think this was the last place he operated a barber shop before he died in 1980, just three weeks before I was born. I remember helping to clean out the old shop, which had mirrors and a barber pole.
We continued south through Glen Garnder, and Bob told me how he’d always wanted to come down there. We thought we might lose him to Glen Gardner Inn or New Hampton Inn earlier, but he stuck it out and continued with us.
At the other side of Glen Gardner, the worst part was walking the section of Rt 31 to the south. We had to first walk the highway, then got a break from it when we turned onto the frontage road, the historic turnpike route to Irishtown, a small south side of Glen Gardner. This came back to the present highway, and it diverged again briefly at the intersection with Buffalo Hollow Road. From there, we crossed 31, where the historic highway went through the present Toyota Dealership before heading into what is usually under the waters of Spruce Run Reservoir.
I’ve always understood the road to continue along 31 from here. The Union Road was just to the east, which broke off of Van Syckles Corner Road, also now under water. Cregar Road used to continue from High Bridge down across present 31 to the original highway route, then on the other side Van Syckles Corner Road continued to what is now the second parking lot on Spruce Run Reservoir.
This area was all the historic Union Ironworks. Union Furnace started operation just one year after the Oxford Furnace, 1742. When Allen and Turner purchased the property that consisted of 11,000 acres, it grew to eventually become the mighty Taylor Wharton, with main operations shifting to the town of High Bridge. The original furnace is mostly destroyed, and usually under water, but this year it was out of the water for the second time in the past decade.
Historic view of Union Furnace
I was able to get an historic view of the furnace from the 1930s and created the same photo again today. I had to locate the remnants of the building walls in order to determine the exact location for the photos presented here.
Same view of Union Furnace site, 1/1/16
Bob and Annika stayed on Rt 31 for a bit here, but Sandy and I went parallel through the snow on the historic road route. The snow was tough to fight through, and we had to cross over a few fallen trees, but it wasn’t too bad.
Union Furnace kiln when it was out of the water
We continued across the old concrete bridge over Willoughby Brook, amazingly still standing despite the fact that it is usually under water. Some of it is deteriorated and we had to watch as not to have our feet go through the holes in the old decking. Just beyond there, it got easier briefly because footprints packed down all of the snow. Where the old highway ascends from the reservoir, people had been using a wooded hill for sledding. We continued up hill on the old road and passed the old ruins of the road side spring house before reaching Rt 31. We then turned right and headed north on the road. We skipped the bit where the highway goes onto the other side, then returns because it was just too difficult to walk.
The old road near Spruce Run Reservoir
We were already overheated from trying to trudge through the snow. It wasn’t really too cold out, and the photos revealed steam coming off the still melting snow. We continued up the highway and over a knoll toward the intersection with Rt 513. We met up with the other two at Riley & Jake's Bar and Restaurant along Rt 31, and went in for a bite to eat. Annika again generously treated us all to delicious food. We had nachos, chicken quesadillas, sliders, and such.
We had made really very good time, so we could take some time out to eat a bit, which we were going to do earlier anyway.
After leaving, we had to walk Rt 31 to the Rt 513 turnoff south into Clinton. This was the old road into the main part of town before present day Rt 31. We headed down hill to cross the South Branch of the Raritan River. There was a viewing area where we looked across at the Old Red Mill.
Night at the mill
I always think when I see that building that the should have it more prominently lit. It is after all the most photographed historic structure in the state of New Jersey.
The Old Red Mill was first constructed around 1810 and served as a woolen mill. It had a much different character to it originally, without it’s peaked roof (and wasn’t even red). It’s interesting look has become a signature of both Clinton and New Jersey as a whole. It’s been featured in countless calendars, television shows, movies, and more. We usually turn to go closer to the mill, but this time we continued into town.
I’m not sure which way the original Spruce Run Turnpike went. Was it in fact one and the same with the Union Road, now under the reservoir? Was it an individual road that ended at the Clinton Mills? I can’t be sure. It was likely an aboriginal trail like the Union Road, but so much of this history is forgotten over the years. We continued over the bridge through the well lit down, which seemed strangely dead on this night. We typically see people walking around any time we walk through. We headed toward Rt 173, which was the old Rt 22, and turned left first a block in, then turned onto 173 toward the closed A&P.
A&P in Clinton
It’s strange to see the lit up A&P sign with nothing there. It’s amazing that nothing has taken it’s place, not only here but in areas like Califon, where A&P was a money making store, and the only one in town.
Bob picked up the pace when we could see the A&P and even walked past me. He said he was getting his second wind, so I asked him if he wanted to walk back. I was just about ready to do it if he was crazy enough to try. He probably didn’t expect me to call his bluff when I turned around. Dan was good enough to drive Sandy and Bob back since I only have one free seat in my car.
Yes
I can’t stress enough the importance of sharing the history of these historic routes. The Spruce Run Turnpike is proof that history can die. It can be swept up inadvertently like a jewel in a shadowy corner, cast away forever with no one ever knowing it ever existed let alone went missing. This Metrotrails journal entry is proof that once concept can tie together countless pieces of historic content, and all involved preservation initiatives along the way can benefit.
History is alive all around us, in all of our infrastructure, and we can find out more about it if we’re curious enough to ask the questions.
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