Hike #1045; High Bridge Area Loop

Hike #1045; High Bridge Area Loop

6/8/17 High Bridge Area Loop with Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, David “Captain Soup” Campbell, Jamie Chwala, Lowell Perkins, Alyssa Lidman, Veena ?, Celeste Fondaco Martin, Sarah Jones, Dan Asnis, and Shayna Michaels.

This next hike would be a big loop in the High Bridge area, planned to cover some of the newer area trails that I’d not done yet as well as some old ones I’d not incorporated into a night hike.
After the messy ending to the previous hike, I was happy to have this one, which I felt really turned out to be fantastic.
Lowell was recently back from his trip far east, and his car was in the shop, so I drove to try to catch him heading toward Spruce Run on his bike. I ended up driving extra because I missed him, and we stuffed his bike in my back seat.

The old High Bridge Branch

We met at the western terminus of the “Columbia Trail” the name I hate for the former High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ, which is now a trail all the way to Bartley some fifteen miles to the northeast.
I had chosen this spot, which we’d used so many times before, because there was supposed to be a new trail in place on a piece of town property reaching to Cregar Road to the north. I had received a message from a man named Jeffrey Oliver. I had been in contact with him a bit after I had helped Bill Honachefsky Jr. and Mike Gronsky with the Taylor Steelworkers Historic Greenway about extending it toward the other properties that were associated with Union Ironworks, some thirteen thousand acres of land purchased by William Allen and Joseph Turner in 1742 for their iron works.

Old coal trestle off the CNJ HB Branch

At first, some of the town people I was in contact with were interested in working with me for the project. However, when they found out that I affiliated myself with the Union Forge Heritage Association, one woman told me that it would be tough for me to work with the town. I found their words to be quite insulting.
Mr. Oliver was always pleasant with me, and I believe he was involved with the mountain biking trails that had been added to the Nassau Tract along the greenway to the east. He brought up how I had discussed making this trail a reality, and said “That trail has been established”.
While at work, I drove Cregar Road and looked over where the trail would have to exit the property, but nothing was there. I also discussed that we were talking about connecting with Voorhees State Park, and I said that permission must be granted to do this. He said “All permissions have been obtained”. Well, I knew that wasn’t true, because my Superintendent would have talked to me about it if there was any other trail passing through the area.
Regardless, I wanted to see this supposed new trail, so we went right from the parking area along the wood lines to see if we could find it. There was nothing visible. I hear there may be an entrance behind a junk pile further out near the active tracks, but we didn’t go that far.

Spur for the coal trestle

Instead, we headed back and started following the eastbound connection of the old High Bridge Branch. Rails are still in place on both branches. In the parking lot, they are just covered over with dirt and such, and on the other side they are used as a planter, then go into the weeds. We walked by the old coal trestle that is still standing, then the switch and a bridge under which the rail spur to Taylor Wharton’s plant used to run. The frame of the bridge was in pretty good shape, so we went right across, then on the other side descended from the fill to the backs of buildings into High Bridge. We couldn’t go much further anyway, because we were reaching the active former CNJ main line.

High Bridge Branch

The central Railroad of NJ arrived to High Bridge in 1853, and the town of High Bridge took it’s name from a long bridge that spanned the South Branch of the Raritan River valley. The piers were too far apart and the bridge would sag when trains would cross, so it was back filled and a culvert replaced the original bridge, now seen at Arch Street.
We headed into town and up the street to stop for some refreshments before continuing onward. My next plan was to trace the old spur line that went to the Taylor Iron and Steel Company, later Taylor Wharton.
The spur pre-dated the High Bridge Branch itself, as it was the first rail line to the iron works.

Historic image of the junction at High Bridge, looking north

We followed the main street to McDonald Street and began descending slightly toward where the spur line to Taylor Wharton crossed.
I’ve always been fascinated by this little line, because it crammed so tightly between homes and the bridge practically went over people’s houses.

Historic image of the old bridge at McDonald St.

When I was little, the bridge and tracks were still in place. Locals all thought the town was named after this little bridge for some time, when in fact it was the larger bridge.

The bridge site today

When I was really little, my grandfather and I hiked that old rail line, which was still clear and passable at the time. They might have even used it from time to time, as Taylor Wharton was still in business at the time too. It was the second longest running business in American history.

The bridge in 1991

I can still remember walking across the old bridge with him when I was little. I also remember clipping the article out of the Easton Express when it said that the old bridge was to be torn down. I remember being unhappy about it as a little boy, but glad I’d had the chance to walk over it before it was gone.

The old rail bed

We went down hill and climbed to the south side of where the bridge used to be to pick up the railroad grade, and then followed it to the east, to the Taylor Iron and Steel Company office building and shops.
To the right of us on the railroad bed was a large field where their local kids football team, the Huskies play. In the days of the iron works, this was a large cooling pond of sorts.
At the bottom, I gave a little of the history of High Bridge, based on what I’d read and what I’d learned from Bill and Mike from UFHA.
As I had stated, the land was first purchased by Allen and Turner in 1742. Robert Taylor came from Ireland in 1758 at the age of 17, and ended up as bookeeper for Union Ironworks.

First library on the shore of the pond

Taylor stayed with then Superindent Colonel Hackett, and when Hackett passed away in 1775, Taylor was named as his successor. The company became the Taylor Iron and Steel Company.
During the American Revolution, Patriot Robert Taylor provided cannonballs and such for the Continental Army.
The Taylor Iron and Steel Company remained prominent, and grew even more so when the Central Railroad of New Jersey arrived in the 1850s. The High Bridge Branch was fully developed by the 1870s which served as a major artery bringing the raw iron ore to the industry.

Historic postcard showing the rail bed we walked and the pond that is now the field

The company merged with the William Wharton Jr. Company in 1912 to become Taylor-Wharton. It remained in business through to the 1980s at least.

The was a decline, and the plant shut down some time around 1986 if I recall correctly.
After the abandonment of the site, it was called the Komline property for a while, and all of the buildings were in danger of demolition. It once made New Jersey’s most endangered historic sites list, but under a former mayor it was bought with preservation in mind.
The town didn’t want a former historical society, but rather just a sort of coffee club. There were locals like Bill and mike who wanted more, and so they formed Union Forge Heritage Association to take over where they were lacking with an historic society.

Early photo of TISCO office

There were talks of renovating the old Taylor Iron and Steel Company building as a new town library, but the town said “no”, that it was too far out of the way. The truth is though, it would be perfect for that if they’d invest in it.

Early photo of TISCO office

The TISCO building is now the oldest office building in New Jersey, and UFHA funded the repair of it’s roof, with local Marek Borowski taking the lead on the work as I recall. The dedication of these volunteers was absolutely outstanding, and it never cost the town of High Bridge a cent.

The office around 1930

The time came that the town did want their own historical society. Probably out of jealousy because they saw the success of UFHA.

TISCO building on our hike in 2010

UFHA had run the museum in the Solitude House, an early 1700s iron master’s mansion that first housed Colonel Hackett, then Taylor after he took over.

Solitude House

The way the town spun is was that UFHA rejected their lease renew offer. The problem is, if a non profit does not have a minimum fifteen year lease, they are ineligible for state and county grand moneys necessary to keep running. The town offered only a five year lease with a caveat that they could end the lease at any time. Grant money is set up that the investment will be protected if grants are awarded, and so UFHA would have had their hands tied.

Taylor Iron and Steel

So, the offer was rejected, and the Solitude House, once a beautiful museum with a community garden and regular public events, sits vacant and neglected. The stone wall along the drive in the front has since collapsed. It’s sad to go and see it the way it is now.
Fortunately, UFHA moved their museum to the 1760 Joseph Turner House on Van Syckles Road near Spruce Run, and are continuing the good work they’ve always done.

Taylor Iron and Steel

I met Bill H in 2008 touring the property with Hunterdon Parks Planner Doug Kiovsky. I was so impressed with Bill’s enthusiasm that I offered to help right there. In mid 2009, I organized volunteers and we re-decked the circa 1890 Carnegie Truss Bridge over the South Branch of the Raritan to open the new greenway trail. I also helped cut and blaze more trail with Bill.

Taylor Iron and Steel in 1906

We headed along the trail past the old office building and shops, and then crossed over the Carnegie truss bridge. There’s now a plaque on it that bears the names of those of us who volunteered on it. Many of the old buildings nearby are still a steel working place, run by Custom Alloy. They were good enough to install the plaque for the trail, and to grant an easement to make it a through route.

Taylor Iron and Steel postcard

Once across the bridge, we continued on the easement through scrubby open area to a swath of woods and turned left. We then stopped at the memorial for my old buddy Kyle Zalinsky. Kyle helped with the trail project and was a major part of the hiking group, as well as my best friend for a long while. He really helped me through a difficult time in my life.
We have a nice memorial to him set up along the trail, close to the old bloomery forge ruins.
After pausing there, we walked the trail to the spur trail over to Solitude House. We walked up to the front, and I gave everyone a bit more history. I pointed out the old company store, and the slave quarters where “Mingo” used to live.

Historic image of the Solitude dam

We walked out back of the company store to the rehabilitated berm part of the dam to Lake Solitude.
The house was originally just known as Taylor’s Mansion or the iron master’s house. The term “Solitude” happened supposedly as a result of the American Revolution.

At the time of the Revolution, John Penn, grandson of William Penn, was the last Royal Governor of Pennsylvania.
In order to keep him from stirring up political trouble, he was sent to New Jersey for Mr. Taylor to look after. He and his Attorney General Mr. Chew stayed at the house and nicknamed the place “Solitude”. Penn was allowed to travel about a five mile radius of the property with a minstrel.
We walked along the berm out to the Solitude Dam, which is the last remaining I-beam dam in the state of New Jersey. While many areas are looking at dam removal, the history of this particular structure urged it’s preservation.
It used to be a much more bucolic setting before being refurbished, but it had to be done in order to save the site. We climbed down from the top of the dam on the step like edges to the bottom with it’s nice views before moving on, trying to find whre the trail used to go.

The earlier dam at Solitude

Where we first cut the trail in is almost totally gone from the construction vehicles coming in to do work. I was able to find a few blazes, but that’s it.
We followed them back to Solitude House, then turned right back the way we had come.

Present dam at Solitude

It’s a shame to see what’s happened there. It was really an outstanding cultural and historical site, and a boon to the town of High Bridge. I personally attended the meeting where Mike Gronsky spoke to the town Mayor and council. It was enraging to see the mayor, who wouldn’t look at him, just stare off and literally look annoyed while Mike eloquently spoke about what they had done for the town.

Historic image of Lake Solitude

The town wanted to try to turn Solitude House into a Bed and Breakfast, but they can’t even do stuff like that under Green Acres rules as I understand.
I recalled my 500th hike, which took place on these grounds, and how I jumped off of the top of the forty foot Solitude Dam before it was refurbished, making the jump no longer possible (surviving, anyway).

Jumping off Solitude Dam years ago

We turned to the left to continue on the Taylor Steelworks Historic Greenway. I could still follow the yellow blazes out to the road, and across where it ascended up Nassau Road.
I had already hiked the greenway several times, but the point of doing this hike was to try to cover some new ground, so this time we cut into the woods a little earlier to do other trails in the Nassau Tract built by the mountain bikers.
The land is extensive, all associated with the land holdings of the original Union Ironworks.

Historic map of the Union Tract.

The trail system was much more expanded, and typically circuitous as mountain biking trails tend to be. It’s a bit annoying because the new maps do not designate the Taylor Steelworkers Historic Greenway, and they are not standard blazed like so many others are. Still, it’s a well built system and overall pretty good to explore.

New Nassau and Springside map

We cut through the woods, and weaved back and forth for what seemed like an eternity parallel with Nassau Road. The trails had a lot of different names, more than what appear on the map shown here. I just followed my google maps on my phone to try to figure out which would work the best for us. We came close to the road, and at some point ended up doubling back the way we came a bit. We eventually came out where we needed to be on Nassau Road, and then followed the yellow blazes of the greenway north again to Springside Farm.

Historic Springside Farm House

The trail goes right onto a dirt lane from Nassau Road toward the old Springside Farm.
The Springside Farm house was once the home of Archibald Taylor, son of Robert Taylor who lived in the Solitude House below. Five generations of Taylors lived there, and Archibald purchased this property in 1803.
He may have purchased an existing home and expanded upon it, as some say the home was built in the mid 18th century, but many details have been lost to time.

1930 image of Springside Farm

The property came to be known as Springside Farm from a spring house built in the earlier twentieth century.
I helped to develop the trail through this section, which opened in 2010. There were great plans to follow which included turning the farm into a theater and event center type of place. I personally envisioned it looking something like the great farm and office atmosphere of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association headquarters near Pennington.

Springside Farm

Unfortunately, none of these great ideas came to be. The trail, which is the easiest to maintain, has become a chore because first, the mountain biking group has sort of eclipsed the section in the Nassau Tract and the blazes are tougher to follow. At Springside, the field section is growing over badly and the vertical posts we had in have disappeared. An occasional blaze on a tree can be found here and there, but the town does not mow the official route any more. It used to go left after the barns, which is what we did, then head up the hill just slightly to the wood line where it joined a loop trail in the woods.

The woods at Springside

The loop trail was now no longer really recognizable the way it was before. It was more of a simple loop, but in a lot of ways it’s far improved in there now.
We were going to blaze a regular route through there, and head north toward Amesbury Furnace, but it was decided that it was best to protect that site more and not promote it too much.
When we got to the trails in the woods, we hung a left. There were a lot of zig zags that took it up hill from there. There seemed to be more than what was on the map. After heading west a bit, we cut to the right to the north leg of the trail and started heading east. We were going so far out of the way, and the trails weaved around so much that we couldn’t spend too much more time on it.

Lowell's mean ride

Heading east, Lowell found a little purple bicycle which he rode along the trail for a little bit. There was no one else around anywhere that would have left it. He didn’t take it very far, just in case someone did come back for it, and left it visible leaning up against a tree a bit further down.
We could see some of the old yellow arrow blazes along the trail, and where the cyclist groups had moved sections of it slightly along the way. We followed the new route for the most part, which took us to the section on the slope above the Beaver Brook. The trail looped back to the west, but we descended from here to the edge of the brook to start following it up stream a bit.

Beaver Brook

This was a lovely little section of secluded creek. The slope was sometimes hard to follow, and we crossed when we got down closer to it.
When we had a good flood plain, we continued along it to the north. There were some homes nearby that kept us from continuing on the left side of it.
It didn’t take very long before we emerged at a little road pull off at Herman Thau Road. We re-grouped there because we’d be heading to the north into the tract with the Amesbury Furnace. I convinced Captain Soup and Jamie, who were to cut out early, to join us at least for that section because it’s really so cool.

Amesbury Furnace

The trail started as a foot path, and then soon picked up an old road, rather level, that made it’s way to the Amesbury Furnace.
The furnace itself is one of the more secluded and forgotten ironworks in the state of NJ. It’s a good walk from a road that really has no official public parking, so it’s quite undisturbed.

Amesbury Furnace

This furnace was also built by Allen and Turner, associated with the rest of the Union Ironworks, in 1752. Bill Honachefsky once told me that this was sort of an “experimental furnace”. I’m not sure the details of it, but I’m sure he could give us more details.

Deteriorating masonry

It was alarming to see that the intact doorway to the building had collapsed somewhat since the last time I had been back. If something is not done to hold up the remaining stone work, the entire old arched doorway is soon to collapse.
In previous visits, I had not the time to really examine the site, but this trip afforded a bit more of that opportunity.
It was really amazing to see the walkway between the door and the furnace kiln still recognizable. I climbed atop what would have been the furnace stack and looked up stream at what appeared to have been a dam and/or bride site just up stream. On the down stream side, there was what appeared to have been the remnants of a tail race of some sort.
After looking around at other stuff like an old street sign and such, we turned back along the roadway toward Herman Thau Road. I went off trail a bit before we reached that point to check out the creek more closely. We found one of those gnome houses placed there.

The group at Amesbury Furnace

I walked down the creek to the bridge at Herman Thau where we met up with the rest of the group that went the other way. From there, we turned right to follow Herman Thau Road up hill for a bit.

Lowell on the wall

The bridge seemed to be recently replaced, and Lowell climbed up on a caged rock embankment that also appeared to be a new improvement to run across the top.
While off in these off the beaten path areas, Lowell enlightened us with the stories of his recent trip to India where he was on a school mission of teaching and such.
He said one of the more interesting aspects of the culture was the fact that he could tell an overall mundane story, and yet the people listening would hang closely on every word as if it were the most important thing in the world. He described their willingness to listen and understand in a particularly pleasant light.

The light goes down

The conversation continued into local culture as well, and how it can change quite a lot from place to place.
I related my story of west coast experiences; I feel that the culture of many Americans, but particularly in California, Nevada, etc, is that they want to be able to follow any statement with “I know”.
It’s as if there is an inherent need to be seen as superior or omniscient within our culture, whereas other cultures are more open to ideas and the prospect of learning what they may not already know.
The personal experience I was reminded of was a day at a casino in Las Vegas. I was staying while my then girlfriend Cathy gambled. I’d been feeling homesick and was reading ‘Vanishing Ironworks of the Ramapos’ at an indoor waterfall in a deciduous false forest that reminded me of home. Two ladies came up to me, chatting me up, asking questions. When the typical query “Where are you from” came up, I could not give a name they recognized.
“Where were you born” one of them asked me.
“Hackettstown New Jersey” I responded.
“No. You mean Hackensack” said the girl.
“Nooo....Hackettstown. I was born in Hackettstown Hospital...” I said, kind of surprised.
“No no, you are talking about Hackensack” she insisted.
“NO! I was born in HACKETTSTOWN NJ! I know where I was born!” I said, quite annoyed at this point.
“WELL, I’ve been to New Jersey, and I happen to know there IS NO Hackettstown NJ!” she said before leaving.
I felt both annoyed and befuddled. Here we had a woman that could not under any circumstance accept my answer because it was not what she expected to hear.
Out west, people are friendly and will come up to talk to you, but they are not neighborly. They have high fences between each of their back yards like something we’d see in a sitcom sketch with Tim Allen. Where I grew up, four back yards were treated almost as one. The only fence was for a farm pasture out back.

Old house in Readingsburg

Lowell told us about a road trip and some of the things he was expecting that turned out to be something entirely different. It was really a good realization of life comment for the time. Even on this hike, which was one I was not particularly excited about, but it ended up being quite an outstanding experience.
We turned right from Herman Thau Road onto Hook Mountain Road as the sun started to go down. Captain Soup and Jamie continued on straight ahead to get back a bit earlier. We turned left when we got to Cokesbury Road, and headed down hill to Readingsburg. There was an old house on the corner there that appeared to have suffered a fire, and was now sitting vacant.
We turned right there on River Road to enter Ken Lockwood Gorge, and the road turned dirt.

Ken Lockwood Gorge

We passed by a spot where the road is now blocked off. Not that many years ago, we could drive right through the gorge. I took my camaros through many times. Now, it’s narrower than every, and there’s a locked gate at either side. We headed through and crossed an old stone arch bridge, one of 200 plus such structures in Hunterdon County, making it home to more of them than anywhere in north America.
We walked out onto the handicapped fishing docks to admire the river, and continued on until we got to the Gorge Trestle on the former High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey (Now Columbia Trail, but I will not use that name any longer).

1908 Beaver Brook Bridge, but not sure where this crossing was...

We climbed steeply to the right up to the railroad grade, and took a break at the bridge for a bit before moving on. Shayna opted to take the trail directly back to the cars from that point and be finished early, and Veena decided to go with her this time.

Historic HB Branch in High Bridge post card

We turned to the west on the railroad bed and only followed it a short distance through the cut from the trestle, and then reached where the Highlands Trail turned up hill.

Gorge trestle

Celeste was particularly impressed with the trail going up hill from there. Living locally, she never knew that this section even existed, and she ended up coming back to this section within a week or so of this hike.
We went up hill via the switch backs to where the Highlands Trail reaches and turns right on an old road. Rather than continue, we first went back to check out the old house that sat abandoned at the end of it.
When we got there, it was sad to see it was in even worse shape. The giant picture windows in the front of it had been smashed out on the outer sections. It’s only a matter of time before some destructive idiot puts a rock through the entire window.
A large tree had fallen over the access road just before the house, which is fortunate because it blocks most of the house from sight and might deter some from going back there. We turned back to the Highlands Trail and followed it out to Rt 513 where it turns left up hill to Bunnvale.
We took a break at the mini mart on the corner before continuing on. I think I got some sort of snack but now I can’t remember what for the life of me.
We continued on the Highlands Trail to Voorhees State Park. We walked the section along the fields, then out to the Loop Road. Rather than continue on it, we instead followed the Brookside Trail, with the lovely sound of the water just below us. This took us out to the west and up hill a bit to connect with the Highlands Trail on the Cross Park Trail. We followed that across the new bridge built by Student Conservation Association last year, and then across the power line to Observatory/Hill Acres Road. We crossed on the co-aligned Vista Trail, and turned right where it headed down hill into Buffalo Hollow.
When we reached Buffalo Hollow Road/Poplar Road, we turned left heading to the south.

Old CNJ line, High Bridge

We passed by one house and then came to where the former Central Railroad of NJ main line was close to the road. The section is inactive, but to the south it’s still NJ Transit operated. they had been doing improvements on it, and it would be great to see it back in service, but who knows what will happen there.
We followed the line to the south, and it wasn’t long before we got to the former junction site with the High Bridge Branch. We turned left which brought us out directly behind the parking area where we started. We could see a little bit of the old rail showing through the surface of the lot.
This hike left me feeling really pretty good. We chatted for a bit in the lot, and Ken Lidman was on his way to pick up Alyssa. I drove her back to 711 in Washington so Ken wouldn’t have to go so far (which was a debacle, because he went all the way to Rt 78!). Alyssa and Lowell had to cram in because of Lowell’s bike, but it was overall funny.
This hike was exactly the mentally stimulating and relaxing type I needed. It left me feeling alive and rejuvenated as well as tired. Going back to work actually wasn’t bad the next day. After a short while, I was wide awake and feeling better than I had previous days.