Hike #1281; Larison's Corner to Flemington

Hike #1281; Larison’s Corner to Flemington

12/19/19 Ringoes to Flemington with Mike Merunka, Justin Gurbisz, Kirk Rohn and Celeste Fondaco Martin

Larison's Corner Church, built 1818

I almost didn’t want to do this hike. It seems that whatever ails you, it always just gets worse at night. I’ve been through it so many times with so many different medications. Especially after the fire in 2010, I learned a lot about different meds and the side effects.

Abandoned house

The last time I’d had Lyme Disease before the current time, the Doxycyline didn’t really bother me. I went about my business, wore long sleeve shirts and a wide brim hat out in the sun, and I was fine. It was a drag, but I don’t remember it being that bad.
This time, things are far different. Even the kind of Lyme Disease is different. The dizziness is absolutely debilitating, and feeling sick after is even worse. This had stopped for about two weeks after starting the medication, but the day before this hike it had come back again, though not as bad.

Abandoned house

I’d had two pretty productive days at work, doing chainsaw work and chipping, which involved a lot of exertion, but that usually seems to help me.
I kind of wanted to relax, and part of me hoped that no one wanted to hike, but I knew it would be good for me to go.
It turned out to be very good for me to go, because I felt healthier than I did all week after it was over.
I wanted to do something that I’d not done before, of course, and so I started checking around the Flemington area. I’d done a whole lot of night hikes there in the past, but there are a lot of nice back roads around the area that would be good fodder for the hike.

Abandoned house

The main thing I wanted to do on this hike was to through the historic downtown, which is beautiful at night. The other thing I wanted to do was visit the Old York Cellars Winery. I managed to piece a hike together out of that.
We met at the Stop and Shop in Flemington, where we’d met for so many night hikes through that area, and then shuttled to the start point down by Ringoes, at a location called Larison’s Corner.
Justin and Mike met me at the Stop and Shop, and Kirk met us down there. Celeste would meet up with us later.

Abandoned

Finding start and end points for the things we do is usually the hardest part of planning it at night. I looked around, and found the parking lot for the Larison’s Corner Presbyterian Church. For a night hike, with only one or two cars, I figured we would be okay.
We parked my van, and then walked directly across the street past the church and to the graveyard.
This is a very historic little area. The Larison’s Corner Church started out as a Presbyterian Church way back in the 1700s when the first congregation was formed.

Rockefeller Monument

It was made for Germans in the area, which were the third largest nationality in America behind English and Dutch.

Old house

The original church for this congregation was a small stone one on the south side of Wertsville Road closer to Ringoes to the south. The one we parked behind was built in 1818 (the steeple and other components came later).
There was another local Presbyterian Church, but my understanding was that the German contingent maintained their own, and for a long while services were still given in German. Just up the road, the settlement of Reaville had it’s own church, which was also moved to that location form down the road. My buddy Bruce Hockenbury’s family’s church; he told me the settlement was called Greenville, and then Reaville.

Abandoned house ruin, maybe an old parsonage?

There was also another place of worship close by in the settlement of Ringoes, but there were still enough people to justify having them all.
We walked from the church directly into the Larison’s Corner Cemetery, which was originally donated by the Johann Peter Rockefeller, the first of the famous Rockefellers in American, from whom all of the others were descended.

Old bridge

This first Rockefeller came from Rhineland, Germany to Philadelphia in 1723, and owned plantations in present day Amwell Township as well as Somerville.
This cemetery was set up for his family, neighbors and friends, but apparently became a regular public burial ground after a time.
Many Rockefeller descendants are throughout the area, and different branches had different variations of the name. There is also a “Rockefellow’s Mills” nearby, and that’s the same family as well.
The cemetery had a large abandoned house sandwiched between it’s north wall and the Old York Road, which was the first major road between New York City and Philadelphia.

Old Heron Glen bridge

I think the house might have been a parsonage or a keeper’s house at some time, because it’s just too tightly jammed up against the cemetery and the road, and I couldn’t see them building something like that for any other reason.
The left side of the house was badly collapsed, and much overtaken with vines. The right side was not so terrible, and we could see a bath tub in the window. The entire central section of it was completely collapsed, and the exposed frame wood on the right side was deteriorating badly. It won’t last much longer.

Christmas lights below the Neshanic Trestle

My plan was to walk from here, through the cemetery, and then out along Old York Road to the Old York Cellars. Unfortunaely, we didn’t get started early enough and didn’t have enough time to reach the winery. I’ll have to plan for another trip where we’ll definitely get in. Maybe we’ll plan on getting both that one and the other Amwell one on the same trip.
Kirk was running behind, and ended up parking his car by my van. He then hurried up along Old York Road to meet up with the rest of us. We moved on up the road, which was kind of narrow, and passed the winery, which still had an “open” sign, even though it was after 5 pm.
Mike realized at some point here that he did not have his car keys. He searched through his bag, and couldn’t find them anywhere. The last time he remembered seeing them was in the ignition of his work truck, which was idling in the parking lot in Flemington Stop and Shop.
He was stressing over it pretty badly, and so he decided to call an Uber to go back. Since we had only just started, it wasn’t too bad.
We came to a point where there was a cul de sac that ended just to the left of Old York Road called Brockton Court. We walked through the grass to reach the end of that, and then headed north to the intersection with Stockton Drive and turned right. This took us down a bit and along a few little ponds that were along the road.
We turned left on Neshanic Drive, and then turned right at its end on Levada Lane.
Just after passing the intersection with Whitetail Way, we turned right on a sort of gravel or paved path into Blackwell Park, a Raritan Township park. This weaved us out past a parking area and then through some open field areas. When we got to the northeast corner of the trail, we cut to the north toward Everitt’s Road and turned right.
I got a call from Mike around this time that he was on his way back in another Uber. He had in fact left his truck running, and no one had stolen it, so it was a good thing he went back!
Had I thought of it ahead of time, I would have just given him my van keys, and he could have saved himself half of the Uber cost to get up there, but I didn’t realize until late.
Everitts Road was super busy, and there was not a good shoulder along it. We had to get off to the side many times. We reached the crossing of the Neshanic River and the intersection with Reaville Road, and Mike was going to meet up with us near there.
We turned left on Reaville Road, which had an even worse shoulder on it at times. There’s literally no room for walking on them at all, and cars come flying down like crazy. When I told Bruce about it and how we walked near his house the next day, he said “Why do you think I’ve been run over by cars so many times!”
We reached the top of a hill on Reaville Road and took a break where a new house is being built. I wanted to go in to check it out, but I also wanted to stay within sight for the Uber driver dropping Mike off.
We continued down hill, and the car pulled up just after we crossed a little brook on a bridge. The driver stopped fast, and the next few cars did not pay attention enough and it almost caused a pile up! People were honking their horns and such. Quite amusing.

Trestle walkin'

We soon turned left on Kuhl Road, which was a beautiful little back road. I’d driven it before, and figured I would one day walk it, but never got around to it until this time.
The road was quite nice, and we barely saw any cars. We passed an abandoned farmstead on the left where at least three silos were visible. When the road eventually reached the Neshanic River and turned hard to the right, an abandoned pony truss bridge spans the river and heads in to Heron Glen Golf Course, the Hunterdon County Park owned golf course. I used to work there sometimes when I was a county employee.
We headed across, and the bridge had a concrete deck, which I didn’t remember. That made crossing it much safer, so I was happy.
Once across, the old road that used to continue up through the course is now badly overgrown. I tried stepping down to the right to make our way up to the course, but it was too swampy. To the left, it was also quite swampy, so the only choice was to stay on the road through the weeds, or skirt the edge of it which wasn’t much better.
We managed to fight our way through, and were soon on the car paths. We turned to the right to follow the ones that went along the northern half of the course.
We went slightly up hill, and followed the paved meandering path. Alon the way, I spotted a shooting star, which was probably the brightest one I’ve ever seen. It burned out and I could trace it’s darkened silhouette continue as it burned out ahead.
We continued out along the north edge, and then took an informal path to the right that took us out into an old farm area, which is now apparently the maintenance area for the course.
There is a house there, which apparently is still occupied by a caretaker or something, so we stayed quiet and just walked on by. This took us on the access road out across the Third Neshanic River (there are three branches, with confluences just to the north of Heron Glen).

Station stop in Flemington

We stepped around a metal cattle gate, and then reached the edge of Rt 31, which was quite busy.
It’s four lanes at this point, and in order to get across, we had to wait until just the right time when no cars were coming from either direction. There’s a center median, so we had to jump over, and then reached old Rt 31 directly adjacent to it. When the highway was widened, this other bit remained in use for businesses and homes and such, including its bridge over the Third Neshanic River. We crossed this, and then turned left on Hampton Corner Road.

Copper Hill Trestle postcard, one of the first postcards I ever owned was this one back in the 80s

We soon passed beneath the Copper Hill Trestle on the old Flemington Branch, which was part of the Pennsylvania Railroad for most of it’s time. It’s now the excursion railroad run by Black River and Western. The Copper Hill Trestle was built in 1920 to replace an older one. It actually doesn’t span Copper Hill Road, which is to the south, it spans Hampton Corner Road. There was a lovely Christmas display in the lawn just on the other side of the bridge to the west.
We climbed up the embankment on the north side of the bridge, and then started following the line to the north toward Flemington. The bridges on this branch in this area are rather odd, in that the ties on them are about half the width of normal ones.

CNJ Flemington Freight station historic view

We crossed along the backs of some businesses, and then passed over the Second Neshanic River on a much shorter trestle, which did not span a road like the previous one over Third Neshanic.
One of the ties on this one was pretty widely spaced, which was surprising for an active bridge.
We continued north, and then crossed Johanna Farms Road at grade.
We soon crossed over the bridge over the First Neshanic River, and then continued to the overpass over Dayton Road. Mike was talking about how low this one was as we walked.

Flemington CNJ freight station today

He was saying that at around seven food clearance, it is one of the lowest underpasses around.
Once we got across, we heard a big bang. A truck came to a halt, after having hit a telltale or something warning that he was going to hit the bridge. We all turned around in the darkness and looked back as he struggled to turn his truck around and go back the other way.
We continued walking north, and soon reached Rt 12. Celeste had called me and was on her way down, and parking at the Outlet Center somewhere. I always knew this area growing up as Turntable Junction, where we would get the train rides from.

CNJ Flemington Passenger Station, now bank

We continued on the tracks to the north, and passed a platform where people board. The light through the outlets made it quite a pretty place to walk through.
When we reached the Timberland Outlet Store by Church Street, we took a break and waited for Celeste to find us. It didn’t take her and Benny too long, and they were walking up on us.
We all continued along the tracks, and I pointed out the post that had “PRR” for Pennsylvania Railroad, where the Flemington Branch ended, and “CRR of NJ” for Central Railroad of New Jersey, where the South Branch of that line ran toward Somerville.

CNJ Flemington Passenger Station

We walked from here around a corner and then out to the former freight station of the Central Railroad of New Jersey to the left, still standing and in pretty good condition.

Pennsylvania Railroad Flemington Station historic view

Just beyond, the old Central Railroad passenger station, a very handsome structure, still stands and is interestingly used as a bank. The awning for the drive through of the bank utilizes some of the aesthetic for it’s drive up windows, which is pretty cool.

Union Hotel

This station was completed in 1864, and passenger service continued to Flemington until 1954.
We turned left when we reached the station, and nearly stopped for tacos or pizza, but I figured we would hold off. I thought we would be passing by Taco Bell, but then I forgot that I planned the hike to bypass that site. We wouldn’t be seeing it, and so we wouldn’t be eating until after the hike was over.
We followed the main street into town, which is a beautiful place to walk. Every building for the most part looks very nice. We kind of laughed at the police station, and I commented that the building looked more fitting as a Krauszers rather than for police.

The old court house

We soon reached the main part of the historic downtown, which has become a place of controversy lately, mainly focused around the old Union Hotel.
Flemington Union Hotel, sadly vacant, stands across from the historic Courthouse.
The building was originally constructed as a stagecoach stop in 1814. The current exterior facade dates to 1878.
Developer Jack Cust, who is behind all of the spors complext stuff around town, planned to demolish this and other Main Street buildings, but then revised his plan to preserve the main downtown ambiance of the Union Hotel, the Hunterdon County Bank, and the Lynn building.

Historic image of Union Hotel

Despite Mr. Cust's concessions (which also included lowering of the proposed new buildings to preserve downtown ambiance) more demands keep coming up that have held up any activity. Both Mr. Cust and the Friends of Flemington deserve credit for their negotiations in this matter, but hopfully an agreement will come soon that will both preserve these beautiful structures.

Historic image of Union Hotel

Things get more complicated, as state SHPO requirements for historic structures say that three sides of the building have to be preserved, while Cust at one time planned only to save the facades of the Main Street buildings.

Union Hotel on my hike in July 2006

The hotel was where most of the reporters stayed during the “Trial of the Century”, where Bruno Hauptman was tried and convicted in the Hunterdon County Courthouse across the street for his part in the Lindbergh kidnapping in 1935.

At the Union Hotel

Hunterdon County Courthouse was built in 1828 to replace the original 1791 structure burned by arson. The adjoining jail in the rear utilizes some of the original stone building.

Historic law office

The building remained in regular use until the new Courthouse opened in 1996. The old structure is treated as a beloved museum piece.
We had actually been given a tour of the court house by a county judge who was on my hike in July of 2006.
I also have some fond memories of the Union Hotel when my buddy Al Eisberg and I used to work for Dick Dalpe, a tree cutter from Three Bridges. Al and I made $100 a day in 2002 when we were working there, and it was for six hours. Dalpe had lost his drivers license, so it was our job to drive him to his jobs, and then part of the job was taking him to the Union Hotel, where he would pay for our drinks while we sat with him as he drank. Every night he would get a glass of Grand Marnier, as well as a few beers. Al and I usually had a beer each, but one time we had the Grand Marnier and decided that we liked it. It was just too expensive to get regularly!
We continued down the main street and passed an old law office built by Governor Samuel Southard in 1811. It served as office for other governors, and was updated to Greek Rivaval style in the mid 1800s, to retains great historic ambiance.
We walked out the Main Street, reached Rt 31, and Justin and I obnoxiously hit the crosswalk button over and over before making our way across to the Flemington high school.
We followed a path that went along the edge of the school, and the back of the Costco.

Flemington Junction historic image

We crossed Walter Foran Blvd, much of which is built on the old Flemington Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The main line came through the area in 1875, but the short branch in to Flemington did not open until 1883, to a point over a mile north of the other two stations of Pennsylvania Railroad and CNJ. It remained in service for passengers until 1952, and was replaced by bus service, and freight service ended under Conrail. It was formally abandoned in 1982.
We continued across onto the access road to Lowes, which is where the Flemington Branch breaks away from Walter Foran Blvd. Once at the top, we skirted around the outside of the building, and then crossed more parking lots to reach and cross Minneakoning Road.

Here is my cat Leo just because

On the other side, we headed up another access drive. We went up the back of the BJs followed by CVS and other businesses heading north. After the road ended, there was still path we followed over a wet area, where wooden pallets were laid out so we could get across.
We made our way up and in to an area with more buildings associated somehow with Hunterdon County Polytech I think. We crossed the grass at the end of it, passed a building, descended and crossed Bartles Corner Road, and then slipped between some evergreen trees into a parking lot above the Assiscong Creek.
We paused and looked at an old dam there, and then turned left to reach the access road to the back of the Jack Cust Baseball Academy. Mr. Cust is a local developer who’s son, Jack III, was a major league baseball player, so they have made a lot of money capitalizing upon that in the Flemington area. We continued out of the baseball area and into more parking lots directly on our way back to the Stop and Shop, and finished in pretty good time overall.
Mike got Celeste back to her car, and Justin got Kirk and I back.
I have another variation of this hike that is about 70% different I’ll have to post one of these days. There is always something more to see out there.

HAM