Hike #1435; Bartley to High Bridge

 

Hike #1435: 9/2/21 Bartley to High Bridge with Jillane Becker and Everen

This next hike would be a big deal for me, because it was my first long day hike with my son.

We didn't know quite what to think and how well he would hold up. Diaper changes and bottle feedings while we were out, and while he had already been born premature. I was pretty worried.

Everything worked out great though, and the old High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey was the perfect route to bring him on for his first trip.

Jillane and I each put our cars at beginning and end points, in Bartley on Bartley Road where the tracks start back up on the branch to the east, and in the High Bridge Commons lot to the west.

We started our walk at Bartley Road on the rail bed, now the Columbia Trail. I can't say enough times how much I dislike that name for the trail, because they decided to name it for the gas line that had not even been there for a decade at the time, when it was the High Bridge Branch for over a century before.

It was not a stipulation of the deal to turn it into the trail that it be named for the gas line. I actually feel it was illegal, a government entity giving free recognition to a private agency in such a way.

We used the pull off parking near the extreme east end and continued to walk west through the first parking lot. The first bit of the trail parallels closely to the South Branch of the Raritan River.
We crossed Drake's Brook at the confluence with the South Branch on a deck girder bridge heading to the west, and the South Branch was in a kind of flood stage a bit. Drake's Brook looked quite a bit clearer flowing in.

We continued and crossed Four Bridges Road, and then Elizabeth Lane crossed just after the Patriots Path joined from the left. It runs with the rail trail from here almost to Long Valley.

We crossed the South Branch again just to the west of there, and then Naughright Road where there was at one time a little station stop.
Just ahead of there, after some farm land, we took a little break where the Stony Brook passes beneath. I went down an got in the creek for a bit.
After a little ways ahead to the west, we reached where the Patriot's Path turns right. This is also the route of the Highlands Trail, Liberty-Water Gap Trail, and 911 National Memorial Trail. The Highlands Trail follows the rail bed from the west, so continuing here, we would be on the combined High Bridge Branch and Highlands Trail.

We continued ahead a little bit from here, where the main Patriot's Path used to cut off to the left. That is now a blue spur of the Patriot's Path known as the Gillette Trail.
The path leads to a parking area in Long Valley, and then beyond to Coleman Road toward Chester.
I like to go down this side path a bit to a great little swimming spot on the South Branch, where an old concrete farm bridge carries the trail across.
We went over and took a break there, and I went for a dip for a bit.
From here, we headed back the way we came onto the rail bed and continued west.
The trail gets pretty complicated in the areas ahead.

The right of way goes into the property of the Frazier Industrial Company. It passes along the south side of it, and over the years it was never even fenced. We just walked right on through.

Now, they have the trail rerouted along the south side of the property away from the right of way at first. It then climbs back up to the right of way only to cross over the Electric Brook on the former rail bridge. There are two side by side bridges for double track at this point still in place.
The trail continues for a short distance on the former rail bed up to a new development built off of Fairview Ave, on the former site of the Welch Farms plant.
My dad used to work at this plant when I was little, and I remember him bringing me in there to see the place. He always hated that I ended up having a milk allergy, and he worked at Welch Farms where he had an endless supply of milk.
When the railroad was abandoned in the late 1970s, Welch Farms built another building right on top of the right of way.
The facility was closed down and abandoned, and I used to walk through this site as well. With the new development, this was no longer possible. Instead, the trail turns hard to the left at the start of the development, and then for a time follows the former Chester Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

Just before the bridge site where the Chester Branch crossed over the South Branch, the trail turns off to the right and skirts the edge of a meadow heading to the west. Another foot path remains closer to the South Branch and is known as the Trestle Trail for the former bridge site. We did not follow that this time because it isn't really appropriate for a stroller. Also, since little Ev was so small, I was worried about his head bobbling around too much and hurting his neck. He was, after all, only a month and a half old.
Where the Trestle Trail rejoins the Columbia Trail, there is a giant White Ash tree to the left that is quite impressive.
We continued around to the other side of the former Welch Farms place where the trail returns to the railroad bed and crosses over a small stream, oddly another flow of the Electric Brook that must have diverged because of some sort of damming or milling further upstream. I had taken photos of this location when I hiked through in 2002, and so I started trying to set up some then and now compilations.

I think even the trees in the distance kind of line up to the way they used to look. I checked the old aerial images, and the road to the right almost occupies the same route as the access road once used by the facility when it was still in use.

The old bridge has been nicely redecked, and all of the ties on the second bridge to the left have been removed.

We crossed Fairview Ave ahead, and then crossed another little stream to reach the former Long Valley Station site. I did several then and now history compilations at this point while here.

This area was originally Dutch Valley when first settled, because Dutch settlers arrived on their way to Pennsylvania, and said they would not find a more fertile valley than this point, so they stayed. It later became, and was for most of its existence, German Valley. The name was stripped due to the World War anti-German sentiment that was common. This became Long Valley, and New Germantown became Oldwick. There are plenty of examples of things like this happening.

There are food stores in Long Valley, and I don't think we stopped for any. We must have brought something ahead of time.

We crossed over Schooleys Mountain Road and continued on the rail bed to the west out of town. This section ahead is the most secluded section of the entire trail, and the longest distance between road crossings. It travels 2.8 miles and only crosses one driveway for that entire length. To me, this section was always the most boring and seemed to drag on forever. This time, I didn't mind it. I guess the way to deal with it is to have a kid in front of you, as well as possibly a good drink.

We soon passed by a giant pile of rocks that sits along the left side of the trail. They seem to keep piling more of them on it ever time I go by. This time, it had lots of those friendship rocks painted on it.

There were some pretty entertaining ones in there; someone had even gone out of their way to make a poop rock.
We continued along through this expanse, crossed over a little bridge over a tributary, and then came out to Middle Valley Road.
This was once a station stop on the High Bridge Branch.
Middle Valley is actually an old colonial community, and became a minor station stop when the railroad was developed in the 1870s. The station used to stand on the south side of the right of way, next to Middle Valley Road.

I set up another then and now compilation at this site as well.
This station stop was also the terminus of the shortest independently owned railroad in New Jersey, the Middle Valley Railroad at 1.2 miles.

The line broke away and ascended for a bit into the Teetertown Ravine where it served a trap rock quarry. This was going to be a connecting trail when I was working for Hunterdon County Parks, as the county line is just ahead, but it never came to pass and the right of way is still unused.
We continued across Middle Valley Road past where there used to be a little junk yard, then over a driveway and across the South Branch of the Raritan on a deck girder bridge. It's a really very pretty little area.
Ahead, the right of way crosses yet another driveway where there used to be a low clearance bridge.

The bridge was removed when the railroad was abandoned, and so the trail has to go down and back up here.

We continued from there on out to cross over Rt 513, which was another small station stop known as Crestmoore Crossing. There is a little building on the left side of the road that reads "Crestmoore Station" on it, which maybe is the old station. Someone once told me that the building is actually the old Middle Valley Station, but that it was moved up to this site. I really don't know what the truth is there, but would be interested in finding out.
On the other side of Crestmoore Crossing is Bob Jenkinson's tree farm, which used to be built right over the right of way. Several years ago, the trail was pushed straight on through.

We continued from here across the farm, and then over West Valley Brook Road to enter Hunterdon County. The surfacing changes for the worse at this crossing. It's much harder packed and is far worse on the knees from here.

When the trail was developed, the first had just cinder dirt which was fine, but then it was surfaced with millings, a mistake made by the county and done against some sort of orders. All of those millings had to be removed and replaced, and they used something that was really hard packed like pavement.

We continued through woods ahead, and then came out to the little settlement of Vernoy. The rail bed ran parallel with Vernoy Road after crossing it, then crossed it yet again. A little abandoned stone home on the left that had been there for years looked to be getting worked on, which was nice to see.

We passed the old quarry spur entrance to the right, and then were parallel with Vernoy Road again as we entered the little town of Califon. We crossed Main Street and headed to Academy Street.
The town was supposedly originally named California. It was decided to be a station stop on the High Bridge Branch, but the people of the town wanted a stone station. The railroad was not building stone stations, but they agreed to do so if the town provided the stone necessary for construction. They agreed, and the handsome stone station, which still stands today. 

The stone was supposedly taken from the quarry in nearby Vernoy. The station, which is now a museum, is said to have set the standard for future Jersey Central Railroad stations.

As the story goes, the sign maker who was making the sign for the station ran out of room, and so he abbreviated the station to "Califon", and the name stuck.

I personally feel it is more likely that there were other stations called California, and that during the starting of the post offices, that they needed a name that was not already used elsewhere.

We continued on past the station and into the woods on the way out of Califon.
As we made our way out of town, we soon reached the driveway crossing where the entrance to John Palmer's house was on the left. This stirred up some memories, and I had to run over onto the driveway and do another photo comparison using another older photo I had taken myself.

There is a story to be told here that goes way back, and I knew I wanted to get this compilation and say something. I figured it would be a good one to share on Metrotrails at the start of Black History Month.

This is the story of a beloved local character who lived a life of prejudice to finally getting a bit of respect in his final years.

John Palmer was a family friend to many in northern Hunterdon County, and in those days in the 1950s and 60s when people were more insensitive, he was simply known as "John the {expletive}". Locals speak fondly of him, saying he'd be walking by and they'd shout that name out and invite him up to their porch for a beer.

Mr. Palmer was the grandson of slaves, and like so many poor black men of the time, without a lot of options, he enlisted in the army.

During World War II, it was Mr. Palmer's job to drive out and remove bodies from battle fields. He rose to the rank of Sergeant and was a recipient of the Purple Heart.

After his discharge, Mr. Palmer purchased this property, which was one of the old basket factory lands, left from when Hunterdon was the peach capital of the world. He then made his living scrapping, and collected a huge junk yard on the property, which was prominently seen from the old High Bridge Branch of the Jersey Central Railroad, now the Columbia Trail.

He drove around freely without getting much hassle, despite the fact that he had no drivers license.

I grew up hearing about old John from my dad, aunts and uncles. He had been a character fondly recalled time and again.

In 2007, after a days work at Works Data, my boss Vance Calvin said we needed to make a stop at John Palmer's house because he had done a trip to Walmart for him to pick up some photos.

I was shocked when I found myself meeting this character I'd been told of my entire life, still alive and well.

We sat with him in his kitchen and he remembered my family.

He told me of a time when he had to break up a fight where my tomboy aunts "beating the hell out of some poor boy" he said. He reminisced about my paternal grandfather who was the milk man, and so much more.

I ended up visiting Mr. Palmer several more times, and he shared a wealth of history he'd experienced, including the war and his history recalled above.

Near the end of his life, everyone was willing to help him with all he needed. He was given a free chicken daily at the local grocery store, he was Grand Marshall of the parades, and other items he needed were brought right to him.

When he needed his property surveyed, my grandfather heard his story and decided to do the job for him for free.

Although these late life acts of kindness are little reparation for the life Mr. Palmer had led, it is some consolation that he was eventually shown the love of the community.

I told my dad I'd been visiting him, and he was shocked to find he was still alive "He was old when I was a kid!" he said.

Mr. Palmer moved from the home not long after my visits with him, and resided at a nearby nursing home until he passed in 2009 at the age of 94.

John told me the last time we talked that he wanted to make it to 101. His dad had made it that far, and that's where he wanted to make it. Unfortunately, he missed by 7 years, but still not too bad.

The John Palmer Salvage yard was cleared and looks nothing like it once did.

I was elated and honored to have had the chance to make friends with John Palmer and hear his stories. He truly was a living legend.

We pushed ahead from here, and after a little bit of time we reached Hoffman's Crossing.
This was yet another little station stop back in the railroad days, and a house and barn at the crossing were once yet another basket factory.

1970s, Frank T. Reilly

I got one more then and now compilation at this site before it got too dark to be able to see any more.

After crossing over the road here, we began to enter Ken Lockwood Gorge, another secluded section, but the prettiest of the entire trail. We wouldn't see really any of it, but the sound of the water below was always there.

We continued into the middle of the gorge and crossed the high trestle in the middle, then made our way out to cross Cokesbury Road in Readingsburg, and then out along Lake Solitude toward High Bridge.
We crossed a driveway, then passed beneath Thomas Street bridge, followed by Taylor, Mill, and Main Streets at grade to reach the Commons Lot parking to conclude the hike.
This really went quite well and I was very happy to have had my son out on his first long hike. It wasn't really any kind of a chore, and I just love the idea of sharing all of this with him.
He can't appreciate all of it just yet, but hopefully he will by having been exposed to it from early on.