Hike #1534; Oxford to Clinton

 

Hike #1534; 3/11/23 Spruce Run Turnpike/Oxford to Clinton with Justin Gurbisz, Brittany Weider, Robin Deitz, Megan Powers, Diane Reider, Joe Tag, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, and Celeste Fondaco Martin

This next hike would be the last one I would host as a bonus on a Saturday associated with my work as part of a special series. I had started doing this again with the Spruce Run Perimeter hikes I hosted in 2022 with the lower water around the reservoir.

John Taylor Leigh Mansion we parked behind

The first one of those hikes posted through the state went over so well that it was decided I would do it again.

Even I was surprised at how popular these things would become through the state. In the past, when I posted something through the state, only a small amount of people would show up through that posting, if any at all, and the rest would come through Metrotrails.

One of the positive things that came with having a new superintendent was the support to do some of this different stuff, and continue it as a sort of series. Then, she transferred to another park, and while doing these events through work is not out of the question, I'm also working every Saturday, and off every Sunday.

It is good to have consistency in schedule where I can keep hosting these events without issue, but it also comes with its host of problems. One of them is that I can't do stuff like this through the job without having coverage.

At this point in my life, I'm finding myself taking a bit of a step back from modesty and demanding a bit more, because in truth, there are really no other interpreters that are capable of doing as much as I do from memory. This hike sort of served as a remind of that to myself as I was able to rattle off so much history about places we were passing over the distance of 15 miles between Oxford and Clinton.

I'd done this hike so many times, but never during the day, and so this gave the unique opportunity to showcase how much I could remember.

Unfortunately, there was some rain in the forecast, and that scared a lot of people away. Where the previous hikes had over thirty attending I think each time, this one was just a few friends who had done my hikes in the past. That was fine, and probably more enjoyable for me overall.

Still, I would like the opportunity to have someone in a more powerful position to see what I'm capable of to perhaps do more of it in the future. 

For this one, we met at the Clinton municipal building and shuttled north to Oxford. If I'd been doing this as a regular Metrotrails hike (it was, as it was posted there, but it was also posted through the state), I would have brought my son Ev with me, but because it was also a work thing, I didn't take him out this time.

We shuttled in a couple of cars to the north, to Oxford, and spotted Joe's car in Washington to give him an early out. He hadn't done a lot of distance in a while, and didn't want to push it too far.

We parked out behind the bank in Oxford, across the Furnace Brook from the Oxford Central School. From that point it is very easy to walk into town and to all of the historic sites.

As we walked out onto the main street, I pointed out the site of the old Oxwall Building, which was where the Company Store was associated with the ironworks. The historic building was burned by an arsonist in 2007, sadly. It's one of the many buildings in Warren County where I recall there being a pretty strong suspect, but nothing every happened with him. There's more talk on that to come later in this journal.

What remained of the Oxwall Tool Co site was demolished in 2015, and what I considered to be an iconic water tower went with it.

We continued to the intersection of Belvidere Avenue and Washington Ave, which is what I have understood to be the northernmost bit of the Spruce Run Turnpike, and the Shippen Manor is right up the hill.

Considered by many to be the finest example of a colonial ironmaster's mansion, the Shippen Manor was built 1754-55 for the Shippen Brothers. The Manor has gone by many names over the years, and seen a lot of history go by. It's now part of the Warren County Department of Land Preservation and a living history museum.

The Oxford Furnace is just across barely on Washington Street, and was the third mined iron furnace in America, constructed in 1741. It was later the first furnace in America to implement the "hot blast" method where a bellows was employed. 

The mid 1800s foundry building still stands, as does the wheelwright shop across the street from that. 

The Methodist Church building to the right of the furnace was actually the mill associated with the furnace built in 1813. When the mining company wanted the property occupied by the original Methodist church, they offered to convert the mill, no longer needed due to the newer furnace works, into a church in exchange for the original church property. It was agreed upon, an conversion of the mill to a church was completed in 1913.

The settlement was originally known as Oxford Furnace, and the collection of homes up present day Belvidere Avenue was known as Pittingerville. Old Oxford is what today we know as Hazen, closer to Belvidere, which is why the Presbyterian Church at that intersection is known as the Old Oxford Church. Of course, names shifted in the years to come.

In 1856, the Warren Railroad under the direction of John I. Blair came to Oxford. The original route weaved around through Van Nest Gap and behind the Oxford Furnace, then directly behind the Shippen Manor. In 1862, the tunnel was completed to the north, and so the railroad was rerouted through it and most of the 1856 grade through Oxford was abandoned, save for the piece to the furnace and original station site behind it, which was retained for a time as an industrial spur.

I pointed out all of this history and the rail grade as part of one of my longest dissertations for the day before moving to the south along Washington Ave.

Ahead, I pointed out where there used to be a small movie theatre, and where the little library is. 

The Second Presbyterian Church was on the left just ahead on the left, along with a parsonage building, built some time just before 1900. Of course, it has the "second" name because there was already one over the hill at Hazen. This church remained active until just a couple of years ago when it closed its doors. I think the last minister was Joicy Becker Richards, who trained as a minister under one of the Pastors from my church when I was little.

We continued a little further uphill and I pointed out another church location on the right, which I think was a German Reformed or maybe a Lutheran Church. It stood abandoned when I was little, and was then torn down. Another newer church is near that location on the right.

Just up from there is the St Rose of Lima Catholic Church, which was built some time around 1900, with a rectory building next door built I think in 1908.

I like to point out here that the existence of so many denominations is an illustration of what a melting pot this area was of different denominations, all settled here to work the mines and furnace operations. 

We were at the intersection of Academy Street, Jonestown Road, Mine Hill Road, and the road to Oxford Lake. The old Spruce Run Turnpike continued up Mine Hill Road, but this was yet another major transportation history spot to point out.

Imlaydale Bridge

The 1856 Warren Railroad crossed Washington Ave here where it changes names to Mine Hill Road, and Academy Street is built over top of it. It then goes through the new church and out into the woods to the west before weaving back behind Oxford Furnace. To the east, it continues to present day Rt 31 before passing through Van Nest Gap.

Almost at the same spot, but slightly north, the Oxford Iron Mine Railroad, which was eventually a branch of the Lackawanna, crossed over Mine Hill Road after crossing Academy Street, and a small arch concrete bridge is still in place. It then went directly behind the Catholic Church, and the road to Oxford Lake is built on top of it. Then, the original alignment was a switchback railroad up West Oxford Mountain, but it was rerouted later to circumnavigate the topography to reach the mines beyond. 

Another spur to mines went back across Mine Hill Road, around a small reservoir, then across the road ahead to reach Squires Mines, which were on the right side of the former Spruce Run Turnpike. One of them I have watched collapsed further and further over the years along the road. From a distance, a bend in the road has an exaggerated look because it needs to weave away from the mine pit.

The Warren Highlands Trail is supposed to cross the road at this point eventually, but I just don't have the time to work on it any more with my young son. The township is also supposed to fence off some of its most dangerous mines just to the west of the road. The idea was that the county bought some of the land, and the township would use that money to fence things off, but they never went through with it, and we're left with the liability, which is one of the reasons we have not been able to put the Warren Highlands Trail through.

On the left side of the road heading up the hill, there is the base of a former water tower that lasted for many years until recently. 

We passed by the mine, continued uphill to the very peak, and then began to descend. I pointed out that we had left the Pequest Watershed at this point and entered the Pohatcong Watershed.

As we descended, I pointed out a house on the left that when I was little, a dog came out and bit me. This was when my grandfather was hiking this entire historic route with me, which we did in several days rather than just one.

As we headed downhill, there are still some pretty good views down to the left into the Pohatcong Valley, left over from the damages done by tropical storms Irene and Sandy so many years ago. 

The section of road isn't terribly busy, but when cars go by, there's not a ton of room to get off, and they definitely travel too fast.

As we got closer to the bottom, the Fairway Greens community was on the left where there was a porta john to take a break at. No one was playing golf because it was kind of a wet day, so we just meandered along the edge of the golf course rather than walk in the road for the next bit toward the bottom of the hill.

We passed the main golf course building, then crossed the Pohatcong Creek next to the entrance of the natural area of the same name. I bring Ev there pretty often because it's so nice.

Once across, we began ascending into Washington. We came to the intersections with Kinnamin Avenue and Jackson Valley Road, and continued straight ahead on Belvidere Avenue, still the Spruce Run Turnpike route.

As we headed downhill, we soon came to where the Morris Canal used to pass beneath the road. I pointed out the disturbances in the paving, and that it existed as such because of where the "camelback bridge" used to span. The old canal is now overgrown to the west, and the former Warren Lumber is built over it to the east. Since Warren Lumber closed, they are now storing some famous cars there. For a while, the Ghostbusters Ecto-1A was parked there, which was used in Ghostbusters II.

I reminisced about old friends and where they lived as we walked down the street into the main part of town. Larger homes, stately Victorians from the more affluent members of the community in the past started to line the edges of the road.

Soon, we reached the Cornish Mansion. This was the historic home of the Cornish family who owned the Cornish Organ business when Washington was the organ capital of the world.

The house was built in the 1860s with a beautiful Gothic theme, high peaked roofs, porches, and the feeling of grandeur. It was extensively remodeled in 1912 to look more boxy, similar to how it does today, because the Gothic look had fallen out of favor. By modern standards, it was an absolutely awful idea because the original configuration was beautiful. 

The building suffered a major fire, but it survived and remains apartments today, although the grounds were not kept up very well lately. 

Also to the left, we came to the fire department and post office on the left. The current fire department building replaced the original one in the former municipal building across the street, which is now a different business, but the front doors are obviously former bays for the fire trucks. 

Just beyond, on the left side, was the post office. This building as I understand was built in the 1940s and replaced previous structures that served the same purpose. Where the post office and fire department are today were both once stately homes, one a hotel and one a doctor's home, but both were razed. I believe termites were one of the reasons given for it.

There's a watering fountain that served both horses and people on the right by the original municipal building and fire house, which was one of my friend Jeremiah's first official Washington Historical Society initiatives. It had been laying abandoned in the borough park for years, and he wanted to get it back to its historic original location. It doesn't work anymore, but still cool to have it there.

We moved ahead, passed Scotty's Stadium Pub, and I checked to see if my mom was in to say hi. She wasn't and so I continued with the history, this time about the Washington House for which the town takes its name.

Castner grave

Route was originally part of the Easton-Morristown Turnpike, and the settlement of Washington was known as Mansfield, which was the ancestral English home of early settlers, the Bowlby family.

The intersection was home to the Washington House on the northeast corner which burned in 1869 (built I think in 1811). The settlement took on the name "Washington" after this old stage coach stop.

The First National Bank is on the northwest corner, to the right, established in 1868 and later expanded. It was home to a bank from this time until 2021 when Wells Fargo closed their branch. Thankfully, there is still an outside access to an ATV that I use regularly.

On the southwest corner is the "Opera House" as many know it, or otherwise "Stover Building".

The original buildings here, known as the "Mattison Block", burned in 1869, and this building replaced them.

It was originally known as the "Beatty Building" for Daniel F. Beatty, who used it as offices for his organ factory that was located on Railroad Avenue.

The second floor contained an auditorium known as "Beatty's Hall", with pit on second floor and balcony on third.

It became known as the O'Neill Building when sold, and then many years the Stover Building for the family that owned it until more recent years.

The building was long rumored to have a prohibition era speakeasy beneath the restaurants on the corner, and this was confirmed when deliveries were made, and the bar was still down there.

The remainder of the speakeasy was reportedly destroyed around 2018. The tin ceilings were salvaged, but what remains today is unknown. Now, the inside of the old opera hall is being framed out as new apartments, and all of the buildings to the west of it are now supposed to be torn down to make room for more parking. The tenants had received eviction notices, and my mom was one of them.

The southeast corner of town was destroyed in April of 1962 in a devastating fire, which is why the buildings on that corner are so much shorter than the other three.

The trolley, Easton Washington Traction Company, arrived in Washington at this point in 1906, and lasted until 1925 when it was replaced by bus services.

I have some strong feelings about the town of Washington and the near constant assertion that there are something like six Washingtons in the State of New Jersey.

I insist that there really is only one, and that is this Washington, the one I live in.

There are plenty of arguments for this.

For one, it is the only one that you simply put "Washington New Jersey" on the mailing address. If you use the south Jersey one, its usually other area town names that have the postal code. If you refer to the one in Bergen County, it is officially "Township of Washington" as a full name, not "Washington". The one in Morris County is never really referred to. People who live there live in Long Valley or closer to Flanders, Hackettstown, Schooleys Mountain, something like that. They'll typically have a Long Valley address. The municipality includes all of those place names as well as Middle Valley, Crestmoore, Naughright, Flocktown, Scrappy Corners, and more. The Washington name is just a generic municipal name to cover the area.
Then, of course there is the Washington Township that surrounds Washington Boro, the one that is actually referred to as just Washington. That one includes Port Colden, Brass Castle, Bowerstown, Changewater, Imlaydale, and Springtown. Even if residents say they live in Washington there, the address is actually just Washington because of its close proximity.

Furthermore, Washington in Warren County is the only Washington in the state that has a defined center of commerce. Two historic roads come together at an obvious settlement where businesses and residences are all prominent. All of the other Washingtons are either a collection of colloquial place name villages under the blanket name of Washington, or just an urban sprawl without a defined downtown. 

People like to argue against my assertion that MY Washington is really the only real town of Washington, but I think most everyone that lives in Washington would agree with me, as would most people who live in close proximity.

We continued downhill onto Broad Street, the next bit of road that follows the old turnpike route. This brought us down across the Shabbecong Creek, and then up again on the other side to cross the Morris and Essex Railroad adjacent to the Washington Boro Park and pool. The Morris and Essex originally was planned to head through the Delaware Water Gap, but when the Warren Railroad beat them to the punch and became the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, the Morris and Essex shifted plans and extended to Phillipsburg in 1866. It became part of the Lackawanna system anyway in 1869.

We had spotted Joe's car at the park so he could cut out a bit early. He felt that he might be able to do the entire hike, but hadn't gone that far in a while. He was feeling pretty good, so he chose not to try to go too far and cut out at this point very happily. I was glad to see him and that he was doing so well.

We continued from here uphill for a bit past some more grand homes along the way. I had recently been noticing that a few of them were sort of mirror images of one another on either side of the road reaching the top of the hill. I suppose the architects involved must have tried to have it be somewhat similar, but I'm not really sure.

After the crest of the hill, the Spruce Run Tunrpike crossed modern day Rt 31 and then becomes Springtown Road on the other side, but I took the group for a little side trip first.

We followed Cemetery Hill Road briefly, and then cut to the left down into the Mansfield Woodhouse Cemetery. This dated back to when the settlement was still known as Mansfield, and the original church used to stand there. When that church burned, the congregation split between Hackettstown and Hampton area where the new church was built in 1837. More on that later...

The reason for going into the cemetery was to show the group he Castner graves from the Changewater Murders. 

In 1843, the Castner family was murdered by who is still believed today to have been an unknown assailant, but two men, Carter and Parke, were tried for the crime. They were found innocent the first time, but public outcry was that someone had to hang for it. Illegal Double Jeopardy happened, they were tried and found guilty the second time and hung. Carter and Park were buried near the intersection of New Hampton Road and McCollough Road.

It is probably one of the biggest cold cases in the State of New Jersey history, but the problem is, it was officially a closed case. 

We continued down through the cemetery to cross over Washburn behind the Dairy Queen after looking at the three tall grave stones with strangely long a gruesome epitaphs describing the murders. When we got to the Dairy Queen, I decided that I wanted a Blizzard, so I went in and got one as well as a hot dog for the next bit of walk. I was very happy I did this.

Celeste joined in for a bit of the hike coming from Rt 31. She caught up with us on the road and didn't go quite as far as New Hampton, but it was nice that she popped in to say hello for a bit.

We had to dash across Rt 31, and then followed Springtown Road ahead for a bit. As the golf course started to appear on the right, I pointed out some old lime kilns that are still standing just off of the road close to the course. It was also a good opportunity for everyone to go and pee behind it since there wasn't many places with privacy.

Irishtown

There is the Springtown Road Nature Trail on the left ahead, which I incorporated into one hike back in 1998 and haven't bothered with it since. I think Todd Nagy, the son of Gary from Taylor Rental, built the trail as part of an Eagle Scout project. I thought to maybe incorporate it into this hike, but then changed my mind. There was already enough going on along this one.

The first house ahead was where my good friends Jenna and Aaron lived in high school. I went to prom with Jenna, and she was on hike #1 in '97. Aaron did several of the hikes after that as well. Years later, when I worked at Taylor Rental, a girl we called Boots used to live there.

We continued down the road, and I reminisced about when I'd hiked all of this with my grandfather. When that very development was being built, I remember finding a deer jaw in the field to the left which I think I brought to Kindergarten for show and tell. I of course always had the most interesting stuff to bring in because I was out with him so much.

We continued to the end of Springtown Road, to the settlement known as Springtown, which is a good opportunity to show how the main roads have shifted over the years.

Irishtown

The intersection is with the much busier Asbury-Anderson Road. That road has some sharper bends to it at this intersection, but it was not always the more prominent road. Looking to the south, one can see that the right on Asbury-Anderson, and then immediate left on New Hampton Road was once the straighter, more direct route. There are some beautiful old stone houses at this intersection, and the location was named for the many little springs flowing through the area.

We made the right and the left, and then followed New Hampton Road gradually uphill for a bit through a new development from the 80s. I remember this road also being very narrow and with barely any homes on it.

Soon, we descended toward the Musconetcong River. There used to be an old abandoned house on the left at the turn, which I went into with my grandfather when I was little. I found a bunch of stuff inside including a polaroid of a Christmas tree that I had in a box of stuff for many years. That house was torn down probably in the 80s, maybe the 1990s. 

We continued around a bend and over the newer pony truss bridge over the Musconetcong River. This bridge replaced a grated metal beam bridge that had been there for many years. My grandfather says they always referred to that as the old turnpike bridge, and he and his friends and family would go swimming there.

We turned right on Musconetcong River Road, the next bit of the turnpike, and followed it somewhat uphill into the settlement of New Hampton.

The old school house is on the top of the hill on the right and houses the Lebanon Township Historians. Next to the old school is the memorial to Daniel Morgan, who was architect of some of the greatest tactical masterpieces of the Revolutionary War, which played a key role in victory. Morgan was born in New Hampton in 1736. 

The settlement of New Hampton is named for Hamptonshire England. It is actually an older settlement than nearby Hampton, oddly enough.

When the Central Railroad of New Jersey came into Hampton in 1853, followed by the Warren Railroad in 1856, the site was simply referred to as "junction". The generic name would not due with all of the rail junctions cropping up across the state, and so "Hampton Junction" was taken as the name, because of its proximity to New Hampton. When the junction was abandoned in 1955, it became simply Hampton, and so that is how Hampton is a newer town than New Hampton.

To the right, there was the Shoddy Mill. This is an interesting spot because the original four or so story mill burned, was replaced by a brick one, and that was converted to apartments. The old mill was chopped down to a single story and a half height, and is a seating area for the apartments now.

Shoddy does not refer to the condition of the old mill, which is basically crap, as well as the remnants of the now broken mill dam on the Musconetcong. Shoddy is actually a scrap fabric that is processed and reconstituted into other useful things. It could be considered one of the first types of recycling centers.

The bridge over the Musconetcong on Shoddy Mill Road, which becomes Rymon Road just ahead, is one of the highlights of this hike.

There are only three historic pony truss bridges known as Lowthorp bridges in the State of New Jersey, and all three are in close proximity and seen on this hike. The one in New Hampton is the oldest of the three built in 1863. It is an iron, oblong sided truss with a sort of octagonal bracing. They were designed by Francis C. Lowthorp, and built by William Cowin of Lambertville.

We continued ahead, and passed several historic homes in the settlement, and finally reached the New Hampton Inn.

The original New Hampton Inn is a handsome old three story white structure with a long porch, now a private residence. The current New Hampton Inn is a hole in the wall bar that looks like it was sort of slapped together. It's had the reputation as an "old man bar" that doesn't abide by any of the rules and regulations of most any bar. People were still smoking inside twenty years after smoking was banned in bars, and it used to be known as the place underage kids could always get served. My dad used to go there when he was in high school to get beer he'd told me. I remember hearing a story about he and a friend riding on his bike to the place, but then dropping the beers on the way back, so they had to search around in the weeds along the road for them all.

I asked the group if they wanted to go inside for the experience, but everyone declined. 

Just ahead, I pointed out where the original bridge across the Musconetcong was at Imlaydale. There was a pony truss bridge at the base of what is now a driveway, and a second bridge into the little hamlet of Imlaydale on the Warren County side, where there are several homes and an old mill, as well as a busted out dam. The bridges were low, and spanned two flows of the river, with an island in the middle. These bridges were gone pretty early on. I did do one then and now of them.

Just ahead, the next little side trip I chose to do was on the next incarnation of the north/south highway. 

The segment here was originally Rt 30, and I understand that this section of road and old bridge that still stands over the Musconetcong was one of the oldest modern highway projects in America, from about 1913. The bridge is cracked pretty badly and may eventually collapse. There's a good path down to the river to it, at a really nice spot, so we followed that and walked out and back across the old bridge.

Rt 31 was renamed Rt 69 when it was realized there was already a Rt 30 in south Jersey, and then renamed 31 because all of the highway signs were getting stolen.

We headed back to the Spruce Run Turnpike route, which at this point goes directly over present day 31 into Hampton.

We made our way into town, and I pointed out Valley Road where the church was built outside of town in 1837. When the railroads came in less than twenty years later, the town, as planned did not grow around the church, but rather the junction, and so the Presbyterian congregation built another church in town. They attend Winter services in town, and Summer out in the valley. It is a tradition the congregation holds onto to this day. This was the church I attended growing up.

I pointed out a house set back on the left, which has a barn in back, but barely any remaining farm land. My great grandfather, George Prall Allen, came here and worked because it was his uncle's farm, when he married his wife, Gladys Snyder, because he was disowned by his father, Edwin Allen. Gladys Snyder came from a broken family and lived as a boarder with the Evans family, and so marrying her was forbidden.

My great grandfather went to school to become a preacher, but left that practice and got a license to become a barber. He opened the barber shop in Hampton, just up the street a ways. I pointed out the building his shop had occupied.

We passed the church, and gradually headed uphill. Another church from another denomination was on the right, now a private home. 

Further up the hill, we passed beneath the former Central Railroad of New Jersey, which growing up read "Hampton" on it, with a heart for the letter O. I wish they'd paint it back.

My grandfather told me he would watch the guy turn the armstrong turntable for the steam locomotive just west of the bridge. They'd turn it around so trains could head back to New York City the next day.

We continued up the hill, and I could see down the side road where my grandfather was born, and toward his house. The former blueprint shop was on the left, where I used to go with him or my grandmother to pick up his map prints when I was little. In the later years, it was owned by a guy named John Harold something, and I ended up working with him at Spruce Run for a while. He sold me a bunch of old USGS maps back around 2000.

As we were leaving the Hampton area, Carolyn joined in with us for the remainder of the hike and parked on street. 

We headed further to the top of the hill, turned ninety degrees at the Catholic church, and then headed downhill a bit to the right. Just before the road reaches Rt 31 again, the abandoned bank is on the right side. I opened one of my first bank accounts there when I was little, and then one when I was maybe 19 because it offered 25% interest for the first year or so, which was unheard of. 

The place has been abandoned for many years, as all bank branches are basically disappearing.

We dashed across 31 once again to head into Glen Gardner. I had always thought that the name was for owners of the quarry company, but I have since found out thanks to the facebook posts the actual history of the site.

Gardner & Co. was founded in 1863 in Clarksville (called “Glen Gardner” beginning in 1871), N.J., by brothers George, John, Joseph, Oliver and William Gardner. The company started out making picture frames but was known for its furniture after 1870. Gardner & Co. made chairs, benches and settees and held several patents for chair seats and backs. The company’s perforated seats were stronger and lasted longer than cane seats, which were in common use at the time. Gardner & Co. had plants in New Jersey and offices in New York, but it was out of business by 1888. A Gardner chair with a perforated seat and back sells for about $200.

Thanks to Jack Stanley who commented on my Metrotrails posts on this for the great detailed information.

We descended and crossed over the Spruce Run finally, and would somewhat parallel that to the end. It's quite a large creek at this point, and of a river than just a creek.

As we came into town, there was another Lowthorp truss down to the right. This one was built in 1870 and spans the Spruce Run.

We continued through town, passed the Glen Gardner Inn, which has been several different names over the years. It is not the original building despite the fact that signs read that it is from the 1700s. The original building sat further back, and the site of the foundation may now be covered by the Central Railroad of New Jersey track, which is out of service through Glen Gardner. There used to be a station just up the hill from this area.

The entire town sits on a slope, and has antiquated cesspools, so there are many septic issues that contribute to the algae bloom issues in Spruce Run Reservoir. That and the combination of quarry runoff from the quarry just beyond, the farm runoff, highway salt runoff, as well as acid mine runoff from the long abandoned iron mines on the west side of 31.

Still, it's a beautiful little town to walk through, and I've always loved it. The steep walls and houses on the left side are particularly neat.

My great grandfather's last barber shop was on the left in the lower level of one of these buildings. My aunt and uncle rented the house after he died, just three weeks before I was born. He actually gave up the shop a little earlier than that, and had taken a job as the hairdresser up the hill at the Hagedorn hospital, and that was his last job before he died.

We continued through Glen Gardner, and passed the historic Hunt Houses, which are lovely federal style buildings on the left, and the original turnpike is a dead end road ahead. There is a large old house that was probably once a hotel, that was owned by Leo Rosado, who was a great client of my grandfathers and a big personality. I remember meeting with him at different sites with him when I was little. Mr. Rosado passed away in 2020 at the age of 100.

We continued south and reached 31, stepped over the guard rail, and did the crummiest section of the hiking walking Rt 31.

After a short bit, a little side road, the original turnpike, breaks off and runs parallel with 31 to the left, and the Spruce Run passed under 31 to the west side. I understand this little community to the south of Glen Gardner was known as Irishtown.

We walked along this segment, and then back along 31 a little more to the south. 

At a point where there was a higher rock outcrop to the left, I noted what must have been a little bit of the original grade of the turnpike beside the road. 

We continued ahead, and there was an abandoned service station to the left. I guess it was open not all that many years ago, as recently as 2006. I don't remember ever getting gas there, but it's possible. Apparently, a guy named Bob owned it but had to move out of there because the power company on the property next door contaminated the water at the site. 

When I'd walked through this in the past, it was always on a night hike, so some of what we were seeing, I had not really seen in detail during daylight hours, and I'd never pulled over to have a better look. We went around the building, and there was a toilet room still opened up, but no running water of course.

Just ahead of this, there was the electric substation, which apparently once had a different kind of plant on site. I never noticed before, but there were tall metal light poles out in front of it. This was clearly something that was put in earlier, probably the 1940s or 50s when there was a generating plant there. The current substation was put in on the site in the 70s. 

We continued along the highway a little bit further, and we came to where Buffalo Hollow Road turns off. A segment of the old turnpike weaves off of 31 at that point, then comes back across it to the car dealership lot.

In the section along the bus parking place, which is owned by Dave English, there was a sign reading that "crybaby Clinton Toyota deliveries" were not allowed. Apparently, the dealership didn't have enough room for tractor trailers to turn, so they were blocking up the lot Dave English owned and causing problems. 

We crossed over 31, cut through the dealership lot, then crossed Van Syckles Road. The driveway to the abandoned house there, former DEP office, is the old Spruce Run Turnpike. It goes beyond the house and then usually goes under the waters of Spruce Run Reservoir.

ecause the water has been so low, and because it was the anniversary of the turnpike, I wanted to get this one hike out of the way. I'd already recently done the perimeter of the reservoir twice, so this was good to get one more in.

The old office house was reportedly once standing on the Union Road, but was moved to the location where it is now when the area was flooded. Now, the house is scheduled to be demolished, but it just hasn't happened yet. The one out building is already gone.

We continued into the reservoir bed, and reached where the road used to cross the Willoughby Brook. The bridge is still there, although it has no sides to it. I suppose they were removed to keep the flow of water through Willoughby Brook going. I'm not sure why the rest of the bridge was left in place.

We continued past the bridge, and I pointed out where the original Van Syckles Corner Road intersected with the turnpike. It was actually a four way intersection with the original alignment of Cregar Road to the east.

There was apparently once a silk mill and buildings in this area, and it was known as Bakersville, but I haven't found much on it. There is also reportedly a cemetery somewhere sandwiched between Rt 31 and the old turnpike. I've looked for it but did not find it.

Near the intersection area here was the former site of the Union Furnace. It was near where old Van Syckles Corner Road meets present day Van Syckles Road.

These road sections were rerouted around 1963 for the reservoir, which came to be due to the Water Bond Act of 1958. It was planned that reservoir should be built at the site as I understand since the 1930s, but the Flood of the Century in 1955 provided enough jusification for water control that no one was going to argue after the great disaster.

The reservoir was filled up and the recreation area on the north side opened partway through the season in 1972.

The Union Furnace dated back to 1742 when the large tracts of land, known as "The Union", were purchased by William Allen and Joseph Turner. The furnace location near the confluence of the Spruce Run and Willoughby Brook, with the wider flood plain, was chosen because there was good sand, which was an important part of the iron making process. 

The furnace was out of the water at this time, but we didn't go to it because it was so far out of the way. The Union Furnace major operations moved to nearby High Bridge some time around 1760, and ironmaster Robert Taylor came to own the company, which led to the change of name to Taylor Iron and Steel Company, and eventually Taylor Wharton.

We continued to where the old turnpike turns uphill away from the reservoir. Behind Rita's, they have a path and a now beat up foot bridge that used to approach the reservoir, but it is now collapsing.

The old road has a lot of fallen trees over it, and I was kind of glad only for the reservoir edge section that I didn't have my son with me in the stroller. It would have made it a bit harder.

We continued past an old spring house ruin on the right, where motorists once stopped to fill their jugs of water. It is now a rather forgotten roadside attraction and certainly not worthy of drinking today.

We made our way gradually uphill to present day Rt 31 again. We had to dash across the traffic and to the other side where one more segment of the old turnpike goes along the northbound side, up onto a hill along the High Bridge Hills Golf Club. This section can still be driven today, though there is a bit lip to go over on the south side of it to get on. A few years ago, trees had fallen over it making it hard to get on. 

We walked up to the peak of the hill, then back down the other side to come back to 31 for the final time. When traffic was light enough, we turned to the right and crossed. There is an abandoned motel near Riley and Jake's restaurant, called Sunset Motel we had a look at.

A little further on, past the Martin Funeral Home, there used to be a big house on the right, but only the steps led uphill to the former site of it. I understand it was dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere.

We passed by the Valero station, and continued walking along the right side of 31 south. It was only crummy for a short bit, and then we were able to walk the trail/service road along the levee of Spruce Run Reservoir to the right beyond the trees. Some of this might be some of the old turnpike, but I'm not sure.

We walked to the south, then cut across the grass where Rt 513 veers to the right down into Clinton. There's a nice grand lawn with snow fences and some really giant trees in it as we headed past the library.

From the library, it was a nice easy walk down into Clinton. When we crossed the South Branch of the Raritan, the Spruce Run flows in just to the right, within sight of the Old Red Mill, which was built as Hunt's Mill in about 1812. 

The commerce of Clinton owes itself to Archibald Taylor, son of Robert Taylor from the Taylor Iron and Steel Company, who helped to set up the town more as we know it today. Hunt's Mills became Clinton, renamed for DeWitt Clinton, then governor of New York State, who had gained notoriety for the success of the Erie Canal.

We turned right after crossing the South Branch to head over closer to the Old Red Mill, where the final 1870s Lowthorp Truss bridge crosses the the river with great views of the Old Red Mill. The adjacent stone mill on the near side of the river is also quite handsome, constructed in 1836 to replace an earlier wooden one that had burned down. It has been an art museum since the 1950s.

We got a final group shot by the mill, and then continued out to Rt 173 after a stroll down the main street, and cross to Lehigh Street where we were parked behind the municipal building.

Even the municipal building is historic; the John Taylor Leigh Mansion built in 1861.

We shuttled on back to Washington and some cut away early. I drove up the old turnpike section near High Bridge Hills golf club because I thought it would be cool to do it after all these years (I hadn't driven it in maybe twenty).

We then all went to dinner at Juanito's in Washington, and I went and picked up my son Ev first. It was a great end for the day. 

It was kind of sad that this would be my last hike I could offer through work. I was looking forward to maybe doing some more of them, but I would be working every Saturday from April through November as a sort of deal I was trying to work out (which also didn't work out).

Hopefully I'll be able to get back to doing some stuff like that in the future, since most of these have gone so well, and because they were so popular (this one wasn't as popular simply because it was supposed to be rainier than it was).

At the very least, with working every Saturday, I am guarunteed my Sundays and continue to host the Metrotrails hikes without having too much a problem, so there's that, and that's not a bad thing.