Asbestos

Unnamed research facility

i would love to tell the story behind this place but doing so would reveal its location. its a nice find and although there is some graffiti its pretty untouched and I wanna keep it that way. Plus its highly visible and highly illegal. All ill say is that it used to be a farm and later became a research lab.

all the Flickr pictures

1500 drums removed from old chemical site in Clifton

This was a few months ago, but it’s a danger that is more likely as the chemical plants grow older and records get lost. NJ has more superfund sites then any other state, but there’s plenty of sites that should be on the list and aren’t because nobody knows the danger

background on the Pasadena Terra Cotta factory

An interesting accounting of the Pasadena terra cotta factory.

I previously posted about the Pasadena Terra Cotta factory and it looks like my friend was right about the name.

looking to talk to former employees of Curtis Wright in Woodridge

I am doing some research on CW and would like to speak to employees who worked at the Woodridge location, especially anyone who worked there in the 60’s or 70’s. If you did, email me at lost at lostinjersey dotcom.

Mays Landing Brick Company

The Sex Plant

They call it the sex plant because someone spray painted those words on the wall of the old building. I hope it doesn’t mean anyone actually comes here and has sex because… Ew. It’s ease of access makes it a popular place for exploring and busting out the walls. Note that the concrete cinder blocks were busted out with a sledgehammer. Smart. let’s knock down the walls that support the building structurally. Darwin Award in the making.

Pasadena Terra Cotta

Henry Charlton Beck refered to this place as the Pasedena Terra Cotta factory, but I have it on good authority that he its real name is the Brooksbrae Brick Factory. Whatever its actual name, the factory burned down in the early 1900’s, and lately has been tagged with the usual graffiti. If you visit you’ll find two underground tunnels, with one tunnel having two levels. The tunnels are cramped (I had to crawl on my hands and knees) and are nothing at all of interest. It’s just a short tunnel about 65 feet long. There are more pictures here.

Edgewater graveyard

The area around Edgewater was among the first areas settled by the Dutch in the 1600’s. It is rumored that one of the graves here belongs to a Lenape Indian princess.

The abandoned building is the Alcoa alumininum plant, where my grandfather worked when he was a young man.

//rant

You’ll notice the condos behind the cemetery. I can’t help but comment on the overdevelopment and the poorly placed development that is going on in Edgewater. My mother grew up In Edgewater, and if she saw what has happened to her sleepy little town, she be sick over it. The problem is that the town has no character now. The small houses of fisherman and chemical plant workers have given way to the traders & brokers of the city and their overpriced monstrosities. It truly is a shame.

Everything south of Route 5 where it comes down off the top of the cliffs, seem to either be developed or is about to be. River Rd is literally miles of nothing but townhouses & developments, broken up by the occasional mall or obligatory dry cleaner, Starbucks or Boston Market. It get worse & worse as you get closer to the Lincoln Tunnel & the ferries. It’s as if Edgewater doesn’t exist, merely mini-town after mini-town of townhouses. New Yorkers seeking escape from the high priced rents of the city came over here & brought their high priced (to us) rents with them. $500,000+ townhouses, $2500 rents. It’s insane.

It’s not that I’m anti-development, I just don’t want to see Sussex County developed with 500 townhouses on properties like the Horse Stables. I have nothing against the people of Edgewater or the New Yorkers who have moved here, but I feel as if the heritage of Bergen County and the things that make it great are disappearing just so we can out up giant houses and that is wrong. Paving over history is the American way I guess. The first place settled in NJ was right here along the shores of Hudson & Bergen County. Looks like this time the settlers are from Manhattan Island and not Europe.

Bethlehem Loading Company

The Bethlehem Loading Company was established to produce munitions during W.W.I. and did so until the war end. Originally occupying 10,000 acres outside Mays Landing, the land now is a public park. During WWII the place was stripped for steel & iron. The ruins remain today in Estelle Park and are easily seen off Route 50.