Twin Barns

More pictures here

Silverdale Barn

The Bates Motel

This is a farm house whose owner donated the land to the state many years ago. The place is really run down and we were very concerned as we walked around that we might go thru the floor… The last 2 pics are of a nearby building which we figure was either a slaughterhouse or a holding pen for sick animals.

Hermann City

Just imagine an entire town for only three short years. This community of about 70 homes and stores, complete with hotel was centered around the Waplers Glass Works which manufactured Christmas decorations and “shades”(glass covers for collectables). The town also had a wharf into the river and history speaks of the vessels “Frances” and “Argo” sinking on this spot. As is typical of many types of abandoned Pine Barrens towns, there’s not much left but some foundations and walls.

the dirtiest farm ever

This farm apparently was acquired thru a green acres program because there were signs saying no hunting or fishing, and then a list of state park regulations. The reason I called this a filthy farm is there were two rooms in a barn that were covered with 20-30 different messages, all of them obscene, all of them directed at someone named Bloomberg. Is this Mike Bloomberg? Are they an angry NY’er with an odd sense of direction? (it’s located near the Delaware Water Gap) or is their anger directed at some other Bloomberg. Whoever did this strikes me as seriously disturbed. I would not want to meet them.

All the photos can be found 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.

grave of charles wills

As the sign says, it’s a lone grave in the middle of nowhere in the Pine Barrens. I found it because there’s a geocache there. There aren’t words to describe how I feel about micros in the woods where reception is lousy.

Demon’s Alley

Demon’s Alley is another example of a well known (in Weird NJ circles) place which is over-rated. And yet it’s worth a trip anyway. Confused? Let me explain. First off, what exactly is Demon’s Alley anyway? It is a small section of road where there are a half dozen abandoned homes, which by itself is rather unusual. One or two abandoned homes? Blame the economy. A half dozen all on the same block? Well there’s got to be a story there somewhere, and there is, it’s just a tad boring…

The road is on Newark Watershed Land, in West Milford, near several reservoirs. The first stories about the places had the usual bullshit-hype behind it. Satanic cults, ritual murders, etc. The truth? Well in a letter to Weird NJ which was printed in the following issue, the Newark Watershed Commission stated that the properties were used to house employees. Known simply as the New City Complex, the letter simply states that the properties aren’t being utilized for housing. No duh. A separate letter states that homes were abandoned because of radon, which is, from what I understand the real truth. That would explain why they left behind personal items and furniture. When a home is contaminated with radon it gets into everything and little can be taken with you.

I recently was in the area and I had to visit and was actually quite surprised by what I found. First off, from letters I had read I the impression that the entire area, road and property and all were cordoned off, presumably by a fence. No such deal. I pulled off Route 23 and I saw the side street in question was right there with the houses in plain sight. Turned off and pulled to the side and began snapping pictures. The houses themselves are beginning to fall apart, especially the roofs. The doors and windows are all solidly covered with plywood, with one exception. Some folks may have no problem B&E, but I do. In their letter to Weird NJ, the Watershed Commission made it clear that anyone trespassing will be arrested.

Somehow I don’t doubt their sincerity. The condition of the plywood clearly indicates that whenever someone breaks in, the entrance is quickly covered up. This is the second really odd thing: for whatever reason, they paint the plywood to look like window shades. Now this is so obvious it can’t be meant to really fool you, yet why go to the trouble? Perhaps to cover the copious amounts of graffiti that cover the buildings?

The only building with any entrance appeared to be some sort of garage or shed. It has a large opening which appears to have had no attempt to be covered. After about 10 minutes of observing (without trespassing) I finally left. I can say that this place would give me the heebie-jeebies at night, even with my knowledge of the real reason why this place was abandoned. I must say if I had skittish friends, I could play quite a bit of mind games with them if I were to bring them here at midnight….

The concrete ship

During WWI there was a shortage of steel and research was begun in earnest to find alternate ship designs. From this came one of the most bizarre concepts ever created: the concrete ship. 38 concrete ships were planned, by the US Shipping Board, and 12 were actually built and went into service. The “Atlantus” was a 3,000 ton 250 foot long freighter, built with a 5 inch thick hull of special concrete aggregate, to correct shattering and brittleness problems found in the first concrete ship. (ya think?)

The “Atlantus” was built by the Liberty Shipbuilding Corporation, of Brunswick, Georgia. She was launched on November 21st, 1918, at Wilmington, North Carolina. Commissioned June 1st, 1919, the “Atlantus” served for a year as a government owned privately-operated commercial coal steamer in New England. With the end of the war, the more efficient steel ships were again available. The “Concrete Fleet” was de-commissioned, and the Atlantus was sent to the “Bone Yard” at “Pigs Point”, in Norfolk, Virginia in September of 1920. A year later, the Atlantus was stripped after being purchased by a salvage company.

In 1926, the Atlantus was towed to Cape May, New Jersey. A Baltimore firm was attempting to start a ferry service from Cape May, New Jersey to Lewes, Delaware. It was planned to have a channel dredged well into shore. The Atlantus would then be forced into the channel. A special drawbridge type of device was to be mounted on the exposed end. Two other bulks would be sunk at angles creating a “Y” shape. The ferry would dock by wedging in and cars and passengers would load and unload by use of the drawbridge. While awaiting positioning, the Atlantus broke loose of her moorings during a storm in 1926 and went aground. Several attempts were made to free the Atlantus – they were futile.

The ship remains partially exposed above the water off the shore of Cape may beach, although as you can see in the pics here, there used to be a helluva alot more of that shipwreck then there is today

The other side of the Kill Yourself Bridge

Up until this point I had never gone night riding (exploring spooky roads at night). I’ve always gone during the day, not because I was afraid but because I often would be visiting other places that would require daylight to see by. I decided to go night riding one Saturday to see if these spooky roads would be any different at night. I drove on Clinton Road, Split Rock Road and finally headed for the Kill Yourself Bridge. Most of the roads were more creepy, but the Kill Yourself Bridge was something else…

I had previously visited Water Works Rd but got stopped half way down by a mound of dirt from construction. This time I approached from the other side. It appears there may have been a gate across the road but it was smashed aside long ago. The road here is much more narrow and much rockier then the other side. There is barely enough room for one car to make it through, and if you encountered trouble you’d have to back up on that road, no simple trick.

While driving down I kept the windows shut, the doors locked and the heater running (it was below zero with the wind chill) I kept the moon roof open and snapped pictures through the roof. Hey it beat keeping the window open, so any crazies would have to jump onto the car and try to come over the top. Otherwise they could just reach through your window and who wants to risk that? I found the bridge with no trouble …

The real scare came after I passed the bridge. I saw lights to the left and I said “more houses!” but it was nothing more then a sign in the woods which reflected the moonlight quite brightly. The biggest scare was yet to come…. I’, driving and all of sudden saw “a mental patient in a hospital gown” down the road. Then I realized it looked a tad too bright in the car headlights and drove closer, and I knew what it was, but I couldn’t get the words out I was fumbling and I thought “skeleton” and of course that made it worse … finally got close enough to see …

…that it was a WWE inflatable doll. Someone clearly has a good sense of humor. I laughed my ass off afterwards. I drove down and encountered the same dirt mound and turned back around.