Paulinskill Viaduct photos

Also known as the Hainesburg Viaduct, the Paulinskill Viaduct was built in 1909. It was (at the time of its construction) the largest viaduct of it’s kind in the world. The seven arched span is 1100 feet long and looms 115 feet above the roads, trees and river below. The Lackawanna Railroad was considered an engineering marvel as they built concrete overpasses rather then allowing for crossings, and built giant trestles rather then creating steep inclines to go over mountains. Read more here. It is part of the same line as the Byram Ice Tunnel and was the line that replaced the Manunka Chunk line, because it was shorter then Manunka Chunk and had fewer steep grades..

In the 1960’s the rail line was closed, and the rail beds torn up. It was neglected until the late 80’s when the State acquired it and the nearby land and added it to the state park. Of course going up top isn’t exactly encouraged mind you, safety and that kind of stuff. In May 2004, a man fell to his death and drowned in what is being labeled as an accident and possible suicide. Recently there are reports that there are now no trespassing signs posted around the PV.

If you go up this makeshift ladder you’d encounter some metal rungs which would lead you to a shaft which would lead thru a poop encrusted tunnel which would exit to the top of the structure. We didn’t use them because they looked rickety, and because getting severely injured 3 weeks before your wedding was not acceptable.

A turn by turn driving guide that lets you see all the various overpasses.

There are plans to resurrect the old rail line to carry commuters into NYC according to this article.

Lambertville High School

The school was built in 1854, remodeled in 1926, and then closed in 1955. A fire gutted the center portion of the building and the roof in 1992. (arson of course) The central part of the school burned completely, and in the past few years the floor collapsed in one section, eliminating the infamous “children on the blackboard”. This was a series of eerie faces carved into a blackboard on the second floor.

THE LEGEND OF BUCKEYE

The legend begins in 1935 as Lambertville HS plays an annual football game against the Buckeyes from New Hope. Unfortunately this annual Thanksgiving event is marred by the death of a wide receiver on the opposing team. The parents protest that football is too dangerous, and the New Hope school closes it’s football program.

After the school closed in 1955, it became a hangout for the rowdy kids. One night some kids got drunk and the subject of the dead wide receiver comes up. One of them yells out a challenge to the dead football player, a 100 yard dash. A pair of eyes appear across the field, and orders them to race the field or die. One boy runs and collapses. The remaining boys reluctantly run the field, but once to the other side, they realize one of the boys isn’t with the group any more. They run home, their parents call the cops, and eventually the bodies of the two boys are found, their heads turned almost backwards. Ever since then it is said then anyone challenging Buckeye will not live thru the night….don’t even say the word, lest you die on the spot….

Photos come courtesy of a reader who wishes to remain anonymous.

The abandoned school is on private property, and entering it would involve trespassing. The school is structurally questionable and going inside is very risky. We do not encourage you to trespass or to take unnecessary risks.

Abandoned Greenhouse

This greenhouse and building sit in a small patch of woods near my home. A homeless man lives in these woods too. The building is a shambles, the roof half gone, the doors & windows missing, and the concrete floor has openings into god-knows what below. The greenhouse is almost invisible except when viewed from the front. The roof & sides have been totally covered by vegetation, creating an unusual breakthru of light when you stand inside.

old barn and stables

This massive barn and horse stable was part of a farm that went out of business about a decade ago. The farmer’s home next to the barn lies dormant and falling apart as well.

I discovered a running water hose, and based on some estimates of water pressure and time, I figure if it had been running since the farm was abandoned (10 years) and with a flow rate of 2 gallons per minute, that over 10 million gallons of water wasted. A garden hose can produces 6.5 gallons per minute though, so at full pressure (which it didn’t seem to be at) that would raise the figure to 35 million gallons of water wasted.

When I visited this place in 2003, the entire property was for sale to be turned into townhouses within a year. I doubt it’s still there now…

The back looked worse then the front and showed complete disrepair. I doubt this place could be salvaged. Interesting that this place went downhill so fast in only 8 years while other places abandoned much longer are in much better shape….

Doorknobs?

Pfaff barn

this photo came to me in an email from JH

This picture is of the Pfaff round barn it was built in 1933 by the Pfaff family…as an experiment in modern farming techniques…in townsbury nj on janes chapel road… this is the only roundbarn in new jersey…there are two other semi-circular barns in new jersey……like i said… i sent this once before…if you can use it have fun…if you only look at this picture…remember…the round barn is owned by the state of new jersey….and they have not even tried to preserve it or stabilize the structure…

Abandoned house in Hunterdon County

The house sits maybe 150 yards off the road, and the “driveway” (a pair of depressions in the weeds) sits behind a large thicket of bushes so it is concealed from traffic on that side of the road.. The stairs to the porch ere gone so I hoisted myself up and almost went directly into the doorway but caught myself before pitching headlong into one of the biggest spiderwebs I have ever seen. There was just enough room to squeeze under it without touching it.

The living room seemed bare and unassuming. I headed towards the back, where it seemed as if the 2nd floor either collapsed or was taken down for some reason, as I could see into the upstairs bedrooms. I headed up a spiral stairway, going carefully because I could see it was not aligned well. The upstairs bathroom was destroyed, and I could see thru some holes in the roof. There was a basement but I decided against going in there for safety.

NJ stonehenge

These concrete remains form a huge circle, perhaps 100 feet wide. There are large openings in the walls, perhaps for windows, spaced around the entire perimeter. There is evidence that the building suffered a fire. 25 yards east of the circular walls is a fireplace, and a small concrete building, about the size of a ticket booth at a carnival.

abandoned railroad station

This old rail station was replaced with a new one on the other side of the tracks. There are 3 sets of tracks here. two are active, the other is not. I looked at a few maps & only see 2 lines shown, which would make sense. The current rail station is on the easternmost track, which is for commuters. the middle track is for freight, and then you have the westernmost track which is where this old station is. There is a section in the middle of the station where there used to be a set of stairs that led… to a parking lot. The stairs were filled with concrete and dirt.

Since posting this, the remains have been torn down and removed.

Lobster Barn

The Lobster Barn was a restaurant that closed and when they did, they left a lot of stuff behind. The site has since been bought by Porcelenosa and the the buildings leveled. On the same property was the Motel 17, 6 or 7 bungalow type motel buildings. They were also abandoned, and both were in a state of decay when these pictures were taken.

Watchung Reservation

The area was originally settled by the Wilcocks family, who ran a grist and lumber mill. A small cemetery plot with four gravestones dating to the 1700s is the only evidence of the earliest settlers. It is believed that it became abandoned at some point before again becoming occupied in the 1800’s. David Felt rebuilt mills and began a book and paper processing center, which furnished products to the New York stationery business.

It is presumed that in these 11 houses that were built, 4 families lived in each house. There was one building that served as a general store, school, and church for the residents of this village. In the 1860’s Felt sold the village, and it was sold several times over in the next 20 years. It eventually ended up in the hands of a man named Ackerman who renamed it Glenside Park. He tore down most of the buildings and built new ones more suited to farming and raising cattle. The old mill was used as a stable until it become structurally unsound and was torn down in the 1930’s. The barn was built in 1882 to house horses and carriages which would transport business men to the train station.Glenside park flourished until 1916.

In the 1920’s, the Union County Parks Commission purchased the property. The houses in the village were rented out to families until the 1960’s. The village was listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 1980. The barn is now home to the Union County’s own Operation Archeology.

Watching Reservation is home the bunny bridge and also was home to a Nike base

There is a large water tower nearby, and although there was only one confirmed suicide, it has been nicknamed “Suicide Tower”.

guide to hiking in watchung reservation

another hiking guide