A visual chronicle of suburban NJ
At first I thought this teepee-looking thing in the South Mountain Reservation might be an educational Native American exhibit, something like the the Lenape hut in the Great Swamp. But after seeing a few more of these trees with sticks propped around them, and hearing chatter about local artists who come out here to play in the woods… I think it’s art.
It’s about 5 feet tall, and it’s got an entrance, so you can even go sit inside, if you like!
Last week, after I had decided I was finished mucking about a trail near a pond, I made for the trailhead, which is what one does when one wishes to stop mucking about on a trail. To my surprise, I found the trailhead blocked by a family of Canada geese.
I wasn’t really sure what to do, and neither were they. They were standing in a narrow bottleneck between the parking lot and a larger concrete landing at the beginning the trail, and neither of us could pass the other right there.
I decided to press on, in hopes that they would back up into the parking lot, giving me clearance to exit the trail and return to my car. But they stood their ground, and as I drew near, I heard a funny noise— hissing. Hissing geese!
It suddenly hit me that these were protective parent geese, and I was a threat to their goslings.
Visions of savage goose attacks flew into my head.
I backed away slowly, and quietly stood as far to the side of the trail as I could.
Mama Goose, keeping her head down and pulsing it forward like a sleepy snake, hissed and led her family past me. And without a word, they ungracefully slipped into the pond and swam away in a single file.
But not before I got a family photo.
It’s time for those unconquerable dandelions to spread their seeds into your yard!
I am totally ripping off a better shot that I saw last week, but it was still fun to try my own version. 
This wall of rocks, near the first sharp curve of Brookside Drive in Millburn’s South Mountain Reservation, is a stone abutment. It’s one of the last remnants of the New Jersey West Line Railroad east of Summit.
(Below is what this stone wall looks like from the road, if you’re NOT the type to go climbing up steep poison-ivy filled hills to get better photos of historical ruins [cough]. See it peeking through, there on the left?)
This stone abutment originally supported a wooden trestle locally known as the Ghost Bridge, so-called because there was never actually a railroad built on top of it.
There was never a railroad on it because east of Summit, the New Jersey West Line was never fully constructed.
Construction started in 1870. They bought the land for the right-of-way, and they graded the land, and they even laid tracks in some places… but construction was stopped by 1873, in part due to corporate politics, in part due to lack of finances (Panic of 1873, anyone?).
Before 1873, everyone was so certain it would be built that the railroad started appearing on several maps. Here’s an 1872 map with the Morris & Essex line highlighted in blue, and the proposed New Jersey West Line highlighted in red (hint: not the county boundaries). (Click to see it larger.)
(1872)
If part of the NJWL on that map looks familiar… that’s because WEST of Summit, the New Jersey West Line became the modern-day Gladstone branch of the Morris & Essex line!
(2012)
(As a New Providence resident, I use the Gladstone branch every day! Hooray for partial construction of the NJ West Line!)
This isn’t to say that NOTHING east of Summit was ever built on the NJWL. There was a quarry in the South Mountain Reservation that needed to export its rocks to the rest of the world. The solution? Reclaim an unused bit of the NJWL that conveniently connected to the Morris & Essex Millburn station! Here’s a map from 1906, showing the railroad spur in use long after construction had otherwise ceased on the line:
(1906)
And that’s all I know. Abandoned railroads are fun!
References:
Beers, F.W. (1872). “Topographical map of Hudson, Union, and Essex Cos, New Jersey.” State atlas of New Jersey based on State Geological Survey and from additional surveys by and under the direction of F.W. Beers. Beers, Comstock & Cline: New York, NY. From the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. http://www.davidrumsey.com/.
Lampe, O.W. (1999, 2000). Images of America: Millburn. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738504130.
The Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society. (n.d.). The Map Room. “1906 Atlas Map of Millburn, Plate 32.” http://www.mshhistsoc.org/map-room.
Wikipedia. (2010, last edit). “New Jersey West Line Railroad.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_West_Line_Railroad.
(P.S. Hey, speaking of railroads and history, Amtrak is sponsoring National Train Day this weekend, in honor of the completion of the country’s first transcontinental railroad in 1869. If you live near a city, and you’re into trains, why not check it out?)
I saw a bunch of red admiral butterflies! I think they were mating. Mostly they were zipping around way faster than my camera could catch them, but occasionally they’d rest on the ground near me for a minute or two.
(By “I saw a bunch” I mean “I saw more than one.” I’m not sure whether I saw two or twenty.)
At the base of Campbell’s Pond, in the South Mountain Reservation, there is the foundation of an old bridge that you’re probably not supposed to walk on. There are no railings, and the wooden beams are rotting, and the “no trespassing” fence has collapsed, and there’s a 15-to-25-foot drop off one side.
But it seems pretty sturdy, and this fisherman is hanging out on it, so why not?
Initially, I thought it might have been part of the New Jersey West Line railroad, which was never finished but had some functional tracks that passed through the Reservation… unfortunately, this bridge is too far north to be a part of that. As such, I have no idea why this bridge was originally constructed, or for whom, or by whom. Any thoughts?
The mayapples are in bloom!
I didn’t realize until I got home that mayapples (a.k.a. American mandrakes, or umbrella plants) are supposed to have SIX petals, not four with a space at the top. Whoops.
I forgot to actually take a photo of a mayapple plant (whoops again), so here’s one from Wikipedia, if you’re wondering what the heck a mayapple looks like:
Photo credit Valis55
I’ve seen them comprise a fairly thick ground cover, under the right growth conditions.
I went on a group hike through the South Mountain Reservation this past weekend!
It started off about as you’d expect— a moderately slow tromp through the woods, with occasional stops to point out cool plants or conservation efforts or what-have-you— but as the day drew on, our guide (Lou) started getting creative with our route, and we ended up (among other places) crossing this barely-a-bridge built of concrete medians and a wobbly wooden board.
This barely-a-bridge was apparently constructed in 1991 as part of an Eagle Scout project.
It was a lot of fun! I wholeheartedly recommend.
These hikes are organized by the South Mountain Conservation [link, including future scheduled hikes] (which is not affiliated with the Essex County Park Commission) (but is still pretty cool).
Have you ever seen a bridle trail/ hiking trail that crosses over a highway? I mean, aside from the non-road-overpasses I’ve shown you recently. (NOBODY is supposed to use THOSE ones.) This is more in the “pedestrian overpass” category, which is totally normal, except that this is a hiking trail, not a downtown area, which is where you’d normally find pedestrian overpasses.
This one can be found in the South Mountain Reservation, allowing the Lenape Trail to safely cross South Orange Avenue.
