Nike Road: Part 2

Remember when I was rambling about Nike Road yesterday? Do you? Today I intend to ramble about the Nike Road bridge.

For twenty years after the Watchung Reservation Nike base was deactivated in 1963, as far as I can tell, both the launcher and the control area lay abandoned and unused.

And then, in the 1970s, I-78 came along.

The interstate was originally supposed to cut right through the Watchung Reservation, but the locals were definitively not okay with that. For years, a war raged between angry locals and equally angry road-builders.

Eventually, in the mid-1980s, they came to an agreement: I-78 would be built, but it would just skirt the northern edge of the Watchung Reservation (which necessitated blasting through the Second Watchung Mountain, which was a pain), and several non-road-bearing land bridges would be constructed to allow wildlife from the Watchung Reservation to migrate across the interstate without interfering with traffic.

One of those land bridges, as I’ve already shown you, was the bunny bridge.

The other land bridge is Nike Road, a little one-lane maintenance road that ran from Glenside Avenue to the Missile Tracking Radar Station.

 

While the lore says that Nike Road has always been part of the Nike missile station, the Nike Road bridge is dated 1985; if the missile station was deactivated in 1963, and I-78 wasn’t constructed until the 1980s, there was certainly no reason to build an overpass for an unused road. And there was certainly no need to line it with the same tall grass that’s found on the bunny bridge.

 

So as far as I can tell, Nike Road bridge was wholly intended to serve as an alternative to the bunny bridge for a wildlife migration land bridge… and maybe some maintenance vehicles from time to time, because why else would they go to the trouble of paving it?

(I haven’t seen this explicitly stated anywhere, so this is my own conclusion; if you have additional information either confirming or denying this, please leave a comment below!)

But as I mentioned yesterday, it seems like vehicles aren’t really a priority, because the road is currently obstructed by logs (which are, generally speaking, not very friendly to things on wheels).

And that’s that. For additional information, refer to my sources below.

 

References:

Alpert, S. (n.d.). “New Jersey Roads – Nikesite Rd., Union Co.” Alps’ Roads. http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/nikesite/.

Alpert, S. (n.d.). “New Jersey Roads – I-78.” Alps’ Roads. http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/i-78/.

Bender, D.E. (n.d.). “Nike Battery NY-73: Summit, NJ.” Nike Missiles and Missile Sites. http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/NY73.html.

Harpster, F. (2009). “Missiles in Mountainside: Nike Battery NY-73.” From the Hetfield House (newsletter). http://www.mountainsidehistory.org/files/HHnewsletter09final.pdf (PDF).

LostinJersey Blog. (2009). “Summit Nike base.” http://lostinjersey.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/summit-nike-base/.

Troeger, V.B. (2005). Images of America: Berkeley Heights Revisited. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738537527.

Wikipedia. (2012). “Interstate 78 in New Jersey.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_78_in_New_Jersey#History.

Nike Road: Part 1

This is approximately where the Nike missiles in the Watchung Reservation used to be controlled!

You may recall when I wrote about the Nike missile launch site, which used to be located where the Watchung Stables are now. If you don’t (don’t feel bad, I don’t expect you to), here’s a recap.

In 1957, during the Cold War, the U.S. army declared that it would construct a Nike missile base on the Watchung Reservation. Despite locals’ loud protests, the base (NY-73) was completed in 1958.

The base consisted of two parts: the launcher (now the Watchung Stables), where missiles were assembled, tested, and stored in three underground magazines (each of which could hold ten Nike Ajax missiles); and the control area (near the present Governor Livingston High School), officially known as the Missile Tracking Radar Station.

For reasons apparently unknown, the battery started shutting down in 1962, less than four years after they opened it. (It was officially deactivated in 1963.)

While there are reportedly no signs left of the launcher near the Watchung Stables, a little bit of barbed wire and a concrete slab still mark the former control area.

 

The interesting part of this is the long, winding, abandoned maintenance road that leads from Glenside Avenue to Governor Livingston High School.

 

When I visited the control-area road, there were a lot of fallen trees blocking the road, presumably left from Hurricane Irene (August 2011) and the Halloween Blizzard (October 2011). Since the road is currently impassible to vehicular traffic, and nobody has bothered to move the logs for 5-8 months, I suspect the road doesn’t get a lot of traffic.

 

I did see more joggers and pedestrians than I expected. So the road DOES get used.

 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Nike Road adventure tomorrow!

 

References:

Alpert, S. (n.d.). “New Jersey Roads – Nikesite Rd., Union Co.” Alps’ Roads. http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/nikesite/.

Alpert, S. (n.d.). “New Jersey Roads – I-78.” Alps’ Roads. http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/i-78/.

Bender, D.E. (n.d.). “Nike Battery NY-73: Summit, NJ.” Nike Missiles and Missile Sites. http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/NY73.html.

Harpster, F. (2009). “Missiles in Mountainside: Nike Battery NY-73.” From the Hetfield House (newsletter). http://www.mountainsidehistory.org/files/HHnewsletter09final.pdf (PDF).

LostinJersey Blog. (2009). “Summit Nike base.” http://lostinjersey.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/summit-nike-base/.

Troeger, V.B. (2005). Images of America: Berkeley Heights Revisited. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738537527.

Wikipedia. (2012). “Interstate 78 in New Jersey.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_78_in_New_Jersey#History.

Dem bones

This skeletal remnant has been lying near/in a trail on the Watchung Reservation for at least a few months, since the last time I came through this way.

The ribs and tibia make it something bigger than a rabbit, but the molars are reasonably small. The spot is also surrounded by gray fur. A dog, maybe, hit by a car on the nearby Glenside Avenue and rolled over here to die? I sure hope not.

I’m not sure why I’m more upset at the idea of a dog dying here than, say, a badger dying here.

Alveoli bush

Update: Careful reader Serg has identified this bush as a bayberry. Thank you!

Do you know what kind of a bush this is? I don’t, and I wish I did.

These gray-white berries (or buds, or balls) are dispersed all over the twigs of the shrub. I guess maybe it’s an immature multiple berry or something, I can’t identify much of anything because my Google search skillz have failed me.

I think the berries look like alveoli, which are basically air sacs in your lungs! It’s always fun with you find anatomy in non-anatomical places. (I hope this doesn’t come up in search results for “alveoli”; if it does, and that’s how you found this, I’m sorry!)

Heliport!

There’s a heliport in Berkeley Heights, behind the Connell Corporate Center!

On the map, it’s actually that beige square, not where the marker is. But still! Kind of cool. I’d love to be around when they’re actually landing a helicopter here.

Just hikin’

Just another scene from the Watchung Reservation. (It was much colder than this photo looks.)

Diamond Hill School

It’s the Diamond Hill School! Except it’s not a school anymore. People live here! I actually started trespassing on their tiny front lawn just as the residents emerged from the house to start loading their car. (I pretended to be taking photos of the church next door until they drove away.)

Here’s a context shot from across the street:

 

Diamond Hill School (also sometimes known as “the Woodchuck School”) was built in 1888.

Here’s a photo of Diamond Hill School, c. 1910…

c.1910

 

…and here’s a photo of it c. 1932. (Look, it even still has that little porthole on the side, near the roof!) Just two years later, in 1934, it was the last one-room schoolhouse in Union County to close.

c.1932

 

It’s been maintained on its original foundations as a private residence. Hooray for preserving history!

 

References:

Troeger, V.B. (1996). Images of America: Berkeley Heights. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0752404903.

Gonczlik, J. and Coddington, J. (1998). Images of America: New Providence. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738565210.

Bell Labs got solar panels!

Bell Labs Alcatel-Lucent installed solar panels over the summer! So the shot I got last December, with nice clear lawns…

…is no longer possible. Here’s how it looks from the road now:

According to Patch.com and Lucent’s own corporate blog, the solar system is expected to provide 10% of their power needs, cut energy costs by $2.5 billion over 10 years, and help Alcatel-Lucent meet its goal to reduce its carbon footprint 50% by 2020.

Back in June, when the panels were first officially switched on, Berkeley Heights mayor Joseph Bruno said:

I applaud them for going green, but putting them right on Mountain Avenue appears to be a little bit of an eyesore. It’s a mixed thing for me…. I hope the shrubs they put in front of them grow in because people slowing down to look at the panels can cause a traffic problem.

Well said. I think that’s kind of how we’re all feeling. But it’s for the greater good, and we’ll get used to them eventually.

Flaming hills!

As far as I can tell, this nifty light effect was caused by the setting sun casting a shadow from the Second Watchung Mountain onto the First Watchung Mountain.

(On the map, the photo location is indicated [approximately] by a little pin-marker-thing.)

The red is entirely from the sun, not leaves. Believe me, this time of year? No colors anywhere.

Bonus fact: This is Seeley’s Pond.

Seeley’s Falls

Waterfalls are one of the suggested things you should photograph on overcast days (which yesterday most definitely was). And there are some really inspiring waterfall photos out there! I decided to try it for myself.

This is the dam at Seeley’s Pond, right at the edge of the Watchung Reservation (in New Jersey).

Here’s what one of my books has to say about it:

Equally divided between Berkeley Heights and Scotch Plains, the Falls at Seeley’s Pond, off Diamond Hill Road, were named for Edmund A. Seeley, a Scotch Plains businessman who in the late 1800s founded a paper-manufacturing company that used the falls for power (Troeger 2005, 82).

The concrete, brick, and steel ruins of Seeley’s Mill can be found a little further downstream.

If this sounds vaguely familiar to you, this is NOT the same guy who created Feltville. That was David Felt, who ALSO had dams to power his paper manufacturing mill on what is now the Watchung Reservation.

 

Reference:

Troeger, V.B. (2005). Images of America: Berkeley Heights Revisited. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738537527.