This is the Green Brook of the Watchung Reservation.
The view is only available to those who go off the marked trail through an enticing little basalt valley.
There’s probably a technical name for it, but I am not up on my geology. 
March 15, 2012
Can you hear the burbling brook?
February 28, 2012
Vistas
When I checked out Johnston Drive for its Weird NJ folklore, I was not expecting anything beyond a road with some bumps.
The panoramic mountaintop vista views were completely unexpected and A-MA-ZING.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to photograph them very well; it was the wrong time of day, and the wrong KIND of day, and I didn’t want to trespass too much, and there were trees and power lines and houses in the way, and I am unfortunately somewhat limited by my equipment.
But that didn’t stop me from wandering around and gazing at 180-degree panoramas and trying to bring them home with me.
Like this:
February 24, 2012
Lonely amusement
Bowcraft Amusement Park is a little bit of amusement off Route 22 in Scotch Plains. The park is closed October through March, so it’s a little lonely this time of year. But there’s ample parking now!
For more information, check their website.
Like this:
February 22, 2012
Thirteen bumps
ACCORDING TO LEGEND…..
Back in the days of Feltville, the children of the village kept disappearing. It was eventually decided that THIRTEEN MURDEROUS SISTERS were responsible for the childrens’ disappearances. The “witches” were all hanged and buried beneath Johnston Drive, which was dirt at the time. Because, I mean, obviously, what better place to bury someone than somewhere your wagon wheel could accidentally plunge into a muddy half-rotten grave, right?
But I digress. Their graves created small bumps in the road, as graves in a road are presumably wont to do.
After Johnston Drive was paved in later years, THE THIRTEEN BUMPS EMERGED FROM THE GROUND.
The bumps were removed and paved flat. YET AGAIN, THIRTEEN BUMPS EMERGED IN THE ROAD.
And it KEPT HAPPENING. Every time.
According to the story, if you drive over the bumps and count all thirteen, say “thirteen witches,” and then look behind you, you can see the witches following you. DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNNN!!!
Personally, I didn’t really notice any outstanding bumps when I drove (‘Was that a bump? Maybe that one? Maybe all of these bumps? If they all count, there are way more than 13 bumps here’), so this is just a generic photo of the road. I kept thinking of a quote I’d read earlier: “Every time I go there I’m either drunk or high so I count like 52 or like 5 bumps, so I’m looking around for a hell of a lot of witches or I’m wondering what the hell is going on” (Weird N.J. n.d., para. 2).
(Just to be clear: I was neither drunk nor high, Mom.)
One more reasonable theory asserts that Johnston Drive has lots of bumps ‘cos it’s always been a steep and tortuous road through the mountains, and bumps used to help prevent carriages from sliding backwards down the hills.
For other more reasonable theories, check out my sources below. OR TELL YOUR OWN TALES.
Sources:
Everson, E. (2011). “The ghosts of Union County: 13 bumps for 13 witches.” Patch.com. http://newprovidence.patch.com/articles/theghostsofunioncounty-13bumpsfor13witches.
Weird N.J. (n.d.). “Bumps road revisited.” http://www.weirdnj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=28.
February 4, 2012
Just hikin’
Just another scene from the Watchung Reservation. (It was much colder than this photo looks.)
Like this:
January 27, 2012
Cold as ice!
Near the ruins of Seeley’s old mill, there’s a little dribble of water over what I’ve seen referred to as a ‘basalt escarpment.’ (An “escarpment,” according to Wikipedia, is a steep slope caused by erosion or faulting. I’m not sure how natural this escarpment is, since there’s a quarry of some sort just down the brook.)
In the freezing cold, it has all dribbled into ice formations, but tiny spurts of unfrozen water still spray all over the place.
I don’t know what the water source for this is. Must be a small runoff or something.
Oh who cares. It’s pretty!
Like this:
January 19, 2012
Old mill ruins
A few days ago, I posted something about the dam that powered Seeley’s Mill. Well, THIS is all that’s left of the mill— a broken concrete floor, some mossy brick foundations, and corroded steel pipes all over the place. It’s part of the Sierra Trail, marked on the Watchung Reservation trail map (link in sidebar) as the “old mill ruins.”
Originally built in 1763, it started as a gristmill (for grinding grain) called Fall Mill.
After Edmund A. Seeley converted it into a paper mill, the business thrived until 1924.
Around 1916, the Green Brook (which powered the mill) flooded torrentially, and Seeley’s Mill fell in.
Apparently they fixed it up and functioned for another eight years (what with the whole “closing in 1924″ thing).
Nowadays… there’s just a trail marching through what’s left of it, and that’s that.
References:
Troeger, V.B. (1996). Images of America: Berkeley Heights. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0752404903.
Like this:
January 17, 2012
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.
Like this:
January 15, 2012
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.
Like this:
October 13, 2011
Scotch Plains Post Office
The Scotch Plains post office was expanded to its current size in 1997. For the duration of the construction, a trailer was used (much like New Providence!)
Otherwise… er, it’s a post office. Handles posts. That sort of thing.
* Hours for the Scotch Plains post office [USPS website], as of October 2011:
M-F: 8:30am-5:00pm
Sat: 8:30am-2:00pm
Reference:
The Times of Scotch Plains — Fanwood. (1997). “Township post office expansion to begin this Saturday, July 5.” July 3, 27(9?). http://www.thejointlibrary.org/archives/TheTimes/1997/1997-07-03/index.cgi?page=1&zoom=3
The Times of Scotch Plains — Fanwood. (1997). “Construction underway at township post office.” August 7. http://www.thejointlibrary.org/archives/TheTimes/1997/1997-08-10/index.cgi?page=1&zoom=3
