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.

Abandoned chorister

Just, y’know, a choir boy on the side of the road.

At the church I used to go to, this is almost identically the outfit that the kindergarten choir had to wear, right down to the big black bow. We always pitied them.

Cherry Coke

I thought this can had a very nice graphic element to it. And then I realized it’d be a perfect opportunity to practice split toning, which is where you tint the shadows of your image one color, and tint the highlights a different color.

…actually, no, I take that back, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE EMOTION. This image just GRIPS you, doesn’t it? Don’t lie, I know you’re crying. With emotion.

Pond in the ruins

I think this circular pond used to be the foundation of some structure, but it sure isn’t anymore.

It was in an area where I probably wasn’t supposed to be, near the remains of the Rahway Valley Railroad), and I can’t really find any information on this particular landmark.

FYI, this is what it looks like from above:

 

It’s also apparently in Springfield. I thought I was still in Summit until I checked a map just now.

Abandoned overpass 2

As continued from yesterday… in case you’ve forgotten, I’m talkin’ about this mostly-completed cloverleaf interchange/ overpass that doesn’t connect to any roads.

Once you find the little gravel-tracks that were clearly supposed to eventually be paved roads, you can just follow them up and find yourself on top of Route 24.

The cloverleaves, though not paved, have been curbed and graded.

From the tire tracks, my preliminary guess was that Triborough Rd. is currently being used as some kind of service road, since it’s really close to some PSE&G power lines, and this would be a convenient way to get trucks across Route 24.

But I had a conversation with a nearby resident (Steve!) who was taking his dog for a walk; he assured me this was pretty much publicly accessible land, and apparently the locals are really into driving their ATVs through here. (I saw one too, and Wikipedia mentions it, so it must be true.) I dunno. It could be service vehicles AND all-terrain vehicles.

Why do I refer to the overpass as “Triborough Road” if there isn’t actually any road associated with it? Apparently, as you drive along NJ 24, there is a sign posted on the bridge that labels it as such.

Aaaaaand that’s all I know about the abandoned Triborough Road overpass.

 

Sources:

Alpert, S. (n.d.). “New Jersey Roads – NJ 24.” Alps’ Roads. http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/nj_24/ and http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/cr_609/s.html.

Anderson, S. (2006). “NJ 24 Freeway.” The Roads of Metro New York. http://www.nycroads.com/roads/NJ-24/.

Ca3ey. (2007). “Abandoned ‘highway’ in Morris County.” Weird U.S. Message Board. http://theweirdusmessageboard.yuku.com/topic/1137/abanonded-highway-in-morris-county#.TyXo7mM9naI.

Wikipedia. (2012). “New Jersey Route 24.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower_Parkway and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Route_24.

Abandoned overpass 1

At some point in the early-to-mid 1970s, construction began on a cloverleaf overpass for a road that was intended to connect NJ 24 to NJ 124. (124 is a main street through Chatham and Madison; 24 is a major freeway that runs parallel to 124; 24 wasn’t finished until 1992.)

But locals raised a fuss; apparently the plans for the new “Triborough Road” ran uncomfortably close to the Passaic River, so environmental concerns (as well as budgetary concerns) prevented the road from ever being constructed.

BUT THE INTERCHANGE WAS BUILT ANYWAY.

Thus: there is a mostly-constructed cloverleaf exchange, totally unused, totally unconnected to any roads, sitting in the middle of basically nowhere. (It’s on the border of Chatham and Florham Park, not far from Millburn’s Short Hills Mall.)

For all the trouble it took me to get to this thing, I’m going to stretch this out into two days, so… stay tuned! I’ll continue this tomorrow. (Click here for the next Abandoned Overpass post.)

 

Sources:

Alpert, S. (n.d.). “New Jersey Roads – NJ 24.” Alps’ Roads. http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/nj_24/ and http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/cr_609/s.html.

Anderson, S. (2006). “NJ 24 Freeway.” The Roads of Metro New York. http://www.nycroads.com/roads/NJ-24/.

Ca3ey. (2007). “Abandoned ‘highway’ in Morris County.” Weird U.S. Message Board. http://theweirdusmessageboard.yuku.com/topic/1137/abanonded-highway-in-morris-county#.TyXo7mM9naI.

Cunningham, J.T. (1997). Images of America: Chatham. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0738545619.

Wikipedia. (2012). “New Jersey Route 24.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower_Parkway and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Jersey_Route_24.

Mulchin’

At some point, I was looking at a map, and I noticed a mysterious brown splotch in the middle of the woods.

“Clearly,” said I, “I must go and explore this mysterious brown splotch on the map.”

Turns out, it is the Chatham Borough Mulch Area [link to site]. Apparently you can bring your grasses, leaves, branches, dead trees, and other landscaping remnants here, where they can be recycled into mulch.

Groovy.

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.

At the bank

Behind New Providence’s A&P, there is a possibly-abandoned bank drive-through. I could be wrong about its “abandoned” status. But there is, as far as I can tell, no identifying mark on it, and the asphalt hasn’t been repaved in probably twenty years. Maybe ten.

Given that the construction of the new A&P basically closed down Village Shopping for four years, it’s entirely plausible that this thing really hasn’t seen any customers since 2006. On the other hand, I visited on a Saturday, so maybe it just wasn’t open, and it happens to be falling into disrepair.

Also: that’s me! with my “fifteenth time’s a charm” expression. I don’t know why I didn’t just hold the damn camera up to my eyeball; I kept missing the shot.