Truly 'Gap-tivating'

Between New Jersey and Pennsylvania one will find 70,000 acres of valley along the Delaware River between the low mountains of the Appalachians that attract hikers, boaters, rock climbers, rafters and campers among many others.

Along the Appalachian Trail lies the Delaware Water Gap, in essence, the place where the Delaware cuts between the Blue Mountains of Pennsylvania and the Kittatinny Ridge of New Jersey.

The resulting topography includes lakes, ponds, springs, ravines, overlooks, glens and forests which eventually helped to designate the Water Gap as a national recreation area of the East Coast.

The ubiquitous footprint of history is adorned in the Water Gap’s countless trails. One such example is the remains of 17th Century Dutch mines and villages from the French and Indian War which stand on its New Jersey side.

The region boomed as a resort town by the beginning of the 20th Century. Today vacationers still venture to the destination for its recreational activities and spectacular sight-seeing.

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Christopher Robinson

No Mere Biosphere

Strangely situated within the otherwise populous state of New Jersey, not far from adjacent cities Philadelphia and New York lies an ecological wilderness known as the Pine Barrens. It features its own unique climate, ecosystem, wildlife and history, not to mention a fabled winged monster- The Jersey Devil.

The remains of the Harrisville Iron Furnace

The dearth of development in Ocean County’s Pinelands stems back to the days of European colonization when the area’s sandy soil was deemed largely unsuitable for growing and farming.

Nevertheless, the Lenni Lenape Indians who inhabited the region long before their arrival used controlled fires in the pursuit of cultivation and hunting, a practice more or less still employed today.

The Penn Branch Trail

Through the years, everything from iron, charcoal, paper, cabinetry, cranberries and blueberries were produced in the Pine Barrens. Some parts are said to have been the site of liquor bootlegging and smuggling by crime organizations. As a result, there remain not only ghost towns in the wake of those previously stated industries but, allegedly, abandoned remains of stills and the graves of victims silenced by Prohibition-era hit men(!)

Other areas feature somber reminders of tragedy. A monument to Emilio Carranza marks an area in the town of Tabernacle where the Mexican aviator was killed while returning to Mexico City from New York.

Memorial of Emilio Carranza

Campgrounds are readily available as are ideal opportunities for hiking, cycling, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, hunting and horseback riding.

While over one million acres of the Jersey Pine Barrens have been designated as a National Reserve and International Biosphere Reserve, conservation continues to be a primary concern as well as that of potential forest fires.

Jersey Devil statue--no one dares tear it down!

Hopefully, the future will see the Pinelands remain the largely pure and undeveloped landscape it has managed to stay thus far. Of course whatever that future brings could be just as cryptic and inscrutable as the Barrens themselves on a quiet, dark and shadowy New Jersey night.

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Christopher Robinson