If you prefer to read this email in your web browser, please click here.

December 11 - 18

Hard Facts and Solid Stories

Known to generations of local school kids as the Rock House, the Parsippany Rock Shelter is a collection of titanic glacial boulders that tumbled to form a rudimentary shelter.
Before you're inundated with holiday commitments, take advantage of the opportunity for a walk that can reveal more than you can imagine in the barren woods. The beaten-down forest rewards hikers with visible reminders of a busy past, sometimes in remote tracts high in the hills. And there are less renown, but equally intriguing remnants of history lurking in the woods of Northwest New Jersey. There's more to see... no leaves, no mud, no bugs, no sweat!

Rock Legends

A huge overhanging rock slab forms the Bevans Rock House, used as a rock shelter probably for centuries.
New Jersey’s Skylands offer beauty, awe, history, and mystery to any traveler discovering the region’s mountains, lakes, fields, forests—and rocks!! Nearly everywhere you look there are rocks; big ones, little ones, sometimes fields of them resembling a Golem’s garden. But amidst this lithic profusion curious explorers cannot help but wonder why certain rocks and boulders have drawn enough attention in days gone by to have been given names of their own. Where are these special boulders anyhow, and what are their stories?

Whose Woods Are These?

What the heck kind of rock is that? All those layers... it looks sort of like its growing out of the ground. How did it get there?
Trace the domain of the former Pequest Furnace near Oxford, which played a role in the Industrial Revolution along with dozens of other sites in Northwest New Jersey. The part played here is relatively obscure, pieces of a puzzle hidden in the Warren County woods. Beyond the brown wispy remnants of last summer's green field at the edge of the woods, there sits a small, gray, alien hill, a pile of what might be lunar matter or crushed-up meteor. More...

The Ice Cave

Trails along the Delaware River lead to the Ice Cave and a vista overlooking the narrows north of Phillipsburg and Easton at the Marble Mountain Natural Resource Area. Inside, the Ice Cave, once known as the Fulmer Mine was blasted out of the iron-bearing rock that defines it. If you visit during some cold winter day, you will see the floor covered with stalagmites made of ice, creating a beautiful, almost surrealistic scene within the mine.

Pit Stop

The gouges and cuts that scarred the earth made way for early industrial commerce in Northwest New Jersey.
With a little research and a walk in the woods your town might transform from a collection of ordinary suburban neighborhoods to one of great historical significance. Explore the site of the Elizabeth Mine in Rockaway, one of a number of iron ore operations that comprised the Mount Hope Mine, which produced about six million tons of iron ore and, from its forge and furnace, cast iron products such as Revolutionary War cannonballs.

Foggy Mountain Breakdowns

Although there may have been as many as ten plane crashes along the Kittatinny Ridge in Sussex and Warren Counties, few people are aware of them. Due to the very rugged nature of the area's mountainous terrain, some of the wreckages have never been completely salvaged, and pieces still lie there. Without modern instruments, the ridge could be treacherous for aviators.

Deck the Halls!


Thanks for joining us in our appreciation of Northwest New Jersey and all the brilliant ways to get out and enjoy the pleasures of the season. Tap our calendar for the best events for you and your family, or check our current stories. Pick from a multitude of daytrip itineraries and watch out for our virtual efforts to keep you informed. For the more aerobically inclined, the Outdoor Map shows the way to go, or choose among dozens of natural attractions or outdoor activities suggested on our website.
Like many other small, independent and specialized information sources, our operation increasingly relies on reader donations. Help us keep you informed about all the great stuff to do in and around Northwest New Jersey! If you like what we offer, we hope you'll consider a contribution.

Share this email *|MC:TOPSHARE|*
Home Page | Events | Area Maps | Contents | Advertise
Skylands Visitor Magazine (Guest Services, LLC), PO Box 329, Columbia, NJ • Privacy Statement