March 14 - 21
Call of the Mild!
Superbly camouflaged against the dormant meadow floor, the woodcock probes the soil with its long bill in search of a meal.
These mild days stir the blood, along with the sound signals that the new season is upon us. The surest sign that warmer weather is here to stay is the mating call of the
Spring Peeper, a tiny tree frog with a big, jingle bell voice fills the forest. Or, wanna
go see some male woodcocks show off for females by creating loud, nasal "peent" calls and performing dazzling aerial displays struts and launch into the air for a spiraling, zigzagging flight? Whaddya think?
Go take a walk, it's spring!
Rare Herps
When the first early spring rains come, thousands of salamanders, frogs and toads emerge from their winter slumber to make short stealthy migrations through the forest to breed and lay their eggs in vernal pools. The journey is often treacherous. (Photo: MacKenzie Hall)
As the season eases into milder temperatures at the onset of spring, all manner of creatures stretch their bodies and move more freely, searching for food and mates while they patrol their home turfs. Among these creatures are some of the most rare, interesting, and beautiful animals in the Garden State. Though they often go unnoticed or are misunderstood, reptiles and amphibians are vital to the balance of our fragile ecosystems—and some of them are in
pretty big trouble.
Tavern Tracking
Frenchtown’s National Hotel retains a precious old-time elegance.
Early settlements in northwest New Jersey typically grew around a mill, which provided sustenance for the body; a church, which offered sustenance for the soul; and a tavern, which delivered sustenance for both. In Hunterdon County, hundreds of the oldest taverns are now mostly forgotten. Many remain however, some hidden in plain sight, having been incorporated into later additions and renovations, evolving into establishments still in service. So, in celebration of spring's arrival, it would certainly be sensible to do your own research by
visiting some of these places.
Along the Western Front
This small stone building is believed to be the ruins of Fort Carmer, one of a line of forts from the French and Indian War.
Two decades before the American Revolution, the Royal Province of New Jersey prepared itself for the culmination of seventy years of bickering between the French and the English colonists. During the French and Indian War, the government was forced to take measures to protect New Jersey's northwestern frontier along the Delaware River from the increasing threat of marauding Indians, allies of the French armies. A line of forts and blockhouses were commissioned from Belvidere, in Warren County, through what is now the
Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, to Port Jervis, New York, with soldiers patrolling between them. Get out your hiking shoes, pump up your bike tires, or warm up the car and
trace this line of forts!
Digging Deep
Picatinny Peak rises above Picatinny Lake, once known as Clifford Pond.
The Cultural Resource Program at
Picatinny Arsenal has documented dozens of historic and Native American archaeological sites that tell a story that spans centuries in the New Jersey Highlands.
More...
Specializing in British foods and candy, and a wide selection of hard-to-find items,
Wilbur's Country Store is the perfect source for a unique country gift. Located in a charming barn complex on Rt. 94 in Frelinghuysen (
between Newton and Blairstown), Wilbur’s is the perfect destination on a drive through the New Jersey countryside. And this year you can fill your Easter Basket with hard-to-find candies from the UK!
The Ides of Patrick
A good sign that spring will be here soon is upon us, as
daylight savings time
begins this weekend. The weeks ahead will be packed with adventure, so keep an eye out for our
virtual efforts to keep you informed.
But, beware the fickle month of March and unpredictable weather!
The Irish tradition in Northwest New Jersey goes deep. In fact, St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in Morristown since the
days of the Continental Army.
The big Morristown parade takes place this Saturday, March 9.
And on Sunday (March 10 ,3:30pm)
the 15th annual parade in Hackettstown, moves down Main Street with Irish dance groups, Irish bands, community groups, bagpipes and drums, Centenary University and Hackettstown High School teams and clubs, and area fire departments and rescue squads. You can even bring your dog!
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. For example, the scant remains of an old airframe, possibly from an early Army biplane trainer, rest close to the Appalachian Trail near the top of the mountain, overgrown with brush. Without modern instruments, the ridge could be treacherous for aviators.
Read more!!
My Eduvacation
The serene atmosphere at Peters Valley invigorates a diverse community of artists.
Are you looking to explore your creative potential? How about a class or workshop at
Peters Valley Crafts Center? One of only six craft schools of its type in the country, and unique to Northwest New Jersey, it has grown from a small artists' collective in the early 1970s to a nationally recognized center for craft education.
Here's what happened one summer...
Run of the Mills
The restored grist mill at Millbrook Village.
Grist mill technology came to our country with the earliest settlers. Streams flowing from the New Jersey highlands made the geography of the northwestern section of our state ideally suited to the early mills, and by the middle of the 19th century the area was dotted with these self-contained, water-powered, grain-grinding factories. More efficient power sources and mass production quickly overwhelmed the small local grist mills and working mills were a rarity by the mid-20th century. The mills, however,
remain prominent in our landscape.
Best of Friends
Friends groups, as we know them in relation to many of our parks and precious historic sites, are surely bound by their commitment to community and stewardship. Always not-for-profit and volunteer driven, with the occasional paid executive director, Friends groups connect people to natural places, as well as to our heritage, while enhancing the role of public lands in local communities. If you’re looking for things to do this spring,
investigate the event schedules of dozens of Friends groups in Northwest New Jersey. Better yet, look into
joining!
Mark Your Calendar for Saturday, March 23 at
Lusscroft Farm! Ongoing demonstrations of how to tap the maple trees, collect the sap, and make the delicious syrup. Fresh maple syrup available for purchase . 10am to 3pm. Free Admission. Funds raised from syrup sales go to ongoing restoration projects at this historic farm. Presented by The Heritage and Agriculture Association, Inc., in cooperation with the NJ DEP/Div. of Parks & Forestry.
February 28 - March 6
Skip A Beat!
Photo by Dan Bacon
Four annual cycles passed, and now we find an extra beat, a leap year bonus in the cosmic syncopation. But, no matter how you count the days,
Spring is less than a month away! Sputtering spurts of winter are enveloped with warmer days, and the maple sap is flowing!
The weeks ahead will be packed with events, so keep an eye on our
calendar
and watch out for our virtual efforts to keep you informed. Forge ahead and face the music!
Learning Lenape
For Archaic peoples, rock shelters, consisting of natural overhangs or
hillside depressions, were temporary stopovers that offered protection
from the rain and snow. In winter they might have been closed in with windbreaks
made from skins or brush.
The native people of northwestern New Jersey had no written history. In fact, they had no writing except for the use of pictographs, some of which were carved on stone. Much of what we do know about New Jersey's prehistory is a result of work done by archaeologists, or from early accounts by explorers and travelers, along with journals kept by missionaries and settlers in the 1600s and early 1700s. For over 12,000 years the Lenape and their ancestors occupied northwestern New Jersey, successfully adapting to climatic changes in their environment. But, after a little more than a century following European colonization, only a few Indians remained.
Arrowheads, stone axes, pottery and other objects are still occasionally found in a farmer's field or along a riverbank, but only a rough sketch of a robust culture remains; we know nothing of the human deeds and dramas that occurred.
More...
A Silk Purse
The four-story plant built by Pelgram and Meyer on Monroe and Lincoln Streets in Boonton employed 500 people until it shut in 1927. It is now home to Kanter Auto Products.
For over two centuries a prolific iron industry wielded huge influence over the development of many communities in Northwest New Jersey. In particular, the forges, furnaces, and mines of Dover, Wharton and Boonton, all located along the banks of the
Rockaway River, were intimately connected from the early 1700s through the heady times of the
Morris Canal and the subsequent railroads. There are sites to see;
take a look around!
Railroads of Knowlton
The Warren Railroad was the first to lay track in Knowlton Township when, in 1856, John I. Blair completed its link to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad and the lucrative eastern markets for coal and iron products from Pennsylvania.
A century of busy railroading followed.
Cast Production
Serious fly-fishermen are almost as busy in February as on opening day in April. Winter is for preparation - the
tying of flies.
Fishing for trout with flies is like solving a puzzle. The current, the fish, the bugs under the surface and in the air all seem indecipherable. But slowly, with much patience, and relying upon an ever-expanding body of experience collected over a series of seasons, the code can sometimes, although by no means always, be broken.
Bobolinks and other birds thrive in the farm's woods and grasslands.
Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse produces regenerative and sustainable foods that nourish people in harmony with nature. You'll find 100% grass-fed raw cow's milk cheese; pastured meats and charcuterie; wood-fired rustic breads.
Visit their website to learn more about our farm store, farmer’s markets, classes, events, and shipping. And visit the farm and store at
369 Stamets Road, Milford NJ.
February 14-21
There's no event quite like a snowstorm; so unpredictable and exciting! Especially when you can snuggle up to someone special on
Valentines Day. So rub the one you're with, and don't forget to
save some love for your favorite presidents!
Deep Drifts
The
Wick House stands upon the tract purchased by Henry Wick in 1746, forming part of what is now, part of what is now known as
Jockey Hollow in
Morristown National Historical Park. The house deviated from the local architecture of the time, adopting the "Cape Cod" style with a central chimney, as preferred by the owner who came from Long Island. Henry Wick's new 1,400-acre farm, rich in forest, provided wood for shelter, heating, and cooking during the Continental Army's encampment in the winter of 1779-1780. Nine hundred acres of Jockey Hollow timber, notched together and chinked with clay, made the army's winter quarters -- 12 soldiers in each of one thousand 14 x 16 huts --
where the men made do with a trickle of rations and beds of loose straw. Walk up the hill at Jockey Hollow in the snow and imagine staying there until it gets warm enough sometime in April to take off your down jacket, not to mention your shoes. Try to conceive of something important enough to keep you on that hill for the rest of the winter.
Morristown National Historical Park’s Jockey Hollow Visitor Center,
Washington’s Headquarters Museum and Ford Mansion will reopen on Sunday, February 18.
Plan to visit the site of
the Great Story, and learn about the life of a common soldier during the winter encampment. And the
legend of Tempe Wick.
Make Tracks
Float beneath a cathedral of snow-covered trees and listen to the silence in VanCampens Glen, Delaware Water Gap NRA.
Snow might hang around in the deep woods long enough for you to try a bit of
snowshoeing!
Not only can you explore miles of unspoiled terrain, you get a cardio-packed punch of a workout. Snowshoeing is easy to learn, inexpensive compared to other winter sports, and poses little risk of injury. Just don't trip over a rock!
Read more...
Ice, Action, Camera!
Let's face it. Winter in New Jersey can bring on
Seasonal Affective Disorder. For too many mornings a metal gray sky bumps against the roofs of the cars crowding the highways. Daylight begins late and when it ends, it doesn't just end early. It ends emphatically. Gray morphs into black with stunning speed. It is enough to make most people long for the light of the tropics, the Day-Glo Sear Your Retinas beauty of a Caribbean beach.
And yet, with a shift in perspective,
photographers can fall in love with our short, cold days of winter.
Schedule your trip along the Appalachian Trail by snowshoe, a hearty visit to a brewery or winery, or dinner and a show! The
Warren County Wanderings newsletter is your weekly guidepost of discovery and a nexus of community in a culturally rich and environmentally singular area.
January 3 - 10
Warm greetings and best wishes
for a year marked by achievement and fulfillment! We hope you keep the
personality of the New Jersey Skylands
near and dear when you need to freshen your horizon among the hills and valleys of Northwest New Jersey!
For many, winter is a season for reflection. The challenge of the season strips away pretense, and offers a time for learning. Most important: don't let winter bite you in the butt!
Cold Calls
The shortened days of winter in the Skylands afford a chilly but unequaled opportunity to draw closer to nature and to enjoy the quiet that descends with the withdrawal of activity to the indoors. On these cold days, while local countryside vistas remain open and unshrouded by their canopy of leaves, the fields, forests, and woodlands of our region are prime for the pastime of winter birdwatching.
More...
Winter Ways
The many rolling hills of the Skylands offer an abundance of viewpoints not otherwise visible in other seasons. Some intrepid hikers don't
take to the trails until the branches are bare and the ground is frozen, in search of vistas from ice formations to sun glistening on a freshly fallen snow.
Life of Wiley
Coyote in Winter. Painting by John Mullane.
If rarely seen, the coyote is frequently heard. In the winter, during the January to March breeding times, listen for nocturnal howls when coyote are at their most vocal. They are happy to tell other coyotes, and the world, their location.
Stop and listen. They'll fall silent all too soon.
We'll be slowing down a bit for the winter and sending
less frequently. Meanwhile, 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.
Choose your own adventure!
Northwest New Jersey and destinations just beyond those borders, in Pennsylvania and New York, offer brilliant ways to get out and enjoy the pleasures of the season.
The better to see you with!
A lime kiln hides in the Knowlton Township woods.
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, probably used as a rockshelter for centuries.
New Jersey’s Skylands offer beauty, awe, history, and mystery to any weekend 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?
Try tracing 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 is about forty feet wide, thirty feet deep front to back, and ranges from about three to seven feet high. Actually, this is not a cave at all; it was blasted out of the iron-bearing rock that defines it. This was once known as the Fulmer Mine, also called the Marble Mountain Mine. If you visit during some cold winter day, you will see the floor covered with stalagmites made of ice, resembling so many old-fashioned milk bottles standing in groups, 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.