FIELD TRIPS OF THE CLUB 



Trip of March 22, to the Pine Barrens at 

 Lakehurst, Vicinity of Wrangel Brook 



Each trip through the Pine Barren Region of southern New 

 Jersey has brought to my attention traces of the successive in- 

 roads that civ'iUzation has made in exploiting this area. 



The first settlers who touched the western edge of the 

 Barrens were the Swedes who came in 1638 to establish trading 

 posts. About this same time the Dutch had received grants in 

 the Cape May Peninsula and had commenced to clear acreage 

 for farms. With the surrender of New Amsterdam in 1664, a 

 large influ.x of English settlers came from Connecticut and 

 Massachusetts to settle the coast at Tuckerton, Barnegat, and 

 elsewhere. 



Before the year 1700 thriving villages along the Delaware 

 and the coast sought communications across the Pine Barrens. 

 An old Indian trail which started from Great Egg Harbor and 

 followed the river northwestward and then to the Delaware 

 was used by the early surveyors and timber cruisers. One of 

 the first routes opened by the whites extended from Barnegat 

 through Cedar Grove and South Pemberton to Burlington on 

 the Delaware. 



In those days the Pitch Pine grew to 75 feet in height, while 

 now, chiefly due to repeated fires, it seldom reaches 50 feet. 

 The White Cedar, due to its lightness and durability, was tim- 

 bered to such an extent in the Cape May section that Benjamin 

 Franklin in his Poor Richard's Almanac in 1749 advocated 

 judicious reforestation. Yet even today white cedar is cut for 

 local consumption. 



The damming up of streams to make cranberry bogs ma- 

 terially affected the flora. The natives also found that nurseries 

 were a ready market for dried sphagnum moss to use as packing 

 material. 



At one time American Holly was carted away by the crate 

 for Christmas greens as was also Laurel, and Mistletoe. When 

 in bloom Water Lilies, Sweet Bay, Arbutus and the Pink 

 Azalea suff^ered depredations. 



Finally we came to the real estate promoter who slashed 

 out huge developments with avenues and streets, labeling them 



71 



