Pinelands Heritage Series 2008

A series of talks and field trips exploring history and culture in the New Jersey Pinelands.

All programs are free of charge, but reservations are required for all programs.

Please contact Pinelands Preservation Alliance at (609) 859-8860 x12 or email janewiltshire@pinelandsalliance.org for reservations, directions and information.

In chronological order, here are the programs in this series. For a Acrobat .pdf copy of the schedule, click here.

Woodbine: Jewish Immigrants On The Land

Date: Sunday, May 18, 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Location: Sam Azeez Museum of Woodbine Heritage, 610 Washington Avenue, Woodbine

Speaker: Perdita Buchan, author, Utopia, New Jersey

Woodbine was founded in 1882 under the auspices of the Baron de Hirsch Fund, a Jewish philanthropic agency.  Its utopian mix of agriculture and industry was intended to provide a new life for Jews fleeing the pogroms of their native Russia.  Few of Woodbine's "pioneers" had any farming experience, yet they managed, with great difficulty, to wrest a living from the poor Pineland soil and to build a thriving community in the early years of the 20th century. 

Patriot Pirates: Tales of Plunder and Privateers of Coastal NJ

Date: Saturday, May 24, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Location: Tuckers Lighthouse, 120 West Main Street, Tuckerton

Speaker: Timothy Hart, Executive Director, Tuckerton Seaport

Interactive program discussing The War at the Shore, the civil war that raged along the New Jersey coast from 1775 to 1783, when privateers staged coastal raids on Britain's Royal Navy during the Revolutionary War.  Explore real pirate treasure from sugar to silk or take turns at the helm and imagine navigating the Jersey Shore.   Includes bus tour of local revolutionary sites and walking tour of Tuckerton Seaport Patriot Pirates exhibit. 

Heart of the Pines: A Depression-Era Tour

Date: Saturday, June 7, 1:00 - 4:30 p.m.

Location: Egg Harbor City Historic Society, 533 London Avenue, Egg Harbor City

Speakers: Budd Wilson, historian and archaeologist; Barbara Solem-Stull, author, Ghost Towns and other Quirky Places in the New Jersey Pine Barrens; Joanne Wright, educator

Learn about the impact of the 1930s New Deal WPA (Works Progress Administration) on the people and places of the NJ Pine Barrens. During these grim depression years the federal government hired thousands of unemployed American men to do work to preserve the nation's natural resources. Camps of these workers (Civilian Conservation Corps) were located at Bass River State Forest, Lebanon State Forest, Mount Misery and Egg Harbor City.    

Lenape Lifestyles

Date: Sunday, June 22, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Location: Pinelands Preservation Alliance, 17 Pemberton Road, Southampton Township

Speaker: Bill Guthrie, professor of education, Rider University

Learn about the work, play and ceremonies of the Lenape Indians to life in this lively and enjoyable presentation that illustrates the daily lives of New Jersey's residents before Europeans arrived.  

Elizabeth White and the Blueberry

Date: Sunday, July 13, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Location: Whitesbog Village

Speaker: Nancy O'Mallon, filmmaker, The Mighty Humble Blueberry

Take a walking tour of Whitesbog Village, birthplace of the cultivated blueberry, and learn what life was like for the workers at Whitesbog through a visit to the Interpretive Cottage, Agricultural Museum and Elizabeth White's home.  The tour ends with blueberry picking, a summer treat for guests. 

The Black Doctor of the Pines & His Family

Date: Saturday, August 2, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Location: Corson Poley Center/Burlington County Historical Society, 451 High Street, Burlington City

Speaker: Francine Still Hicks, the great, great granddaughter of Dr. James Still

Learn about Dr. James Still, the Black Doctor of the Pines, a man who gave of his soul and spirit to become a great healer.  There were 18 children in the Still family, some who have continued to contribute to the longevity and legacy of the Still family.

Optional: Short walk to Underground Railroad Café.   

Railroading in the Pines

Date: Saturday, August 16, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Location: Neighborhood Arts Center, 64 Hanover Street, Pemberton Borough

Speaker: Paul W. Schopp, historian

Almost 175 years ago, the first primitive railroad penetrated the portion of New Jersey known as the Pine Barrens.  Learn about the entrepreneurs who built these railroads, and the impact of this revolutionary transportation modality on the Pine Barrens, its industries, and its residents.

Optional: Guided tour of Pemberton Train Station and guided walk of the Rail Trail in Pemberton. 

Working the Cycle

Date: Saturday, September 13, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Location: Tuckerton Seaport, 120 West Main Street, Tuckerton

Speaker: Jaclyn Stewart, Director, Jersey Shore Folklife Center at Tuckerton Seaport

Examine the cycle of seasonal occupations practiced in the Pine Barrens and along the New Jersey shore.  This program includes a gallery talk in the Seaport's "Working the Cycle" exhibit.  You will learn how this tradition carries on today through historical research and artifacts and current fieldwork conducted by the Jersey Shore Folklife Center.  Meet baymen currently working on the water and in the Pines.

Optional: Boat tour of Tuckerton Creek.

Optional: Walking tour of Tuckerton Seaport, boat-works, decoy carving shops, clam and oyster houses. 

Unearthing the Industrial Past:  An Introduction to Archaeology in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

Date: Saturday, October 11, Noon - 2:00 p.m.

Location: Brendan Byrne State Forest

Speaker: Scott Wieczorek, archaeologist, Louis Berger Group

During colonial times Pine Barrens communities such as Batsto, Whitesbog, and Woodmansie, and Red Oak Grove developed around industries like the smelting of bog iron, blueberries, coastal salt works, paper mills, and saw mills.  Over the past few decades these industries and their communities have been slowly disappearing from local memory.  This program focuses on the story of one forgotten industry, the Pine Barrens clay industry.  

The Mullica River & the Forks

Date: Saturday, October 11, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Location: Batsto Visitor Center, Wharton State Forest

Speakers: Robert Auermuller Jr, Superintendent, Wharton State Park; Dale Denda, Affair at Egg Harbor Historical Society; Timothy Hart, Executive Director, Tuckerton Seaport; and Thomas Farner, historian.

Learn about the key role of the Mullica River and the Forks in the American War of Independence. Includes a discussion of the raid on Chestnut Neck October 1778 and the defense of Egg Harbor between Captain Ferguson and Casmir Pulaski. 

Optional: Guided bus tour of Chestnut Neck, Batsto, Forks, and Affair in Egg Harbor (Little Egg Harbor). 

A Revolutionary Tavern in the Pines

Date: Saturday, October 18, 10:00 a.m. -Noon

Location: Wells Mills County Park, Route 532, Waretown and on-site visit to Cedar Bridge Tavern  

Speakers:  Tom Farner, historian and author; Tim Hart, president of the Stafford Township Historical Society; German Georgieff, chief park naturalist, Wells Mills Park (Ocean) County Park

A little-known, colonial tavern with a 200-year old bar tucked in a corner of its main room is still nestled within the Pine Barrens.  The tavern was the site of what some historians consider to have been the last "battle" of the Revolutionary War.   Learn about Cedar Bridge Tavern:  its origins, its life as a tavern, and its recent acquisition by Ocean County.  After the talk take a tour of this extraordinary "Revolutionary Tavern in the Pines." 

Come Earnest Homeseekers: Ethnic Settlements in the Pines

Date: Wednesday, November 12, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Location: Pinelands Preservation Alliance, 17 Pemberton Road, Southampton Township

Speaker: Mark Demitroff, Pinelands geographer

Description: Large tracts of desolate land became accessible for development schemes when railroads began to crisscross the Pine Barrens during the mid 19th century. Immigrants, beckoned by dubious promises of prosperity and independence, settled upon modest garden plots offered at bargain prices. This presentation commemorates the meaning of place for German, Italian, and Jewish settlers who sought security by taming an impoverished wilderness.