I. INTRODUCTION

New Jersey has undergone vast geologic changes since Precambrian time. Most human-induced changes, however, have occurred during the past 10,000 years, since retreat of Wisconsin continental glaciation. Aboriginal people migrated to New Jersey during that time, but their numbers were so few that they had little environmental impact. The New Jersey of that prehistoric time was pristine and untouched, with unbroken stretches of forest as far as the eye could see (Cunningham, 1966). The outer coastal plain forests contained mixed pine, oak, chestnut, and hickory in the uplands. The lowland sites, which were wetter, contained holly, white cedar, red maple, blackgum and birch. Although there were minor climatic fluctuations over the past 10,000 years, the forest vegetation remained stable (Hartzog, 1981). As stated by Harshberger (1916), "…the pine barrens vegetation…is an old vegetation in a long occupancy of the territory in which it is found. The age of this forest is attested by its surviving through the changes of several geologic epochs antedating the glacial period, when the northern part of the state was covered with ice." The natural resources, such as iron, copper, quartz sand, and vast quantities of pure water were hidden in the mountains, swamps, plains and unconsolidated sand aquifers. No ships sailed the bays or rivers, and there were no coastal settlements, except for the few scattered summer camps of the aboriginal people (Cunningham, 1966).

When the first European explorers and settlers came to the area now known as New Jersey, they found the native people who had existed there for thousands of years. The people who lived in the lower half of "Lenapehoking" (The Land of the Lenape) called themselves "Lenape," meaning "common" or "ordinary" people (Kraft, 1985).

The prehistoric ancestors of the Lenape kept no written records, so we do not know what they called themselves. In the absence of written records, archaeologists have created names such as Paleo-Indian, Archaic, and Late Woodland to identify the different prehistoric periods and cultures. Three major cultural traditions dominated the prehistory of New Jersey and the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain: (1) the Paleo-Indian Tradition (15,000 to 10,000 years ago); (2) the Archaic Tradition (10,000 to 3,000 years ago); and (3) the Woodland Tradition (3,000 years ago to European contact) (Hartzog, 1981).

Paleo-Indian artifacts provide the earliest documented evidence of the existence of human populations in New Jersey. The Paleo-Indians were aboriginal hunter-gatherers that roamed over a wide geographic area more than 13,000 years ago. Glaciers covered large parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. It is thought that these people came to the western hemisphere across a "land bridge" created by the lowering of sea level in the Bering Sea. This land bridge connected Siberia with Alaska. The indians arrived on the Atlantic Coast about 12,000 years ago, eventually settling in New Jersey and present-day Ocean County, where they harvested plants, animals, and sea life for sustenance. The changing climate affected their lifestyle. The climate was harsh and cold, and edible vegetation was scarce. They hunted cold-adapted animals such as woolly mammoth, mastodon, musk-ox, caribou, moose, elk and walrus (Hartzog, 1981). Remnants of their existence have been researched throughout the New Jersey Pinelands (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980).

As the glaciers melted and sea level increased, the flooding of coastal lands accelerated. The woolly mammoth and mastodon became extinct. Caribou, moose, and other cold-adapted animals migrated north as tundra vegetation was replaced by pine and spruce forests. Many hunters followed the migrating animals north. Some of the descendants of the Paleo-Indians remained in the Atlantic Coast area, adapting to the changing conditions. New people with different tools and weapons migrated to Lenapehoking from the south and west and created a new culture during the Archaic Period. Aboriginal populations, which had become more skilled in the use of available resources by this time, occupied estuarine areas with greater frequency. Traps, spears, deadfalls, snares, and bolas were means of obtaining game. Fish were speared, caught in nets, or trapped in fishweirs. Gardening was unknown, and people were completely dependent upon conditions of nature (Kraft, 1985). Increased reliance on lacustrine and marine resources was partially responsible for the increase in human populations observed during the Late Archaic Period (Stoltman and Baerreis, 1983). By 1900 B.C., remnants of indian habitation included cremated burials and grave artifacts (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980). The remains of the deceased were sometimes accompanied by "…spearpoints and knives, spear-thrower weights, axes, and other tools, as well as food for the journey to the afterlife" (Kraft, 1985).

The Late Woodland Period represents the interval from approximately 900 A.D. until the coming of European explorers and settlers (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980). Ceramic vessels were first used during this period, and there was increased use of broadspear projectile points for fishing (Custer, 1984). In the Atlantic Coastal Plain region, larger settlements were located on major waterways, such as the Toms River, while smaller sites were found on tributaries and near springs. Marine and riverine resource exploitation contributed to higher population densities and more complex social relationships (Custer, 1984). The people of this period were organized into many subtribes known collectively as the Lenni-Lenape. They had discovered horticulture, and their camps included gardens and agricultural fields. The Lenni-Lenape manipulated the forests by burning the understory to produce forage for white tailed deer and other game animals. They harvested clams and oysters, and fished for various marine species. During the Woodland Period, oyster exploitation may have occurred during times when other food sources were scarce (Thurman, 1976). The people were adept at using the resources of the woodlands, rivers, and estuaries for survival.

Early 20th Century archaeological surveys identified many physical remains in and around the Toms River. In 1950, indian burial-ground artifacts were found along the Gilford Park shore of the Toms River, and these artifacts were retained by the New Jersey State Museum (Miller, 1992). According to Boyd (1991), the larger native settlements were located on the inner coastal plain rather than in the Pine Barrens. There is evidence that they lived near the shore during the summer and traveled back and forth to the coast for fishing and shell collecting. Piles of shells called "middens" were left behind along the coast. One of the biggest mounds, located in the sedges near Tuckerton, was once 12 ft (3.7 m) high, 100 ft (30.5 m) long, and 50 ft (15.4 m) wide at its peak 2,000 years ago (Jahn, 1980; Oxenford, 1992). The Tuckerton site, within a coastal marsh protected by a shore road, was once adjacent to a tidal estuary and located on the shores of an inland bay. Its occupation from the Archaic Period through much of the Woodland Period is testimony to the stability of the shellfish resources in the Tuckerton area (Williams and Thomas, 1982). The occurrence of other middens indicate that the larger village sites exploited mollusks. These villages were located along the estuarine segment of Toms River below the head of tide (Grubb, 1998). The shell piles that were found not only provided evidence of the use of shellfish as food but also for wampum production. Shell wampum was of two types: white and black. White wampum was made of periwinkle conches, or whelks, and black wampum, from the purple inside of the clamshell. Other types of wampum were made from mussel and oyster shells. Wampum was the indian currency, and it was made in the form of sashes and scarves, or necklaces, which contained thousands of shells (Wilson, 1953).

Compliance-related archaeological surveys conducted over the past 20 years have produced no additional pre-historic sites in the Ocean County area. This may indicate that the Toms River area was sparsely inhabited during prehistoric times (Grubb, 1998). Sea level rise, caused by glacial melting during the early to mid-Holocene, (post-glacial time), could have covered sites that may have been located on the continental shelf along the New Jersey coast. The exposed shelf along southern New Jersey is estimated to have been 50 mi (80 km) wide in Pleistocene time (Hartzog, 1981). The gloabally rising sea level has left little evidence of the aboriginal human occupation in present-day coastal areas. However, archaeologists have discovered over 1,000 indian sites scattered through and surrounding the Pine Barrens, which seems to support the theory that the more established villages were located inland from the coast.

The first Europeans encountered the Lenni-Lenape people of the Late Woodland Period. The Lenni-Lenape were divided into three groups: (1) the Unalachtigo, "the people who lived near the ocean," (2) Unami, "the people down the river," and (3) Unalimi or Minisink, "the people of the stony country" (Cunningham, 1966; Weslager, 1972; Goddard, 1978). The Unalachtigo inhabited the coastal areas of southern New Jersey and Delaware Bay, and had a more estuarine focus to their existence than the other Lenni-Lenape groups, as evidenced by shell middens found at the mouth of Cedar Creek (Glosque, 1975) and the Toms River. According to Kraft and Mounier (1982), the collective Late Woodland bands in southern New Jersey consisted of the ancestral Sankhikan, Navasink, Assiscunck, Rancocas, Schackamaxon, Yacomanshaghking, Eromiex, Narraticon, Mantese, Siconesse, Sewaposee and Kechemeche. The term "Proto-Unami" has been proposed to describe this collective group.

The Proto-Unami subtribes occupied the southern New Jersey peninsula. Each subtribe had a "sakima" (subchief). The Unami sakimi, located in the Trenton area, was considered to be chief of all subtribes. Each subtribe had its own hunting and fishing lands, and every summer the tribesmen traveled well-defined trails across the state to the coast to fish and gather shells for wampum. These trails eventually formed the basis of several colonial highways and the routes of some modern roads. "Their trails ran from 10 mi (16 km) south of Port Jervis to the Shrewsbury River (the Minisink Trail), from Trenton to Somers Point, from Camden to Tuckerton, and from Gloucester to Somers Point" (Cunningham, 1966). Route 537, which now forms the northwestern border between Monmouth and Ocean Counties, was known as the Burlington Path, a major shore route for the indians. Squankum Road in Lakewood Township was also a principal indian trail (Ocean County Planning Board, 1988).

The indians traded with the early Europeans for "…glass, beads, bottles, iron axes, hoes, brass kettles, cloth and clothing, guns and knives using the pelts of beaver, deer, bear, and otter" (Kraft, 1985). As a hunter, the indian needed 600 ac (243 ha) to provide sufficient game fare for food to support his family and tribe (Nelson, 1902). Demand for furs and pelts for trade soon exhausted the local animal populations and forced the indians to venture farther away from their own territories to obtain pelts, often causing conflict with other tribes to the north and west (Kraft, 1985).

The indians and Europeans had very different attitudes toward the use of the land and the animal inhabitants. Indians considered themselves to be a part of nature, and nature could not be owned. The European settlers, however, believed that land could be owned and nature had to be "…tamed and improved" (Kraft, 1985). A century after European colonization, the last remaining indians left Lenapehoking. At the Treaty of Easton, in 1758, the Lenape and Minisink Indians in New Jersey relinquished title to the lands that their ancestors had inhabited for thousands of years. Only one small area of Lenapehoking, consisting of 3,044 ac (1233 ha) in Evesham Township, Burlington County, was set aside for the use of the Lenape. This area became known as the Brotherton Reservation, or Indian Mills. Finally in 1801, the last of the indians sold their land and moved west (Kraft, 1985).

There are many theories as to who was the first non-native person to see the shores of North America, dating back to the Vikings. In 1497, England sent the Cabots in search of a northwest passage. While it is known that they sailed the North Atlantic coastline from Newfoundland to Florida, no written records of this voyage exist in the historical sources consulted (Nelson, 1902). England’s claim to the peninsula between the Hudson River and the Delaware River originated with this voyage. Although the Dutch and Swedes settled in New Jersey in the 1600’s, King Charles II of England acted in 1664 to force the Dutch to relinquish claim to the only non-English territory between Massachusetts and Virginia (Cunningham, 1966).

According to historical sources, the first recorded European to sight land in Ocean County was Henry Hudson in 1609, although there is written evidence that Giovanni da Verrazano made contact with the Lenni-Lenape in 1524, 85 years before Henry Hudson sailed the New Jersey coast (Cunningham, 1966). Captain Cornelius Jacobsen Mey came ashore near Egg Harbor in 1614. Captain Cornelius Hendricks discovered Barnegat Bay in 1614 when he sailed through Barnegat Inlet in his boat the "Onrest," from which he charted what was to become the Toms River, the forks of Forked River, and Great Bay (Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders, 1999). The Toms River is thought to be named for Captain William Tom, a British officer who visited the Toms River area in 1673. The first recorded settler was Henry Jacob Falkinburg of Schleswig-Holstein, who purchased 800 ac (324 ha) of land near Tuckerton from the East Jersey Proprietors in 1698 (Ocean County Planning Board, 1988).

When the old world immigrants arrived in the mid-1600’s and early 1700’s in the lands that became New Jersey, they settled first along the coastal bays and inlets of the Hudson, Hackensack, Passaic and Raritan River valleys in northern New Jersey, as well as the Delaware River valley and inner coastal plain south of Trenton. The area between the Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean in the southern part of the outer coastal plain was still "unsettled" in 1765 (Wacker, 1979). This vast area, eventually called the "Pine Barrens," was used largely for lumbering and hunting, and later for the resources that produced the colonial industries. A large area of what was to become Ocean County is located in the Pine Barrens.

Ocean County was created from lands divided from Monmouth County on February 15, 1850. The county had been settled since colonial times, but the political subdivisions that existed in 1850 consisted of Jackson, Plumsted, Stafford, Union, Dover and Brick Townships. Part of Jackson Township was returned to Monmouth County in 1851 and part of Little Egg Harbor, originally a part of Burlington County, was added in 1891. Stafford Township dated from a much earlier period and was incorporated in 1749, making it the oldest incorporated municipality in Ocean County (Ocean County Planning Board, 1988).

The topography of the area determined the location of the early immigrant settlements, which were located along the Atlantic coast within easy access of the ocean and the coastal rivers and bays (Harshberger, 1916). Principal early settlements in Ocean County consisted of Barnegat (settled in 1668) and Egg Harbor (settled in 1690 and renamed Tuckerton in 1786).

"All the beaches are continually undergoing changes. Those south of Barnegat Inlet are wearing away on the northeast ends.

 

The inlets move southward. New ridges and dunes form on the south and southwest ends of the old. In some cases they work seaward, extending outside of and overlapping older beaches. A recent instance is that of Long Beach, having made two or three miles of new beach within a few years, shutting up entirely the old Little Egg Harbor Inlet, sweeping outside of and around Tucker’s Beach and crowding the surf back a quarter of a mile from its former bed.

 

North of Barnegat the inlets work in an opposite direction. The old Cranberry Inlet, opposite Toms River, moved nearly a mile northward during its sixty years of continuance.

 

New inlets suddenly break out through the beaches, usually in the neighborhood of the earlier channels of the old, and the process is again repeated."

 

Each inlet had a particular influence on its surrounding area.

• Beginning at the southernmost portion of Ocean County, near the terminus of the barrier island, an inlet existed between Holgate and Tucker’s Island from the early 1700’s. This inlet was 2 mi (3.2 km) wide and deep enough for any sloop or schooner going to Tuckerton. This inlet began to "sand up" in the 1790’s. In 1840, this "Old Inlet," as it was now called, opened again and was renamed the 1840 Inlet. The inlet closed in 1874 as the result of a storm, reconnecting Long Beach Island with Short Beach, or Tucker’s Beach. On February 4, 1920, a violent northeaster reopened Old Inlet, which was then renamed Beach Haven Inlet in 1922. Erosion along the south side of the Beach Haven Inlet caused Tucker’s Island to be completely lost by 1940 (Lloyd, 1990; Oxenford, 1992).

The settlements were located near harbors because most goods were transported by water. The character of the wilderness west of the bay was intimidating. Consider the following quote about the woodlands by Vermeule in 1885, almost 200 years after the first settlers arrived:

"From Manchester southward to the Mullica River is one of the wildest, most desolate portions of the state. If we accept the clearings on the shore road and along the marl border, not more than 2% of the area is under cultivation. Here and there are narrow roads, barely wide enough for a single vehicle to pass clear of the trees, which thread their lonely way from clearing to clearing. They are relics of a time when the manufacture of iron from bog ore found in the swamps was an important industry of the region. Here and there one comes upon abandoned forge sites, or still more suggestive, abandoned villages, the relics of unsuccessful glass manufacture in the wilderness. An indescribable silence prevails. The soughing of the wind through the pines oppresses, while the crowing of a cock or the barking of a dog indicates the approach to a clearing and human habitation."

Many "sand roads" from the 1700’s still exist, the most well known being the Tuckerton stage route. Roads built to connect early settlements were constructed across "…a wilderness populated by red deer, bears, wolves, panthers, wild-cats, foxes, rabbits, opossums, pole-cats, hedgehogs, wild turkeys, pheasants, grouse and quails" (Harshberger, 1916). It is no wonder that early immigrant settlements grew around riverine and estuarine areas, which provided easy access by boat.

The maritime industry in Barnegat Bay originated with the first settlers in the early 1700’s and was centered in Waretown, Toms River, Forked River, Barnegat and Tuckerton. The vast forests of southern New Jersey and bog iron provided the natural resources and conditions necessary to establish a colonial maritime industry. The unsettled interior represented a seemingly inexhaustible supply of raw materials for ship building. The woodlands yielded large quantities of cedar, oak, pine, maple, walnut, hickory and wild cherry. The pitch pines supplied tar to caulk hulls and resins that produced turpentine (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980). It is estimated that the forests in Ocean County near water transportation were clear cut every 25 years, and less accessible forests were lumbered every 40 years. It is also estimated that since the time of colonial settlement, cedar swamps have been harvested repeatedly. The Three Partners Sawmill (from 1786) was located on the South Branch of the Metedeconk River. Potters Sawmill (from 1765) was located on Cedar Creek in Lacey and Berkeley Townships between Toms River and Forked River. David Wright’s sawmill (pre-1793) was located on the Horicon branch of the Toms River. Water powered sawmills operated at Double Trouble as far back as 1765 (Boyd, 1991).

Iron was abundant in the stream beds and bog, and it was used to produce ship hardware (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980). Bergen Iron Works and Butcher’s Forge were located on the South Branch of the Metedeconk River from the early to mid-1800’s. Dover Forge (1809-1868) was located on Dover Forge Pond on the Middle Branch of Cedar Creek, 4 mi (4.8 km) downstream from Bamber.

From the late 1600’s to the early 1800’s the pitch pine forests provided the resources for the distillation of turpentine, tar, and pitch used in ship building. Slits were made in the sides of pitch pine trunks to encourage the flow of oleoresin, which was gathered and distilled into turpentine and resin. Tar, or "pine-wood tar" was distilled using stumps, roots and other waste material. Pitch was a residue of tar distillation. It is highly adhesive and water repellent, and was used for caulking the seams of boats and ships (Boyd, 1991).

By the 1790’s, the ship building industry was flourishing around Barnegat Bay. Sneakboxes, garveys and catboats were first built on the New Jersey coast and were the earliest means of short distance travel until the invention of the automobile prompted improved road construction. The first "sneakbox" was designed by Hazelton Seaman (ca. 1836) at West Creek across from Barnegat Inlet. New Jersey cedar was used for the greater part in the construction. The center board, tiller, and trim were either mahogany, oak, or sassafras. The spars were of spruce or fir (Kraft, 1960). J. H. Perrine, a resident of Barnegat, was building 15 ft (4.6 m) sneakboxes by the late 1800’s. By the end of the century, the sneakbox was the most popular sailing boat on the bay. Peculiar to the Barnegat Bay region, the sneakbox is designed for the changing water depths of the bay. With its center board up, it draws very little water and can go almost anywhere. It is also very seaworthy in heavy weather. It was designed to be used as a duck blind that could be moved easily and camouflaged with marsh grass. The design had a unique feature in the rail around the stern of the boat that allowed for storage of decoys during transport to the hunting sites (Ocean County Historical Society, 1997).

"The sneakbox was usually about 12 feet long with a pointed bow, which had no conventional stem; the keel sloped back on a long curve from the level of the deck at the bow, while the afterdeck was square and surrounded by a high coaming, providing an area to carry lots of decoys. The small square cockpit had room for only one man. There was no rudder - it was steered with an oar and also had rowlocks. A slot through the foredeck accommodated a daggerboard, easily pulled out when the boat was to be dragged into the reeds. A small gaffed sail was carried on an unstayed mast, set through the deck to a step on the keel, also easily lifted out and set aside once the boat had been pulled up" (Methot, 1988).

The sneakbox was perfectly suited to the shallow tidal waters of the Barnegat Bay. One old timer declared that sneakboxes "… could sail with ease across the Jersey meadows after a heavy dew" (Schoettle, 1966). Bay Head became a center for sneakbox building in 1874 and produced some famous boat builders. The 18 foot gaff-rigged sneakbox was introduced before the turn of the 20th Century and was used to race and sail the bay (Jahn, 1980; Oxenford, 1992).

The garvey was an all-purpose boat used for fishing, clamming, and oystering. It was designed by Jarvis (Gervis or Garvey) Pharo of Tuckerton. The boat could be rowed, towed, powered by the wind or a motor. A small cabin was often added to provide shelter from the wind. The broad, open deck could be filled with the "catch." A clammer and his garvey were a common sight on the bay (Ocean County Historical Society, 1997).

The roomy, shallow-draft catboat was the universal vessel for sport and transportation. The most prominent feature was the single mainsail. The catboat required a perfect harmony between sail and hull because it had no jib, staysail or foresail. There was great pride in ownership of these boats, and Barnegat Bay captains loved to race their boats to determine who was the best sailor and who had the fastest boat (Lloyd, 1990).

Ocean County has had a long history of maritime traditions. The earliest commercial activities were connected to shipbuilding, and included whaling and fishing. Toms River and Tuckerton were important privateering ports during the Revolutionary War. The privateers brought the Revolutionary War to British shipping, sailing out of Barnegat Bay and Little Egg Harbor to pursue merchant vessels off the coast and seize their valuable cargo, which generally consisted of such items as pounds sterling, loaf sugar, London porter, Bristol beer, molasses, salt, lumber, coffee, cocoa, and rum. The vessels themselves were frequently taken as well. The captured cargo provided prosperity to Toms River and Tuckerton, and a small privateer boom town arose at the forks of the Mullica River. "By midsummer of 1778, no British merchant ship was safe off the Jersey coast without armed escort" (Cunningham, 1966). Captured British cargo was carried to Philadelphia on roads cut through the Pine Barrens. At the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, President Washington made Tuckerton the official port of entry for the New Jersey coast extending from Barnegat Inlet south to Brigantine Inlet.

Sawmill sites seem to have been selected for two principal resources: waterpower and timber (Mounier, 1984). Certain environmental characteristics were required to establish sawmills, all of which were present in the Ocean County area: 1) a reliable water supply; 2) topographic features sufficient to allow for the elevation and storage of a body of water; 3) proximity to the raw materials; and 4) economic routes of access to deliver the extracted or processed material to its destination. Since groundwater significantly affects streamflow in Ocean County, the streams on which mills were established provided power even during dry seasons. Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) occurs along streams, which made its exploitation by water-driven sawmills inevitable (Mounier, 1984). Because of the heavy demand and a relatively effective extractive and processing technology, private and corporate concerns recognized the value of prime timber in the early years of the industry. As early as 1707, the General Assembly of New Jersey had adopted an act making it illegal to cut timber under 12 in (30.5 cm) in diameter. Subsequent legislation further regulated the cutting of timber and the export of all forest products from New Jersey (Boyd, 1991).

Cedar mining became important after the cedar swamps were clearcut in the mid-1800’s. Cedar mining consisted of locating former cedar swamps where trees had been blown down by storms, or had died in former years and were covered by mud and peat to various depths. The peaty earth containing the buried cedar was soft and spongy, and some trees had been covered for hundreds of years. The recovered timber was used mainly for shingles. This industry was not widespread in Ocean County, but was a major industry in Burlington, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties (Weiss, 1965). Cedar logs are still mined from time to time. During World War II, wood from sunken cedar logs was used in the hulls of patrol torpedo boats (McPhee, 1967).

The locations of the sawmills frequently became the focus of settlements. The communities, which developed as an extension of the sawmills, shared a number of common characteristics: 1) location upon a stream at the head of tide or at the head of navigation; 2) location convenient to surface transportation; 3) location convenient to raw materials needed for extractive or processing industries; and 4) sufficient population for labor needs and to maintain the physical and social integrity of the community. Table 3 provides a list of settlements associated with sawmills in Ocean County (Mounier, 1984).

By 1823, Tuckerton had become the prosperous principal village of Little Egg Harbor Township:

"Little Egg Harbor was once a place…of great commerce and prosperity. The little river there used to be filled with masted vessels. It was a place rich in money. As farming was but little attended to, taverns and boarding-houses were filled with comers and goers. Hundreds of men were engaged in the swamps cutting cedar, and saw-mills were numerous, and always in business cutting cedar and pine boards" (Historical and Biographical Atlas of the Jersey Coast, 1985).

After the decline of the water-powered sawmills due to the lack of timber resources from clearcutting, early sawmill sites were converted to cranberry culture, thus capitalizing upon existing investments by converting cleared wetlands to cranberry production (Mounier, 1984). Eventually cranberry production became a major industry in southern New Jersey, and it continues today.

The lumbering industry eventually turned to second- and third-growth trees. The smaller second- and third-cut trees were used to make charcoal, which was used to fire furnaces for the manufacture of bog iron and glass. "Charcoal is partially burned wood from which water, volatile gasses, tars, resins and impurities have been driven off, leaving a residue of practically pure carbon" (Boyd, 1991). Three-and-a-half or four cords of wood will make one hundred bushels of charcoal. Substantial acreage was required to manufacture charcoal, and the clear cutting methods used to harvest the wood destroyed vast forests.

To make charcoal, the colliers placed heaps of wood into a domelike pile, with a chimney in the middle extending from the ground to the top. The heaps were compactly covered with turf cut from the edges of swamps, and then overlain with sand sufficient to clog all the crevices. The so-called kiln was then fired by dropping burning chunks of wood down the chimney to the ground and heaping in brush and other combustible material to the top of the chimney which was then shut with a piece of turf cut to fit the top. Small holes were made through the turf at the bottom and sides, to regulate the draft just enough to char the wood but not to burn it. The kiln had to be watched night and day throughout the process. One collier usually watched 15 or 20 kilns at a time. Ten days to two weeks were needed to convert the wood into charcoal (Historical and Biographical Atlas of the Jersey Coast, 1878).

Large amounts of charcoal were used as fuel for the bog iron furnaces. It is estimated that 20,000 ac (8100 ha) of woodlands were required to produce the charcoal needed to fire one bog iron furnace for 20 years. Each season’s harvest of 1,000 ac (405 ha) continued until the end of a 20-year cycle, when the first plot was expected to be regrown (Boyd, 1991). Regrowth did not always occur as planned, and this may have been a factor in the demise of both the charcoal and bog iron industries. As of 1865, there were only a few small charcoal operations remaining in the Pinelands.

Iron works were important to the colonial economy. They were first started in Ocean County near Lakehurst in 1789 by David Wright (Ocean County Planning Board, 1988). As stated by Boyd (1991), "Bog iron ore is formed by the chemical action of decayed vegetative matter in streams upon iron salts found in and around stream beds. A soluble form of iron is found in the strata of marls, greensands, streams, marshes and other slow-moving waters. Cedar waters are acid waters, and a chemical reaction is formed when the water percolates down and picks up the iron, in solution, and carries it to the surface. Upon contact with the air, and aided by bacterium such as Leptothrix ochracea, it oxidizes. The reddish floc or sludge can be found deposited in the beds of slow moving waters." Sometimes it is deposited in wetlands and bogs. The major ingredients of this industry existed in the Ocean County area: raw "ore" or bog iron; wood to make charcoal to fire the furnaces; water to provide power; and clam and oyster shells used as flux (Boyd, 1991). In order to operate a furnace, batches of ore, charcoal, and flux were weighed in certain proportions, taken by wheelbarrows over a trestle bridge to a platform around the top of the furnace stack, and dumped into the furnace stack in layers. This was known as the "charge," and setting the charge required men to work all day and night. More than two tons of ore and 180 bushels of charcoal were required to produce one ton of pig iron. The furnaces were in constant operation - 24 hours a day, seven to nine months of the year - until the streams froze in winter, which curtailed the water power. Water powered both the furnaces and forges. After the iron was formed, the often brittle, impure, and somewhat porous pig iron was refined and resmelted into wrought iron. Whereas pig iron was limited to stoves, kettles, sash weights and firebacks, wrought iron could be used for tools, horseshoes, wagon tires and many other products requiring metal of great strength (Pierce, 1957).

Forges existed in Ocean County, (e.g., Butchers Forge on the south branch of the Metedeconk River, Martha Forge on a branch of the Toms River, Dover Forge on the middle branch of Cedar Creek, and Stafford Forge on the north branch of West Creek). By 1865, the bog iron industry had declined due to a combination of events that included the discovery of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania, the invention of steel, the depletion of the bog iron ore beds, and clear-cutting of the forests of southern New Jersey. As noted by Pierce (1957), "rarely had an industry been so patiently built, and rarely had one been obliterated so swiftly." Nothing was left but memory.

Native American Indians used cranberries for food, dyes, as well as well as for medicinal purposes. They introduced cranberries to the early settlers who consumed them as a wild, edible fruit. The name "cranberry" was given to the vine by the early settlers because it resembled a crane in its full flowering stage. The name "crane-berry" later became cranberry (Boyd, 1991).

The cultivation of the native wild cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, has existed in Ocean County since John Webb cultivated the first cranberries near Cassville in 1845. Nearly all of New Jersey’s cranberry bogs have been and are still located in the Pine Barrens (Boyd, 1991). By 1869, more than 50% of the total cranberry production in the United States was from New Jersey (Ocean County Planning Board, 1988). Statistics of the 1876 Centennial (Historical and Biographical Atlas of the Jersey Coast, 1878) show that Ocean County had a total of 1,849 ac (749 ha) of cranberry production in 1876, with 1,625 ac (658 ha) planted on a muck bottom and 564 ac (228) planted on a savannah bottom. The total county investment for the entire acreage, three years after planting, was $887,769.43. The average price for a bushel of cranberries at the time was $3.26.

Pure, unpolluted, high quality acidic water is essential for cranberry culture, which is why a farmer requires substantial acreage of upland watersheds surrounding habitats. Cranberry plants need soil with an adequate and controlled moisture content, afforded by irrigation. Cultivation is restricted to Atsion, Berryland, St. Johns and Muck soils (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980). Cranberry bogs are flooded in the winter months to keep the roots of the plants from freezing. In spring, the water is drained off for an early bloom in June. The plants grow, blossom, and bear fruit during the summer and early fall by maintaining adequate moisture around the roots. The amount of water is controlled by the height of boards in the cranberry gates. Flooding in the summer is rare, and only used to control insect infestations (Boyd, 1991).

The soils for successful culture must have a peaty nature, with the water level within a few inches of the surface. Flooding is necessary from 18 inches to 2 feet (46 to 61 cm) from November to May, in order to protect the plants from frost and insect damage. Preparation of the bog requires removal of all bushes and trees along with the top layer of soil down to a depth of about 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm). The surface must then be graded, dams and sluice gates constructed, and ditches dug to manipulate drainage. The surface must be sanded to a depth of 3 to 4 inches (7.5 to 10 cm), and the young plants must be set out as cuttings, in rows, around the first of June (Harshberger, 1916).

The wet-harvesting method was pioneered in New Jersey during the mid-1960’s. Cranberries are very buoyant, and when the bogs are flooded at harvest time, the buoyancy of the ripe berries lifts the vines off the beds of the bogs, enabling mechanical cranberry machines, called "beaters," to strip the cranberries from the vines. The loose berries are then guided into booms and onto loading conveyors, dropped into crates on truck beds, and driven to the processing plants for cleaning and shipment to market (Boyd, 1991).

Plant diseases became widespread after 1925, and only a few bogs remain active in Ocean County. Most cranberry production is now located in the North Branch Rancocas Creek subbasin and the Wading River, Batsto River, and Atsion-Sleeper Branch subbasins of the Mullica River Basin. The Mill Pond Bog in Double Trouble State Park, at one time the largest cranberry bog in the state, has been restored by a private grower under the supervision of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (Ocean County Planning Board, 1988). With 3,000 ac (1215 ha) in cultivation in 1980, New Jersey accounts for 13% of the nation’s cranberry acreage, and it produces approximately 9% of the national harvest, third to Massachusetts and Wisconsin in nationwide production (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980; Boyd, 1991).

In contrast, blueberry cultivation is more widespread, but is not located in Ocean County. In 1980, blueberry cultivation covered 7,800 ac (3159 ha) in the North Branch Rancocas drainage basin, in the Hammonton Creek subbasin, near Chatsworth in the Wading River subbasin of the Mullica River drainage basin, and near Mays Landing in the Great Egg Harbor River basin (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980).

The tide marshes of Ocean County are dominated by three distinctive areas of vegetation. The first, and smallest, area is covered at every high tide. Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) predominates here (Tiner, 1985). This type of marsh gradually merges into a second type of marsh that is sometimes covered by normal tides. This area is so close to mean high water that the slightest rise results in flooding by water. This part of the marsh is primarily inhabited by the short form of smooth cordgrass, sedges, and marsh grass. The third marsh type, or high marsh, occurs above mean high tide and is characterized by a greater diversity of vegetation. This area is inundated only by the spring and fall tides, and the winter or storm tides. It is divided by water channels which usually have well-defined beds and banks (Weiss, 1965; Teal, 1969; Tiner, 1985).

The salt marsh sedges are exposed at low tide. At high tide, only the tips of the sedges are visible. The roots of the sedges are deeply extended into the mud, and as the plants die each year, new shoots regenerate in the spring. The mud and plant detritus accumulates until the flats of the first marsh type merge into the second type. Other plants begin to appear here, such as spike grass (Distichlis spicata), sea lavender (Limonium carolinianum and L. nashii), glassworts (Salicornia bigelovii, S. europaea, and S. virginica), salt marsh asters (Aster subulatus and A. tenuifolius), marsh pinks (Sabatia dodecandra and S. stellaris), spikerushes (Eleocharis spp.), salt marsh bulrush (Scirpus robustus), and three square grass (Scirpus americanus) (Tiner, 1985). Three square grass has a vigorous root system, and as the plant develops from year to year, it forms a turf-like landscape. Other coarse grasses are found at higher elevations on the marsh. Salt grass (Spartina patens) occupies the high salt marsh, which is only periodically inundated by the tides. The marsh becomes useful for agriculture at this point, in areas that are so high above ordinary tides that flooding takes place only occasionally. At slightly higher elevations, the black grass (Juncus gerardi) is evident. This species has been used as livestock forage (Weiss, 1965).

Salt hay (Spartina alterniflora) has been harvested for several purposes. For example, the use of salt bedding for livestock was a common practice in the late 1600’s, and "salt hay manure" was utilized by farmers to fertilize their land in the spring. The marshes, although owned by the proprietors, were considered to be common lands by the colonists, who used the marsh grasses as pasture for their livestock as well as for bedding. Mainland farmers often let their cattle loose to wander over the marshes until the fall roundup (Weiss, 1965; Teal, 1969). Salt hay was also harvested for use as packing material in the glass industry, for insulating ice, and for producing paper. Shallow draft hay-scows were employed in the bay, rivers, and creeks to transport the harvested salt hay. In 1896, Sadoc Estlow of Barnegat was called the "Hay King," and hay harvesting was a thriving industry in the Barnegat and Tuckerton region, with up to 500 tons harvested annually. The blacksmith craft, from Forked River to Tuckerton, manufactured mud-boots for horses to keep them from miring in the marsh during harvesting periods. The industry started to decline in the 1900's, with 7,500 tons of salt hay being produced in Ocean County in 1910, and only 1,300 tons in 1930. In 1965, only three or four farmers continued to harvest salt hay in Barnegat (Weiss, 1965).

Early settlers were adept at taking advantage of nature’s bounty, and by the turn of the 20th Century, eelgrass (Zostera marina) was so plentiful in Barnegat Bay that its harvesting was one of the principal occupations of the inhabitants of Long Beach Island. Eelgrass had many industrial uses. For instance, funeral directors utilized eelgrass to line coffins because it is bugproof and fire resistant. Steamship companies and prisons used it for mattresses. The auto industry employed it for upholstery in Model T Fords. The common method of harvesting was by wagons along the bayfront or by scow from the bay islands. The eelgrass was washed to remove the salt; it was then dried, pressed, and packed into bales for shipment to cities. The gathering of eelgrass continued until 1929, when a blight occurred, causing eelgrass to largely disappear from the bay (McMahon, 1973). The importance of eelgrass as a habitat for larval and juvenile finfish and invertebrates is well-known. It supports commercial shellfish and finfish resources, and provides wintering grounds for several thousand waterfowl and other wildlife. Although eelgrass returned to Barnegat Bay in 1950, extending from the Route 72 Bridge at Manahawkin north to Mantoloking, wasting disease was observed again in the bay in 1995 and 1996. It destroyed an estimated 1,000 ac (405 ha) of eelgrass beds (McLain, 1996).

Sphagnum moss gathering was once a major industry in southern New Jersey, and is still practiced today. Sphagnum moss was used by the florist industry because of its water retention capabilities. It was also used as a bandage during the Revolutionary War because of its antiseptic qualities. The moss was gathered in the white cedar swamps with a long-toothed rake, or moss dray, and dried in a cleared area called a moss landing. After drying, the moss was pressed into 2-foot bales and tied up for shipping. When the moss was dried, its weight declined from 200 pounds (90 kg) wet to 15 pounds (6.8 kg) dry (Ocean County Historical Society, 1997).

Minerals have been extracted in Ocean County since the earliest settlements in the 1700’s. The region’s sedimentary deposits provide sand and gravel in large enough quanitites to be commercially important. The Cohansey Formation and the Bridgeton and Cape May Formations, where they occur locally, provide many grades of sand and gravel. Sand and gravel mining in Ocean County is a viable economic activity, supplying the construction industry with sand and gravel, the glass industry with silica, and the paint industry with ilmenite. Ilmenite deposits are believed to underlie an extensive area of Ocean County in Lakehurst, Lakewood, and Jackson.

Sand and gravel are broadly grouped as construction grade (used primarily for concrete, asphalt, road base material, water filtration, and road sand) and industrial grade (used for glass and ceramics, foundry molds and cores, sand blasting, and other specialized industrial applications) (Bell et al., 1991). Construction sand and gravel is the second leading mineral commodity produced in New Jersey, after crushed stone. The materials range from fine-grained, high silica sands to coarse sand and gravel found in the different geologic formations (e.g., Tertiary alluvial deposits of the Bridgeton, Pensauken, and Beacon Hill Formations within the coastal plain). The Kirkwood, Cohansey, and Cape May Formations provide smaller quantities of sand and gravel. Industrial grade sand use originated with the commercial glass making industry in Salem County in 1739. All of New Jersey’s industrial sand production derives from coastal plain formations, primarily from the Cohansey (Bell et al., 1991).

Ocean County contains many sand pits, some that are abandoned and others that are still operating today. Records compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Mine Safety, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Materials, and the New Jersey Geologic Society Bulletin list the following sand pits for Ocean County (Bell et al., 1991):

• Barnegat Township - Ten sand pits are identified for Barnegat, with five of the locations presently active and the rest abandoned.

• Berkeley Township - Four sand pits are identified for Berkeley, with one listed as active.

• Brick Township - Three locations are listed for Brick, with no definitive dates of operation.

• Dover Township - One location is listed for Dover, indicating that it was active in 1952.

• Eagleswood Township - Three locations are listed for Eagleswood, with two of these in current operation.

• Jackson Township - Thirteen locations are listed for Jackson, with two listed as currently operating.

• Lacey Township - Seven locations are listed for Lacey, with six in current operation.

• Lakewood Township - Four operations are listed for Lakewood, with one in current operation.

• Little Egg Harbor Township - Five locations are listed for Little Egg Harbor, with two listed as currently operating.

• Manchester Township - Eight locations are listed for Manchester, with one location currently operating.

• Plumsted Township - Three locations are listed, with one listed as currently operating.

• South Toms River Boro - One location is listed, with no closure date indicated.

• Stafford Township - Four locations are listed, with none currently operating.

• A total of 56 sand pits have existed in Ocean County, dating from the late 1800’s to the present day.

It is estimated that an acre of sand and gravel mined to a depth of ~ 3 ft (~ 1m) can produce approximately 6,000 tons of raw material before processing (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980). The extraction process requires total site clearing and topsoil removal over a large area. The environmental impacts from mining occur when pits are excavated below the water table, making the groundwater vulnerable to contamination from surface sources. In the past, excavated sites have been converted to landfills, which exposes the aquifer to contamination from landfill leachate (Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan, 1980).

According to early records, Barnegat Bay was an ideal place for fishing with an abundance of oysters, clams, crabs, and fish (Salter, 1890). The Oyster Creek area had large quantities of oysters. Bay fishing (including fish and shellfish) was the principal occupation of early inhabitants. It has remained an important industry since the days of the earliest settlers, who operated their small boats from Toms River and Tuckerton. Forked River, Barnegat, and Waretown were known as the best of the fishing grounds. Promotional literature in 1889 included the low cost of rental boats and bait as contributors to the well-organized sporting industry along the bay (Allaback, 1995). Large numbers of weakfish, sheepshead, and kingfish were caught on a regular basis. The spring run of herring from the Metedeconk River and Kettle Creek was legendary. The herring were largely smoked and brined for eating, while the balance was used as fertilizer. Seining of perch and pickerel occurred during the winter. A large hole was cut through the ice and other smaller holes were used to pass the line that drew the seine around the fish. In 1878, New Jersey passed its first law to regulate seine fishing in bays (Cunningham, 1958). At the turn of the 20th Century, the perch fishing industry was estimated to have revenues of $200,000 annually. Eels provided another money crop from the bay. When the Point Pleasant Canal was opened in 1926, the introduction of saline waters led to the decline of yellow perch, sunfish, pickerel, and largemouth bass in the bay, while marine fish became more abundant (Colie, 1970)

Oysters were prolific, and natural seeding oyster beds were found at the mouth of the rivers and creeks emptying into saline bays and inlets, the most prolific of these being in Barnegat Bay and Little Egg Harbor. Hundreds of bushels of oysters were gathered annually in Barnegat Bay near the mouths of Cedar Creek, Forked River and Oyster Creek. The beds were located all the way from Goodluck Point to Oyster Creek (Historical and Biographical Atlas of the Jersey Coast, 1878). The results of consumptive harvesting became apparent by 1719, and protective measures were passed by the General Assembly. Non-residents were prohibited from harvesting oysters in New Jersey’s inland waters. In February 1775, a new law was enacted for the preservation of the oyster. Burning oyster shells for lime was also an offense, since the discarded oyster shells served as seed beds for new oysters. There was actually a joke in the legislature that all legislation with reference to oysters, clams, and fish had to have originated in Ocean County. Over subsequent years, more legislation was passed to protect the oyster industry from extermination. In 1899, the legislature passed an act "…for the better regulation of the taking, planting, and cultivating of oysters on lands lying under tidal waters…" (Cunningham, 1958).

By 1830, the planting of oysters was occurring in Barnegat Bay; however, it was not successful everywhere and poaching was common. The competition between clammers and oystermen was also a factor in the localized decline of oyster seed beds. In 1880, Barnegat Bay oyster beds extended from the southern end of the bay to the mouth of Forked River ~10 mi (16 km) to the north (Ford, 1997). In 1899, the Oyster Commissioners of New Jersey conducted a field test in Great Egg Harbor and other inlets, with the following results: oysters planted August 15, 1899 reached an average size of 0.75 in (1.9 cm) in length by 0.5 in (1.3 cm) in width by April 1, 1900. By June 8 of the same year, they were 1.5 in (3.8 cm) in length by 0.75 in (1.9 cm) in width, and by October 6, they reached 3 in (7.6 cm) in length by 1.75 in (4.4 cm) in width. On May 15, 1901, the oysters were 4 in (10.2 cm) in length by 2 in (5.1 cm) in width, and in a "fine marketable condition" (Nelson, 1902). Legislation was later passed which made it obligatory for oystermen to cull the catch and throw the old shells and refuse overboard at once. Clean shells, stones, sticks or other substances are needed for the attachment and growth of young oysters. The settlement surface must be clean and free of slime and mud.

New Jersey passed broad shellfish legislation in 1846 entitled "An Act for the Preservation of Clams and Oysters." The peak of the New Jersey oyster industry was from ca 1870 to 1930. In 1896, there were ~5,000 ac (2025 ha) of productive oyster grounds in New Jersey waters. Tuckerton had 528 ac (214 ha) of oyster grounds, and Barnegat 296 ac (120 ha). Reports of the New Jersey Bureau of Shellfisheries between 1902 and 1905 made frequent reference to conflicts between quahogers and oystermen, and between oystermen who wanted all areas open to public harvest and planters who wanted to lease acreage for private cultivation. Conflicts still exist because many clammers do not want public areas to be leased for private culture (Ford, 1997).

In 1919, a major storm drastically altered Beach Haven Inlet, increasing salinity in Little Egg Harbor and providing the conditions favorable for the proliferation of oyster predators. Eventually the oysters died out, but the quahogs flourished in the more saline conditions. The Point Pleasant Canal was considered to be another factor in the demise of the oyster fishery, through the introduction of salt water to the head of the bay, altered circulation patterns, and the spread of predators. The Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor oyster fishery eventually crashed due to changes in the salinity regime, overharvesting, and disease. By the 1950’s, Barnegat Bay produced only a few thousand bushels of oysters a year, and landings in later years have been insignificant (Ford, 1997).

Quahogs are found in the coastal bays of New Jersey where salinity ranges are high enough to support them (Kennish et al., 1984). Clamming has existed since pre-historic times, and was an occupation of the early settlers and later local people. It became an important commercial crop ca 1930, with total landings approaching those of oysters. The area just inside of Barnegat Inlet produced great numbers of quahogs, which were sold to boats from New York. Quahogs are harvested by three principal methods: (1) bull raking; (2) treading; and (3) tonging. As of 1997, about 1,575 fishermen were licensed to harvest quahogs commercially in New Jersey.

As northern waters were condemned for clam harvesting, clammers turned to the southern bay waters. Eventually the state instituted a relay program in 1970 where quahogs were relocated to southern waters from condemned northern waters. State regulations governing sewage discharge to the bay and the decision to shift sewage treatment plant outfalls from the back bays to the ocean have significantly improved the quality of coastal waters.

Salt was a necessity to the colonial settlers. Before the Revolutionary War, salt was imported, but the war eliminated this trade. Salt works were numerous in the Barnegat Bay area during the Revolutionary War. They were located at Barnegat, Waretown, Forked River, and Toms River (Salter, 1890). Salt works were created by searching out places in the salt-meadows devoid of grass, or where blue-green algae forms dense mats. These shallow depressions, called pannes, exist just above the low marsh. They are subject to extreme temperature and salinity levels. Salinity may exceed 40 parts per thousand (Tiner, 1985). Wells dug in a panne produced the saltiest water, which was placed in large boilers with arched ovens underneath. After the water was boiled, the residue of salt was poured into baskets and drained. Another method of salt production involved digging ditches and allowing the salt water to be reduced to brine. Salt was important for food preservation and flavoring, and for production of gunpowder. Nearly all of these salt works were destroyed by the British during the Revolutionary War (Beck, 1962).

Forest fires are mentioned in the early historical narratives as too numerous to fully document. Large areas of forest were continually swept over, and timber losses repeatedly amounted to tens of thousands of dollars. Around 1840, a fire broke out between Oyster Creek and Forked River and spread so fast that the lives of firefighters were threatened. One man was overtaken by the flames and burned to death. "With a high wind, the roar of the fire in the woods, the flames leaping from tree-top to tree-top and running along the dried leaves and bushes on the ground make an appalling scene never to be forgotten…the appearance of the sky is appalling" (Salter, 1890). Fire was as responsible for shaping the landscape as any of the extractive colonial industries, but unlike the industries that have come and gone, fire remains a threat into modern times.

In the 1960’s, there were about four hundred forest fires in the Pinelands every year, and fifteen or twenty of them covered more than 100 ac (40 ha). "Fire in the pines is never spontaneous, and lightning sets only about one percent. A remarkably common cause of fire in the pines is arson" (McPhee, 1967). Vegetation returns to an area quite rapidly after a fire. There has been so much fire in the pines for so many centuries that the vegetation has developed considerable resiliency. Many woody species in the pines sprout shoots from their roots after a fire. It is a generally accepted theory that if fire was eliminated from the pines, the forests would eventually be dominated by black oaks, white oaks, chestnut oaks, scarlet oaks, hickories, and red maple. Fire has played an important role in the development of the pines since post-Wisconsin time (McPhee, 1967). Several fires that occurred in the 1990’s, impacted more than 1,000 ac (400 ha) of forest.

Robert Juet, aboard Henry Hudson’s ship the Half Moon, provided an early description of Barnegat Bay. According to Juet's journal entry of September 2, 1609, the Half Moon was sailing northerward along the coast from Delaware Bay. Juet noted the following:

"The course along the land we found to be N.E. by N. from the land which we first had sight of until we came to a great lake of water as we could judge it to be (Barnegat Bay), being drowned land which made it rise like islands, was in length ten leagues. The mouth of the lake has many shoals and the sea breaks upon them as it is cast out of the mouth of it (Barnegat Inlet). And from that lake or bay the land lays N. by E. and we had a great stream out of the bay, and from thence our soundings were ten fathoms two leagues from land. At five o’clock we anchored in eight fathoms water, wind light. Far to the northward we saw high hills" (Salter, 1890).

 

It did not take long after the first exploratory voyages in the 1600’s for men to realize that the vast stretches of woodlands beyond Barnegat Bay, accessible by rivers and streams, contained natural resources that could build a nation. The first sawmill in Ocean County was established in 1699 at Tuckerton Mill Creek. A second mill in Ocean County was located on the North Branch of the Forked River in 1700. Other mills were established throughout the Pinelands during this early period. The cutting of lumber was so pervasive that, the first regulations restricting timber cutting were passed by the New Jersey General Assembly by the early 1700's (Mounier, 1984). This is an astonishing statistic considering the vastness of the forests, and one realizes that all the trees were cut by hand. This clear-cutting eventually depleted the mineral nutrients in the excessively-drained sandy soils, further limiting vegetative diversity in the regrown forests (Hartzog, 1981).

"In the early 1700’s, when whalers, smugglers and pirates sailed the waters off these shores, Barnegat was the common name for the sparsely settled beach and mainland north of Barnegat Inlet up to the Metedeconk River" (Jahn, 1980). Squan Beach is described as "… a peninsula, which extends from the Manasquan River to the former site of Cranberry Inlet. It lies nearly its whole length between the upper part of Barnegat Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It nowhere extends a half mile in width, and the distance named for its length is about 12 miles." Island Beach is described as "…that portion of the peninsula reaching from the site of Cranberry Inlet to Barnegat Inlet, about 12 miles" (Historical and Biographical Atlas of the Jersey Coast, 1878). Cranberry Inlet, opposite Toms River at present-day Chadwick Beach, was 1,550 ft (472 m) wide and 15 ft (4.6 m) deep, allowing passage for the sloops and schooners that sailed the coast during the Revolutionary War. Herring Inlet, also called Metedeconk River Inlet, had existed earlier in the century at the head of the bay near the Metedeconk River, at a place called High Hill Point. Some locals said that this area contained the tallest sand dunes on the coast (Jahn, 1980). For a time during the early 1700’s, Herring Inlet enabled Brick to serve as a port for ocean-going ships. In the mid-1700’s, the same storm that closed Herring Inlet also opened Cranberry Inlet, which played an important role in the early part of Ocean County’s history (Oxenford, 1992). Kettle Creek Inlet also existed for a short period of time. It was located at the dividing line between Dover and Brick Townships, north of Normandy Beach and opposite Kettle Creek. It supposedly derived its name from the kettles used to extract whale oil on the beach near the small inlet (Miller, 1992).

During the Revolutionary War, only one inlet provided access to Little Egg Harbor, between Holgate and Tucker’s Island. This inlet was almost 2 mi (3.2 km) wide and deep enough for sloops and schooners to access Tuckerton. This inlet was used to avoid the British fleet at Philadelphia and New York, allowing the colonists to avoid paying import duties on rum and molasses from the West Indies. It began to sand up in the 1790’s and became nearly impassable. On a winter night in 1800, a northeaster cut a new inlet along the creek that separated Tucker’s Island from Little Beach, to the south. Within a year, the new inlet was as wide and deep as the previous one, and it would keep the name of New Inlet for about a hundred years until it officially became Little Egg Harbor Inlet. The old inlet, 3 mi (4.8 km) to the north and completely filled in, was called "Old Inlet" (Lloyd, 1990). Thus, the changing nature of the coastline is amply illustrated by the opening and closing of inlets along the shore over the centuries.

Boating grew into a popular recreational pursuit. The Beach Haven Yacht Club was formed in 1882, 11 years after the Toms River Yacht Club. Little Egg Harbor was swarming with sailboats in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The most popular boat was the shallow-draft catboat. At the first sign of a breeze, the keenly competitive charter boat captains would organize a race. By the 1890’s the really expensive catboats - Herreshoffs built at the boatworks in Bristol, Rhode Island - so out-classed the locally-built catboats that by 1903 all catboat races ended at the Beach Haven Yacht Club (Lloyd, 1990).

The people in the north settled along the shores of the bay later than their southern counterparts. Settlers migrated to the land adjoining the bay, or "head of the bay" as it was known, from Point Pleasant around 1837. The hamlet near the shores of the Barnegat Bay was called Lovelandtown, after the original settlers. There were several creeks located along this part of the bay, the most notable being Herberts Creek, which later became the Point Pleasant Canal connecting the Manasquan River with Barnegat Bay. Ditches crossed an area of high knolls surrounded by low meadows that led down to the head of Barnegat Bay. Ponds were full of lillies, toads, and turtles. In the spring and summer, the meadows near the settlement "…were dotted with hollyhocks, larkspur, daisies and many other flowers that flourished in fresh water. White cedars formerly clustered in the meadows. Blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, beach plums, cherry and persimmon trees grew in abundance" (Miller, 1993). A person could stand on a high hill on Loveland Dock Road (now Bay Avenue on the Bay Head/Point Pleasant border) and have a clear view of the ocean about a mile away. It is possible that this was one of the hills that Juet recorded when the Half Moon anchored offshore in 1609. Indian artifacts were found here as the settlers cleared the land for their houses. A 10,000-year-old ceremonial blade was found on Meadow Avenue, Lovelandtown, in 1891 (Miller, 1993).

This area produced many baymen because of its location near the water. They were boatbuilders, tradesmen, captains, guides for fishing and gunning clubs, decoy carvers, and artists. Paintings depicting the early landscapes in this area are today the prized possessions of some local collectors. These baymen built and sailed catboats and established a long tradition of building boats that were eventually recognized worldwide for their beauty, craftsmanship, and seaworthiness. The Barnegat Bay catboat, introduced to Barnegat Bay in 1855, was preferred by most of the captains and early sailors, and was built in the local boat yards. The sneakbox was widely used in the area for duck hunting (Miller, 1993). Sailing was part of the business of being a guide, but sailing was also recreation. When they were not working as guides, the captains sailed their catboats to Atlantic City for outings with the entire family on-board. The lifestyle of the early settlers was entirely dependent on the bay and its ecosystem, and the tourists that came to the area to enjoy its natural resources. "Barnegat Bay was the playground and workplace of baymen and sportsmen alike" (Miller, 1993).

During the Civil War, the federal blockade of southern ports slowed commercial shipping activity along the Atlantic coast and prevented local captains from sailing south for trade. Racing catboats became a way "to fill in the time," and the exciting weekend races eased the doldrums caused by the distant war. Enthusiastic observers waited on the shore for the sound of gunfire signaling the start of the race. The first sailboat regatta was held in 1864 on the Toms River. The Challenge Cup, the oldest racing trophy in the country, was introduced in 1870 at the first race of the Toms River Yacht Club. The first sneakbox race was held in the 1880’s and spurred the formation of yacht clubs at Mantoloking, Bay Head, Lavallette, and Seaside Park. Soon sneakbox sailing and racing were common around the bay.

The families expanded and homesteads were built. "Every property had an outhouse, chicken pens, a coal bin, and, in some cases, hog pens. Pigs were slaughtered in the fall and salted down for winter use. Every house had a pump inside, as well as coal and a wood range. All of the homes had wells where buckets were lowered to bring up a pail of fresh water. People lived on fish and clams, migrating waterfowl, the fruits of the cranberry bogs, and the animals and poultry kept at every home" (Miller, 1993). The men made their living by serving as guides on fishing and hunting trips. Barnegat Bay is a part of the Atlantic flyway, and ducks, geese, red heads, black ducks, broadbills, and mergansers were abundant. Other birds "…once fed on the wild celery which grew in the formerly brackish waters of the bay"… until saline water from the Point Pleasant Canal destroyed these feeding grounds during the first half of the 20th Century. Hunting was a means of survival for the baymen, but it also became a great sport. In September, hunters hired the boat captains to take them "down bay" to the gunning clubs and the duck blinds located on the sedge islands in the bay (Miller 1993). The only lodging available to hunters were the sportsmen’s inns built in the early 1800’s: Jacob Herbert’s Tavern in Mantoloking; Bill Chadwick’s House in Chadwick Beach; Michael Ortley’s House in Ortley Beach; John Reed’s Hotel in Island Beach (which was blown down by a hurricane in the late 1870’s) (Jahn, 1980), Britton Cook Tavern on Island Beach, the Herring House at the inlet on Long Beach Island (later called the Ashley House), the Samuel Perrine Hotel at Harvey Cedars, the Thomas Bond Hotel at Beach Haven, and the Tuckers Hotel built in 1765 on Tuckers Island (Miller, 1994).

Decoy carving originated from the necessity to entice flocks of birds to gunning grounds. It later became an art form and a Barnegat Bay tradition. Barnegat Bay baymen began carving decoys more than 150 years ago. Most of the local duck, goose, and brant decoys "… were designed to float on the surface of the water. A lead or iron weight was built into the bottom of the decoy to stabilize its flotation. Decoys for black ducks, pintails, and mallards were made to stick up in the marsh meadows" (Miller, 1993).

Tucker’s Beach on Tucker’s Island, located off of the southern tip of Long Beach Island, is considered by historians to be the earliest resort in Ocean County. Reuben Tucker’s house was the first and oldest house on the coast that was opened for lodging and entertainment for recreational visitors. This property was acquired sometime between 1725 and 1765. Fishermen and waterfowl hunters from Philadelphia took stagecoaches to Tuckerton and sailed to Tucker’s Island. Tucker’s Island was a 5 mi (8 km) long island separated from the mainland by continual wave action in an area known as "the slough" (Lloyd, 1990). The island contained trees, ponds, a lighthouse, a Coast Guard station, a school, and two hotels. It was a popular resort up until 1920 when a violent winter storm created a new inlet north of the lighthouse and threatened homes, forcing evacuation of the island for the next seven years. The lighthouse fell into the sea on October 12, 1927. The island gradually submerged and disappeared completely under the ocean in 1938 (Allaback, 1995). Tucker’s Island remained submerged until a small portion of the island reappeared in 1995. A grassy sandbar is now established there (Miller, 1998).

The early growth of the southern end of Long Beach Island can be traced to its proximity to Tuckerton directly across the bay. Hunters preferred Little Egg Harbor to Barnegat Bay because of its numerous small islands ideal for waterfowl habitation. The northern end of the barrier island was too far from Tuckerton to develop, but a small boarding hotel for gunners was established at Barnegat Inlet in the early 1820’s (Lloyd, 1986).

Railroads reached the beaches in 1870, and the summer resort industry was born. Point Pleasant Beach was laid out in 1870, and in that same year, Beach Haven was founded by the Society of Friends. While Seaside Park grew from a Baptist meeting ground in 1876, Island Heights developed from a Methodist campground in 1878. Lakewood became a resort by 1879 (McMahon, 1973). Hotels began to appear on the mainland from Point Pleasant Beach and Bay Head to the barrier island that stretched to Tuckers Beach. These hotels became lodging for the wildfowl hunters and fishermen.

Recreational fishing was responsible for the growth of Beach Haven. As in the case of the northern portion of the bay where visitors arrived by train from New York and northern New Jersey, the railroad brought vacationing tourists from southern New Jersey and Philadelphia (Sheppard, 1997). Guiding the visitors to fishing grounds became a means of local employment, and local catboats ferried fishing parties from the barrier island in search of the best fishing grounds. With growing numbers of visitors, the tourism industry began to flourish. Most travelers from Philadelphia and South Jersey sought places to vacation for longer periods. Soon spacious hotels at Beach Haven, capable of housing hundreds of visitors, replaced the formerly limited accommodations. "By the 1890’s, more than 1,000 hotel rooms and scores of private cottages existed for visitors" (Sheppard, 1996).

By the 1930’s, most of the old gun clubs began to decline due to shorter seasons, bag limits, and prohibitive game laws. Between the indiscriminate number of birds killed, the great droughts of the northern prairies, and the eelgrass blight of 1929-1931, the disappearance of the birds was very noticeable to local residents all over Barnegat Bay. The brandt, which fed on large quantities of eelgrass, all but vanished. In addition, the draining of the marshes to eliminate the mosquitoes affected the diet of the birds (Lloyd, 1992).

Four fisheries were located in South Seaside Park in the early 20th Century: Seaside Park, Hiering, Spring Lake, and United. Often 20 truckloads of fish per day were sent to the mainland (Allaback, 1995). The Point Pleasant Fishery was founded in 1936 by Axel Carlson, who had earlier worked for the Seaside Fisheries (Woolley, 1995). Point Pleasant continues to have an active commercial fishing fleet to this day.

Sports fishermen and commercial fishermen have been clashing for nearly a century over the amount of their fish and shellfish harvest. Dwindling fish stocks have largely fueled this conflict and have led to the enactment of federal and state regulations that limit the catch of marine fish for both recreational and commercial fisherman alike.

The once thriving oyster industry in Barnegat Bay and Little Egg Harbor collapsed during the 20th Century. The hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) industry supported a large clam fishery throughout the 1950’s and 1960’s, but now appears to be declining. Serious management actions are needed if this industry is to survive and thrive, but basic information is lacking. In addition to possible diminishing stocks, some areas producing clams yield non-marketable product due to the discoloration of the clam meats. The last survey of Barnegat Bay hard clam stocks was in the mid-1980’s (Kraeuter et al., 1996).

"In 1903, the Geological Survey employed Mr. C. C. Vermeule to make a survey for a tide waterway between the river and the bay. The primary purpose was to admit sufficient salt water into upper Barnegat Bay to convert it into oyster grounds; the secondary purpose was to provide a waterway for boats" (Colie, 1970). When the inland waterway was being dredged in 1908, the subject of a canal was again considered, and several routes were studied: one was from the Manasquan River to Beaver Dam Creek, and then down the Metedeconk River to the bay. Because of the length of this route and the associated high cost, it was rejected in favor of the existing canal route. Another route considered was the joining of Twilight Lake in Bay Head with three lakes in Point Pleasant Beach. The land for the present canal entrance along the Manasquan River was donated by the owner of Pine Bluff Inn to the Army Corps of Engineers (Oxenford, 1992). Construction of the Point Pleasant Canal was finally initiated on January 4, 1916. Work had to be stopped during World War I, but it resumed in 1918. Work continued unabated over the next seven years, and on December 15, 1925, dredging broke through at the Manasquan River (Woolley, 1995). The canal was opened to boat traffic in 1926, forever changing the ecosystem at the head of the bay from a freshwater environment to a saline system.

The opening of the canal in 1926 contributed to sand filling in the Manasquan River Inlet. The banks of the canal were not bulkheaded when they were originally excavated, and the movement of the tides through the canal caused the sand banks to erode, eventually closing the inlet. In 1930, a project was initiated to dig an opening through the sand dunes to the ocean at the river’s mouth. The inlet was opened on February 10, 1931, aided by a full-moon tide. As work at the inlet progressed, rocks were placed along the sides of the opening to keep the inlet open. Constant maintenance has kept the inlet open, creating the entrance to the Intercoastal Waterway, which starts at the head of Barnegat Bay (Oxenford, 1992). The waterway took eight years to complete.

New Jersey provides 116 mi (186 km) of ocean bypass that eventually goes all the way south to Florida, where the Intercoastal Waterway ends. The section between the Manasquan Inlet and Cape May protects boats from the unpredictable conditions of the ocean. Channel markers function as signs to guide boaters to the channel locations. Every channel is designated with triangles (to starboard) and squares (to port) to guide boaters. The federal government assumed responsibility for dredging and marking the main stem of the waterway in 1953, with the Coast Guard marking the channels and the Army Corps of Engineers dredging them. Both of these functions were state responsibilities from 1915 to 1953. The state is still responsible for the dredging, maintenance, and marking of tributary channels.

"One of the favorite routes for shallow draft boats was from Northwest Point to Seaside Park by way of Inner Thorofare, Gap’s Cove, Four Foot Ditch, Swan Pond, …then inside Wild’s, Ortley’s, Stooling and Meeks’ Islands and through Middle Thorofare to where the present bridge ends at Seaside Heights. It was a delightful sail through quiet waters with the banks profusely lined with colorful pink and white marshmallows and with the chattering of the marsh wrens and the song of the meadowlarks to accompany the ripple of the bow wave" (Colie, 1970).

 

Motorized boating was introduced on Barnegat Bay during the early part of the 20th Century. This activity has affected the water quality of the bay by introducing petroleum by-products into bay waters. Boat building was still a leading industry in Ocean County during World War II, but declined during the last half of the century. Racing continues to be popular, with all types of boats skimming across the bay in formal or informal races.

Nuisance algal blooms, such as those experienced in Barnegat Bay during the 1990’s, have been attributed to increasing nitrogen levels, which may also be responsible for the decline of eelgrass beds in localized areas. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection calculated nonpoint source nitrogen loads of 454 mt/yr to bay waters in the late 1980’s (Carter, 1996). Much of the nitrogen loading to the bay is attributed to nonpoint source pollution, such as residential lawn fertilizers and atmospheric deposition. No studies have been conducted on the impact of poultry farms within the Barnegat Bay watershed on groundwater moving toward the bay. Groundwater flow along progressively deeper pathways varies from a few feet per year (in low permeability deposits such as silt/clay) to a few feet per day (in permeable sand and gravel) (Horsley and Witten, Inc., 1996). Since the sources of non-point source pollution are not well known, nitrogen loads produced by chicken farms from the 1940’s to the 1970’s may have contributed to nitrification in the bay during the 1990’s.

During World War II, gas restrictions reduced automobile travel and the number of tourists visiting Ocean County. Construction of the Garden State Parkway in the mid-1940’s crossed 11 counties in New Jersey from Montvale to Cape May City. In early 1952, the New Jersey Highway Authority commenced operation, and opened the Garden State Parkway in 1954. This highway has had a profound effect on Ocean County by opening a direct route to all of New Jersey’s shore towns and facilitating commuting to northern New Jersey’s urban centers. Before the opening of the Garden State Parkway, there were few boats on the bay. However, by the end of the 1950’s there were literally thousands of new boats there - rowboats, sailboats, small craft with inboard or outboard motors, and even larger cruisers (Cunningham, 1958).

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