Autumn 2018 Trip Postcards: The Deserted Village of Feltville

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On our way to Vermont on Sunday morning, Penny and I stopped at the Watchung Reservation, a Union County park. Among the dozens of miles of hiking trails in the relatively small but heavily wooded park is the deserted village of Feltsville. It seemed like a good place for Penny to burn off energy before our long drive and I really do love a nice walk in the woods.

We avoided the townsite for a while by following a random series of paths that eventually looped back to a cemetery that predated the town. Then we hiked up to the town, back to the damsite along the creek, and through the woods a little more. I figure we walked about two miles on that gorgeous morning.

The only original headstone in the old cemetery.

This 242 year old headstone is the only original stone in the small cemetery near the townsite.

Townsite building.

One of the few surviving buildings from Feltville, an 1800s mill town. (Side note: this is a great example of the perspective distortion I’ve noticed with the iPhone Xs’s wide angle view.)

Stone wall.

This stone wall and some of the foundation is all that remains of the three story mill building.

Creek in the woods.

This creek, dammed upstream in two places, provided power and water for the mill and town.

Mushrooms growing in a tree stump.

The obligatory mushroom photo.

Autumn 2018 Trip Postcards: View of Manhattan from Sandy Hook

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If you know anything about east coast geography, you might know that the north end of the Jersey Shore ends at a sandy hook of land called, appropriately, Sandy Hook. This is part of the Gateway National Park, which has several locations in the New York Metro area.

The north end of this hook of land has a bunch of interesting ruins dating back to World War II, an active Coast Guard facility, beach access, and an observation platform built primarily for birders that overlooks the marsh land near the beaches. That platform also offers a great look back toward Manhattan.

Today is a beautiful day and pretty darn clear. Here’s what I saw when I climbed up the platform to chat with the birders there.

View of Manhattan.

The view of Manhattan from the observation platform at Sandy Hook.

Autumn 2018 Trip Postcards: Sandy Hook Lighthouse

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Back in New Jersey for the weekend. My brother, who has to work today, suggested going down to the park at Sandy Hook. So that’s where I am. Penny and I are exploring the area this morning, checking out the beaches and the ruins.

Here’s the lighthouse, which is nearly 200 years old. I was fortunate enough to join a Boy Scout group for a visit to the top.

The Lighthouse at Sandy Hook.

Yes, I’m Still Alive

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I realize that it’s been more than a month since my last blog post. I’m not happy about that. And after getting an email message from a concerned reader today, I thought I’d take a moment to apologize.

Truth is, I’ve been very busy and, although I’ve got plenty to write about, I haven’t made time to write. Now I’m on vacation (leaving my home, chickens, and barn cats in the very capable hands of a house sitter who is probably eating eggs 3 times a day by now) and I purposely left my laptop behind. I can’t write long form on my iPad, so a real blog post will just have to wait a little longer.

In the meantime, I’ll try to use my new phone to share some vacation “postcards.” (I’ll set the publication date and time to approximate when I took the photos, so some posts might appear older than this one.)

Gotta run! Here’s my train!

Metro Train coming into station

This Silver Line Metro train will take me a good portion of the way to the Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, VA.