The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey. Two other large, contiguous examples of this ecosystem remain in the northeastern United States: the Long Island Central Pine Barrens and the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens. The name pine barrens refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. Although European settlers could not cultivate their familiar crops there, the unique ecology of the Pine Barrens supports a diverse spectrum of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants. The area is also notable for its populations of rare pygmy pitch pines and other plant species that depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce. The sand that composes much of the area's soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand.
The Pine Barrens remains mostly rural and undisturbed despite its proximity to the sprawling metropolitan cities of Philadelphia and New York City, in the center of the very densely populated Boston-Washington Corridor on the Eastern Seaboard. The heavily traveled Garden State Parkway and Atlantic City Expressway traverse sections of the eastern and southern Pine Barrens, respectively. The Pine Barrens territory helps recharge the Kirkwood–Cohansey aquifer, containing some of the purest water in the United States.Michael A. Hogan, "The Pine Barrens of New Jersey: A Photoessay", Environment News Service, 27 October 2005. Accessed September 29, 2007. Quote: "Underlying much of the Pinelands is the Cohansey Aquifer. This formation of unconsolidated sand and gravel functions as a vast reservoir estimated to contain over 17 trillion gallons of some of the purest water in the country."
As a result of all these factors, in 1978, Congress passed legislation to designate of the Pine Barrens as the Pinelands National Reserve (the nation's first National Reserve) to preserve its ecology. A decade later, it was designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve. Development in the Pinelands National Reserve is strictly controlled by an independent state/federal agency, the New Jersey Pinelands Commission.
The Pinelands Reserve contains the Wharton, Brendan T. Byrne (formerly Lebanon), Penn, and Bass River state forests. The reserve also includes two National Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Maurice and the Great Egg Harbor.
John McPhee's 1967 book The Pine Barrens focuses on the history and ecology of the region.
History Prehistoric
Between 170 and 200 million years ago, the Atlantic coastal plain began to form.
The Barrens formed in the southernmost and newest land area in New Jersey 1.8 to 65 million years ago, during the Tertiary era.
Over millions of years, the rising and falling of the coastline deposited minerals underground, culminating with the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago, when plants and trees began growing in what is now New Jersey.
Forest fires have been a common occurrence since before habitation by humans. Fire has played a major ecological role in the Pinelands, and the ecotypes "suggest that short fire intervals may have been typical in the Pine Plains for many centuries, or millennia."
Pre-Columbian Around 10,000 years ago, the ancestors of the Lenape people first inhabited the Pine Barrens.
The fire regime before European settlement is poorly understood. Scholars know that the Lenape tribes burned the woods in the spring and fall to reduce underbrush and improve plant yields and hunting conditions. The Pine Barrens, with its sandy soil, did not attract a permanent agriculture population (whose main interest would have been to establish permanent boundaries and clear the forests for fields). The area's sparse population encouraged a long-lasting attitude that forest fires should be set for local benefit—even on the lands of others. For instance, it was profitable for charcoal burners to set fires deliberately, in order to make the trees useless for any purpose other than charcoal making, then purchase the trees for a discount.
European settlement During the 17th century, the area that is now New Jersey was explored and settled by the Swedish and Dutch, who developed whaling and fishing settlements mainly along the Delaware River. The English claimed the area as of 1606 under their London Company, and the Dutch abandoned their claim to the English in 1664. The first shipbuilding operations began in the Pine Barrens in 1688, utilizing the cedar, oak, and pitch trees, as well as local tar and turpentine. The first sawmills and gristmills opened around 1700, leading to the first European settlements in the Pinelands.
During the colonial era, the Pine Barrens was the location of various industries. In 1740, charcoal operations began in the Pine Barrens, and the first iron furnace opened in 1765. Bog iron was mined from bogs, streams, and waterways, and was worked in about 35 furnaces including Batsto, Lake Atsion, Hampton Furnace in Shamong,"Unique Pinelands Places: Ghost Towns and Ruins". pinelandsalliance.org. Pinelands Preservation Alliance. Retrieved April 1, 2018. Hanover Furnace in Pemberton,"National Register Digital Assets: Hanover Furnace". nps.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved April 1, 2018. Ferrago in Lacey, and several other locations.Ben Ruset (November 24, 2007). "A Listing of the Forges and Furnaces of South Jersey". njpinebarrens.com. Retrieved April 1, 2018. Iron from these early furnaces was instrumental in supplying the American military with weapons and camp tools during the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Second Barbary War. For example, Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. sailed to Algiers armed with 24-pound cannons that had been cast at Hanover in 1814.McPhee, John, The Pine Barrens, Noonday Press (1967) p. 27
The first Indian reservation in the Americas was founded on the Brotherton tract of land, in 1758, in what is now Indian Mills in Shamong Township. On October 6, 1778 during the American Revolutionary War, 400 British troops under Patrick Ferguson fought an American force under Casimir Pulaski at the Battle of Chestnut Neck before burning several local buildings. In 1799, the first glassworks opened in Port Elizabeth, and by that time, whaling operations had stopped. The first cotton mill in the Pine Barrens opened in 1810 at Retreat. Cultivated cranberry bogs begin in the 1830s, and in 1832, the first paper mill opened in the region. In 1854, the first railroad across the Pinelands opened, connecting Camden and the newly-established Atlantic City. Railroads soon connected the various small towns that existed across the Pine Barrens.
In 1869, the bog iron industry ended in the Pine Barrens, after the discovery that iron ore could be mined more cheaply in Pennsylvania. Other industries such as paper mills, sawmills, and gristmills rose and fell throughout the years, catering chiefly to local markets. Smaller industries such as charcoal-making and glassmaking also were developed, meeting with varying degrees of success. Over time, however, the forest reclaimed almost all traces of the Pine Barrens' industrial past. Ghost towns—remnants of villages built around these former industries—can still be found at various locations. Batsto Village has been restored to its mid-19th century state as a state historic site.
The Kallikak study The Pine Barrens were home to many rural, backwoods families. For years, residents of the rural area were called "Pineys" by outsiders, as a derogatory term. Today many Pinelands residents are proud of both the name and the land on which they live. In the early 20th century, a family identified in a case study by the pseudonym, the Kallikaks, were presented as an example of genetic inferiority by eugenicists.
Aviation accidents On July 12, 1928, the Mexican aviator and national hero Emilio Carranza crashed and was killed in Tabernacle, New Jersey, while returning from a historic goodwill flight from Mexico City to the United States. Flying back from Long Island, he encountered a thunderstorm and crashed in Burlington County. A 12 ft (3.6 m) monument identifies the location of the crash.
Efforts to preserve the Pine Barrens
Despite rapid urbanization of surrounding areas, the Pine Barrens remained largely untouched because its sandy soil was unsuitable for growing most crops. Its iron and charcoal deposits did not compete with more readily accessible deposits elsewhere. In 1969, the Pine Barrens averaged a density of , compared with in the lands bordering it. With rising environmental concerns at the time, people became alerted to the possible destruction of the Pine Barrens and its aquifer by urban sprawl.
State authorities in the region discussed plans to construct a jetport and associated city in the Pine Barrens to alleviate congestion at other major regional airports of the Mid-Atlantic. The low cost of land and lower incidence of fog in the area made the plan appealing."Biography of a Place: Wilderness Thrives Surrounded by City", Columbia Missourian, 26 January 1969. Accessed March 3, 2009.
Congress created the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, the country's first National Reserve, to protect the area under the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978.
The surviving Medford office of Dr. James Still, the 19th century "Black Doctor of the Pines", was purchased for preservation by the State of New Jersey in 2006. Today it is the Dr. James Still Historic Office Site and Education Center.Dr. James Still Historic Office Site and Education Center website
The reserve contains Wharton State Forest, Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, Bass River State Forest, and Penn State Forest.Penn State Forest, NJ Department of Environmental Protection The Pinelands was designated a U.S. Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1983 and an International Biosphere Reserve in 1988.
Howard P. Boyd was instrumental in working to preserve the Pine Barrens and educate visitors. He died in December 2011, within the Protection Area of the Pinelands National Reserve."Howard Boyd – The Piney", Blog NJ, Quote: "This Tabernacle resident is the pre-eminent scholar on the Pine Barrens."
Folklore
The Pine Barrens gave rise to the legend of the Jersey Devil, said to have been born in 1735 to a local woman named Mrs. Leeds in an area known as Leeds Point. It was said that he was her 13th child and, because of the unlucky number, he was cursed. Another story says that the mother gave birth to a hideous monster that attacked her and her nurses, before flying up and out of the chimney and disappearing into the Barrens.McCrann, Grace-Ellen, "Legend of the New Jersey Devil", jerseyhistory.org, New Jersey Historical Society (2021-10-26), retrieved 2021-06-24, 2021-02-28 at archive.today. The Devil is said to roam the Pine Barrens, with many sharing stories of encounters with the Devil during dark nights in the Pinelands.
Pine Barrens folklore also includes the ghost of the "Black Doctor", the ghost of Captain Kidd, the "Black Dog", and various other ghosts, as well as folklore associated with the Blue Hole and other so-called "blue holes" in the Pine Barrens.
Geography The New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve contains approximately of land, and occupies 22% of New Jersey's land area, including territory of much of seven counties. Counties affected by the act are Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean. The Pine Barrens comprise a major part of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion.
Although natural fires have occurred, evidence shows that most fires in the region are of human origin.
Climate