Monopoly- Penn State Forest
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(regular)
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This cache, as well as eight others in the “ Wharton Monopoly” series, are all regular caches. There is a logbook and trade items at each of the caches, as well as additional coordinates to complete the final ‘board game’. You must have logged all
nine of the series before completing the game. ( a.k.a. The Final “ Wharton Monopoly”)
SPEEDWELL FURNACE
Benjamin Randolph of Philadelphia owned the Speedwell Mill, a sawmill. In 1779 he wanted to sell the place. Although he sold it twice, it came back to him twice. His daughter Mary married his "cutter" and overseer at Speedwell, John Jacob Sluyter. They lived at Speedwell from 1779 onward.
In 1784 Benjamin Randolph moved to Burlington and constructed a furnace at Speedwell. The furnace, making pig iron primarily, proved moderately successful.
Randolph married Mary Wilkinson Fenimore and moved into the Fenimore home in Springfield. The marriage did not last long for by 1790 Randolph was giving Speedwell as his address. Randolph died in 1791.
Sluyter carried on with the furnace until 1797 (under lease) when he failed. He and his family then moved to Augusta, Georgia.
Randolph's daughter, Anna, owned Speedwell for 44 years.
In 1798 the property was leased to Joseph Walker and John Youle, who owned the Wading River Forge and Slitting Mill.
Mark Richards then leased the property. In 1829 he ceased operations at Speedwell, the furnace remaining idle. Anna Randolph soled the property in 1833. It came into the hands of Samuel Richards, operator of Martha, Atsion, and Weymouth ironworks. But even he could not make the furnace profitable. He abandoned the works before his death in 1842. The property was sold to James McCambridge, who had been proprietor of the Eagle Tavern (previously Barnhart's Tavern), not far to the southwest. In 1868 the property was sold to Stephen Lee and the property stayed in the Lee family.
Speedwell
south of Chatsworth and Jones Mill
originally known as Speedwell Furnace.
Here there was a little log building that was known as the old Indian schoolhouse. Once this area was the home of the Edge-Pollocks, a part of the Delaware tribe. It was said that the schoolhouse educated the children of white settlers and those of the few Indians around the area. Later the building became a blacksmith shop.
From where most of the bog ore came from for Speedwell iron furnace has now become a beautiful lake, favorite of local fishermen.
The only thing remaining of the old furnace was a stone wall about four feet in height. Most traces including the slag pile has been over grown with vegetation.
Once there was here the old Eagle Hotel which sold liquor.
Speedwell is located south of Chatsworth and Jones Mill. It was originally known as Speedwell Furnace. The road to Speedwell is a dark and dreary one. To get there you would have to travel through the blackened pines, charred stumps, and stunted trees.
On the road to Speedwell there is a corner known as Tom's Grave. There in the "L" of the intersection is a little mound, surrounded by undergrowth and swampy muck. This is actually "Tom's Grave".
Nobody knows who Tom was. He was African-American, the story goes, and he was found stiff and staring one morning in the middle of the road. People figure it was just a hit-run driver, but to the towns folk that could never happen on the road to Speedwell.
No one had ever seen this fellow before. He was fairly dressed and carried no identifications. There was little excitement. It wound up that somebody conceived the idea of calling the dead man "Tom", and he was buried right on the spot. They laid him to rest and placed a rude cross and called the corner of the street "Tom's Grave". The marker has fallen away over the years..
Sims Place
( From a web page on the Pine Barrens)
Today I got a guided tour (actually, just riding around in a farm truck and looking at stuff) of Hog Wallow and Sim Place from my friend Bill (Tug) Haines III.
We visited what is left of Fred Brown's house. True to description, one of his old cars (a Ford I believe) is still sitting out front, being reclaimed by the weeds. The house is in extremely poor shape - we didn't dare to step inside. Apparently after Fred Brown died, his son lived there for a while. He's in Tuckerton
Penn State Forest memory card was not in my camera!!!
Tug and I drove around. We walked through one of the bogs - I didn't know that there was no water in them until harvest time, which is in about 6 weeks.
The bogs at Sim Place are huge compared to the ones at Hog Wallow, but that's because they make them small at Hog Wallow since it's easier to harvest. Tug explained that back in the day - when cranberries were harvested by hand or by scoop - that the bogs were enormous. Now that it's done with a machine, they keep the bogs smaller so they are easier to flood and control. They're in the process of revamping the bogs at Sim Place - a project that they expect will take about 20 years to complete.
We also visited the old packing house at Sim Place. It's full of old junk, old tractors, a piano, about 5 old wagon wheels, and a decrepit wooden canoe.
The packing house at Hog Wallow was much nicer, given the fact that there are no gaping holes in the side like there are at Sim Place.
Additional Hints
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