Smashed Hat Traditional Cache
jd&lg: The possibility of the cache getting muggled is high and there are not enough safe areas around to move the cache, so I'm archiving. Thanks to all who visited!
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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log only, bring a pen
The original location of the taverns is across the BHP by the lake from where the cache is placed. Please park in the diner lot.
Penny Pot has a long history. Long ago there was a tavern here by that name. Issac Dole was the first licensed innkeeper. There is a document in the Gloucester County Historical Society dated 1762 with 3 bondsman paying 20 pounds each to "our soverign Lord the King" as a guarantee that Dole would abide by the regulations as a licensed Inn Keeper.
"During the continuance of such license shall not himself game nor suffer any persons to game in his house for money or the value of money. But shall during the time of public inn keeper maintain good order and rule and find and provided good and sufficiant entertainment for man and provisions for horses, then the above recognizance to be void, otherwise in force taken and acknowledged in open sessions this day Anno domini 1762"
Despite all of these precautions Issac Dole has gone down in local history as a poor houskeeper. His tavern became know as the "Smashed Hat Tavern". It has been said that when a pane of glass was broken, Dole placed a smashed hat in the hole to keep the cold out.
Another inn keeper was Simeone Brown of Green Bank. An application for a license to be inn keeper is dated march 5, 1816. It is on file with the Gloucester County historical Society. Twelve men petitioned addressed to the Honorable Justices of Quarter Sessions of the Peace in the County of Gloucester, that :
"publick house would be conducive to publick trust and convenence at Penny Pot Mills (there was also a saw mill here). being 7 miles to the nearest place of entertainment on the publick road to Cooper's Ferry and being well acquainted with Simeone Brown do recommend him to your honors as a man suitable for publick inn keeper as to his honesty, sobriety and temperense having at least two good feather beds more than for family youse and stabling for twelve or more horses and pasterage for same, we pray your Honors to grant him your license..."
Simeone Brown had 12 sons, 5 of which died in the Civil war, having starved at Shilo. The inn keeper perished in a blizzard on his way back from Cape May to get a load of hay for the horses. The storm over took the open wagon and the driver got off to walk to keep warm. Simeone's horse bolted and ran home. Simeone perished before his sons found him.
There are a couple of stories how Penny Pot got its name. Some say it was named for the old Tavern in Phila or the Tavern in Bristol England, where a good ale could be gotten for a penny a pot. Another is, a traveler from Cape May stopped at Penny Pot for the night, engaged a fresh horse and proceeded to Phila. On his return when he picked up his own horse and settled his account, he needed change. The inn keeper called to his wife to bring the change, at which time she answered "there isn't a penny in the pot".
The lake was a cranberry bog prior to 1800. The lake is formed by the damming of Hospitality Creek. There is actually a flood gate made out of Teak salvaged from an old vessel at the mouth of the lake. This was put in place about 1917 by John Kinney of Collingswood NJ. There was a Lodge built next to the flood gate. Mr Kinney purchased 400 acres of land for $1.00 per acre. He was a pioneer in conservation. "the fish in the lake, the deer and the rabbits in the pines were his special charges". He was also instremental in the development of the Black Horse Pike as a major route to Atlantic City.
(source of info "The History of Folsom NJ 1875-1796 by Gertrude M Eckhardt)
When I was a child there was a tavern at the cache site. It's name facinated me... "The Mouse Tavern"...it burned quite a while ago. The ruins are the remains of the Mouse Tavern. The cache is not near the dam, water or ruins. Please be careful entering and exiting as the Black Horse Pike is far more dangerous than it was in the day of the old taverns.
watch for muggles, you'll stick out like a sore thumb while searching
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