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Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
Spruce Run, an old millstream, parallels State 30 through a high-walled
ravine. The Jersey Central R.R. is on a rocky mountain ledge (L).
At 14.3 miles is the junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road across Spruce Run to (R) the SITE OF UNION IRON WORKS,
1.4 miles, a pile of stone overgrown with ivy in the shade of an apple orchard. The
furnace was erected by William Allen, ex-mayor of Philadelphia, at about the time
of his purchase of land here in 1742. Allen and his partner, Joseph Turner, were
pro-British; their property was confiscated by Revolutionary authorities. The furnaces
were working until the latter half of the 19th century.
At 15.2 miles is the junction with a macadamized road.
Left on this road is HIGH BRIDGE, 1.8 miles (350 alt., 1,860 pop.), where part
of the Union Iron Works was situated. When the furnace was confiscated during
the Revolution, Robert Taylor, one of the commissioners for the subsequent sale,
bought part of the property and operated it as the Taylor Iron Works-predecessor
of the contemporary Taylor-Wharton Iron and Steel Co. On the company's land is
LAKE SOLITUDE (swimming free on presentation of health certificate from High
Bridge Health Dept.), named for the home Taylor built here. John Penn, last Royal
Governor of Pennsylvania and a descendant of William Penn, was held prisoner in
Taylor's home for 6 months on the order of the Continental Congress in 1776. The
town is small, its only modern note a cream-colored brick bank building.
The county road is scrub-lined, with masses of sumac bushes. It is paralleled (R)
in spots by the South Branch of Raritan River. VOORHEES STATE PARK, 3.6 miles,
on the summit of a steep rise on the southern slope of Musconetcong Mts., is being
developed (1939) into a recreation center with smooth dirt roads, trails, and fireplaces and other picnic facilities.
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