Lost Towns of the Pine Barrens

New Jersey’s Pine Barrens touch 7 of the state’s 21 counties and cover more than 50 municipalities. This is a unique environmental area, that stretches southeast from near Camden in the West to near Cape May County in the East. It’s highly acidic and sandy soil led early European settlers to call it barren because few of the plants they brought with them would grow in the pines. The highly acidic sandy soil, high water table, pine trees and proximity to the ocean made it a prime area to support an iron industry. That industry lasted until the late 1800’s when a higher grade of iron ore and anthracite coal were found in Pennsylvania. While the pine barrens are close to New York, Philadelphia and Atlantic City, it remains mostly undeveloped. The area is the largest piece of open space between Boston and Richmond, Virginia. The Pine Barrens also helps recharge the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, which contains some of the purest water in the United States. All these factors led to the area being designated the Pinelands National Reserve in 1978. It was designated a United Nations International Biosphere Reserve in 1983.