Crossing the Waters to St. Hubert's Chapel - Kinnelon, New Jersey

I don't think that I've ever found an abandoned location close enough to me that was accessible only by boat. And it's unlikely that I will find such a place again any time soon. 

St. Hubert's Chapel is this place, almost forgotten.  

When I had first seen images of the chapel, I thought that it was a pretty enough property. When I learned that it was in the middle of a lake, I may have leaned forward in my chair. Thoughts immediately circulated, how far away from it was I, what was security like, could I reach the island with a pair of fisherman's waders, and plenty of other nonsensical things. I let the manic excitement simmer for a bit and did some more digging.

Where Two Borders Met and Something Stayed - Province Line Road, New Jersey

You could drive down Province Line Road a hundred times and never consider anything out of the ordinary. Most people do. I had. It’s mostly plain stretches of road that are rural and unremarkable, hemmed in by trees and scattered homes. But its name isn’t poetic or nostalgic. It’s literal. It marks the historical dividing line between the two proprietary colonies that once made up the state: East Jersey and West Jersey.

Today, we argue over what constitutes North, South, and my old stomping grounds (neglected in this regard), Central Jersey. East and West are never in the conversation, it is merely a historical divide. One nearly forgotten, though some controversial attempts have been made to re-legitimize said boundaries.

What’s less documented about Province Line Road, what lives in the gaps between town folklore and family genealogy, are the personal accounts of those whose own histories intersect with the road over various points in their lives. Stories that don’t show up in archives, but come out in local diners, night drives with loved ones, online forums, or the knowing looks on my friends’ faces when I tell them that I, once again, had unknowingly ended up on Province Line Road.

Province Line Road, New Jersey

Visiting Big Rusty in South Jersey

I had first seen the gentle giant on a recent cover of Weird NJ. Their cover art always features unique scenes from across our great state. Of course, I get new copies as soon as possible, but most of the time they are always first added to my continuously growing to-be-read pile instead of being immediately devoured. In this case, I did not have the chance to learn about the creature until I had already met them. That might be a Weird NJ first for this traveler. 

Nonetheless, the story is quite straightforward: in Hainesport, New Jersey, there is a giant troll made of scrap metal who lives in the woods, just off of a highway and guarding an abandoned pottery shop.