Allaire State Park

    Well, we finally went somewhere besides the movies and dinner. It has been kind of hectic in the RV Park as we had a whole herd of tenters come in to attend the three day Dave Matthews Concert in Atlantic City. They were a pretty good bunch, but the venue was really dusty and it took everything we could muster to keep the showers clean. Must have done pretty good, as we got several unsolicited congratulatory comments from the group. Anyway....

    Today we took a short drive northwards to the Allaire State Park and Village. This park is located in the town of Farmingdale and contains a nice picnic area, botanical gardens (with hiking trails), the “Village” is the restored Howell Iron Works Company, and the New Jersey Museum of Transportation. We spent most of our time in the Village but it is all very well manicured and interesting. On weekends and special events, the village is staffed by interpreters costumed in period garb who can relate to you the histories of the particular building that you are visiting. During the week, there is a skeleton staff and the place is largely a ghost town, but interesting nonetheless. The early development of this area included a sawmill and a forge during the late 1700’s. In 1822, James Allaire purchased the property and developed the Howell Iron Works Company. On this site there was a school, church, general store, blacksmith and tinsmith shops, a bakery and row houses for the workers. This, coupled with the large furnace and forge, made for a community of over 400 people. The source of the end product was a thing called bog iron ore. This ore formed near the surface in areas of poor drainage. It was removed from the nearby bogs and stream banks and refined (or smelted) using charcoal to fuel the furnace. They made their own charcoal from the surrounding forests. Products manufactured here included pots and pans, kettles, water pipes, stoves, sash weights, and architectural fittings. Around 1804-06, Allaire teamed with Robert Fulton and provided parts for his revolutionary new steam-powered ship (the Clermont). In 1819, Allaire cast the cylinder for the Savannah, the first American steamboat to cross the Atlantic Ocean. By 1820, Allaire was producing over 50% of all marine engines manufactured in America. Allaire enjoyed great success until the mid 1830’s when a series of events saw his empire crumble. The area stayed in the Allaire family until 1901. After a series of owners, it was turned into a state park in the 1940’s and has undergone extensive renovation since. 

    The heading photo is of one of the row houses. Here workers lived with their families. Rent was taken out of their pay. Downstairs was the kitchen and living spaces. Upstairs were the bedrooms.

    Inside the living area of one of the row homes. 

    Some had a small kitchen area in the back. Others used the fireplace in the living room for cooking. 

    Back in the bog area along the stream banks. here is where the bog iron was dug out of the earth. 

    Chunks of bog iron ore. 

    Some of the things made here. In the back center of the picture is a neat stack of what was called “pig iron”.  The molten iron was poured into molds in the sand floor and made into bars. These bars could then be shipped to manufactures for further refining and manufacturing of iron products. 

    There was a bakery where you could buy baked goods, or some of the workers could use the facilities to make their own bread for use by their families. 

    The General Store was the largest of its kind at the time. Four floors built of brick (the fourth floor can be seen on the opposite side of the building; the ground slopes and it is hidden from view in this photo). The basement or bottom floor held meats from the butcher shop that was on site. The first floor was the general store items needed for everyday life and the post office. The top two floors were for storage of items for later sale. Interesting to note, the building was made of brick. In order to keep the walls from bowing out and collapsing under the stresses, iron rods ran under each floor and were secured into the walls. On the outside of the wall, you can see the stars where the support rods screw into. Decorative and functional!

    Thirty cords of wood (logs cut and stacked 4’ high, 4’ wide, and 8’ long = 1 cord) were cut daily and stacked into piles. This intricate stacking was hollow in the middle and was filled with wood chips. The outside was covered in mud and the whole thing set on fire. Designed not to flame but to char, it took 24 hours to turn into charcoal that was then used to fire the furnace to melt the iron ore. This went on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

    All that is left of the furnace. Three buildings once stood here with this furnace in the center. The ore was melted and refined (smelted) and then poured into molds on the floor. 

    There were several more buildings on the property, but since we were visiting during a weekday they were not open and could only be viewed from the outside. 

     After leaving the Park and heading home, we drove down the road and turned right into Tel Aviv!!! We were surrounded by signs in Hebrew and by folks in skull caps and hats and dozens of guys dressed in Orthodox Jewish clothing. Seems that Lakewood, NJ (the town we were in) is a main hub of Orthodox Judaism and in fact is the site of of one of the largest yeshivas in the world! A yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional Jewish religious texts. Our path took us smack dab through the middle of the Institution. Quite a culture shock when you’re not expecting it.