Tags: Disaster, Monument, Ocean County, Roadside Oddity, Unique Grave

We discovered this while out geocaching.
It may have half-burned down a last fall, but that doesn’t take away from the uniqueness of this bridge. You may no longer be able to cross it, but you can still see where this bridge leads……nowhere.
To quote another cacher “Definitely known as the ‘Bridge that Goes Nowhere’ from the birding groups. You can drive up to it, you can walk across it, but you just ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
That’s right, there is no road or trail on the other side of the bridge. Kinda makes you wonder why they bothered to build it in the first place. It’s now blocked off by 3 concrete barricades, but that doesn’t make much of a difference…you still can’t cross it.

Word of caution too, if you should happen to stumble upon the bridge…the dirt road leading to it is brutal. There are huge potholes and bumps. I’ve been on some bad roads in the Pines, and I can easily say this is one of the worst. I read one log where a guy wrote about hitting his head on the roof of his car because of the bumps. If you have a truck it probably isn’t so bad, but of course my truck had to die a few weeks ago.

No path of any sort….just a row of powerlines.

Update – 3/09

Can’t believe it’s been over 4 years since I was last down this road. I’ve gotten quite a few emails about this place since I first posted it. Supposedly the bridge was built because a development was to have been built somewhere out here but obviously never came to be.
A second and seemingly more popular topic involves an accident that happened on the road leading out to the bridge. I got a lot of emails saying there was a suicide back here, and the person’s grave was right on the road. I decided to finally drive back down this godawful road again and check it out. Let me say the road is much worse than it was just a few years ago. If you have a car, do not drive down it. Some trucks will even have trouble. It’s really not that long of a walk anyway, if you really need to see a broken bridge that badly.
It turns out someone lost control of her car and wound up in the marsh. There’s a small memorial to her which is, like the bridge, barricaded by concrete. I’m not really sure if it’s an actual grave but I doubt it.

Hope this answers some of the questions I’ve received. Be respectful and remember someone did lose their life driving down this road.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Tags: Ocean County, Pine Barrens, Ruins

This can be found along the nature trail at Eno’s Pond County Park in Forked River; we stumbled upon it while geocaching. I did some research on the park and couldn’t find anything to say what this particular building was. The park’s map simply labels it as “House Foundation.”
I did find out at one time a hotel for the rich was nearby, and the pond itself was used to supply the hotel’s ice. That doesn’t really help us with this though, does it?

Nothing too special; just another foundation. But it was a nice surprise.

This was embedded in 2 tree trunks; they’ve grown around whatever it is.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tags: Folklore, Historical, Ocean County, Pine Barrens

Since my last visit, they’ve added blocks to the top to give the building the castle appearance it had back in the day.

I was very fortunate to receive an email from a fellow geocacher who offered to let me visit Crystal Lake (his wife has worked there quite a while). Seeing how this building and the stories have been a fascination of mine since I was about 6, I jumped on the opportunity. I’ve wanted to see the inside of this building forever. We had a limited reign because the higher-ups weren’t working, but I’m sure I’ll be back to see more.

When you first walk in, there are articles and pictures of the building when it was a hotel. My guide told us some were actually found in the walls, being used as insulation.

In all honesty, not much remains that would suggest the place was once a hotel that Capone stayed at. The “Indian Room”, which was once the dining room, is now more of a lounge. Some relics from the hotel remain, but not many. We were told the curtains & chandeliers in the Indian Room are originals, as are the handrails throughout the building.

This was about all we could see inside. There’s an outside second level, but it was closed due to the ice. So from here we moved on to what they call the boathouse. The boathouse is right on the lake with the second level connecting it to the main building. This is where the fabled “escape tunnel” was. This tunnel, which my uncle explored about 30 years ago, allegedly goes under Crystal Lake itself. Depending on the story you hear, it was either one of Capone’s escape routes or where the wine cellars were hidden. The tunnel has since been sealed off, and the top part is simply for storage now.
The boathouse is in pretty bad shape. The pillars on it are crumbling or overgrown. The whole building has been neglected.

I went here to try and dispel some of the tales I heard, and I came home with more. Supposedly this tiny window near the top of the building was used as a lookout for anybody approaching the place. Armed mobsters were said to keep an eye for any suspicious looking carriages.

A few more of the stories I heard today:

There are supposed to be 2 ghosts in the building: Gracie is the benevolent one, and “The bellboy” is mischievous.

The Spanish Mansion was allegedly where the mob burned bodies of anyone they needed to get rid of.

Overall, this was a nice trip. It was nice to fulfill a childhood wish. While I didn’t see as much as I had hoped, it was interesting to learn more of the history about the building and hear some more of the tales associated with it. I hope I can go back and see the upper floors soon.

Special thanks to the newfound friends who made this possible.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Tags: Cemetery, Ocean County

First visited 1/03
New photos from 1/05

Bell Street is just behind the old A&P (now ShopRite) in Bayville. Wedged between 2 houses is a small cemetery. Oddly enough, the entire thing is about 2-3 feet higher than the neighboring properties, with aging wooden steps leading up to its entrance. A tall fence surrounds it, and the gate is locked. On my most recent trip there, I noticed a rake in the fence, so somebody’s taking care of the place.
Supposedly at one time the whole area was one large property, and this cemetery was for that family. A reliable source told me that a nearby house (its 2nd incarnation anyway) was the farmhouse on this property.
I don’t know much about the family yet, because it’s hard to read the names & dates through the fence (and even harder to take pictures).

The original (and horrible) Bell St. Cemetery page from 1/03 can be found here.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Tags: Cemetery, Ocean County

First visited 1/03
New photos from 1/05

We originally found this about 2 years ago. This tiny cemetery can be found right in the center of a condo complex. When we visited the first time, there was no information about it. They’ve since put a plaque up which lists the names and dates of everyone. I had no idea that many people were in here; there are virtually no stones left…just 2 stubs remain. If there wasn’t a fence around its perimeter, you probably wouldn’t even know it was there.

The original (and pretty crappy) page from 1/03 can be found here.

Popularity: 4% [?]