The New Jersey Pine Barrens

The Pinelands National Reserve in southern New Jersey is an interesting place for many reasons. The Pine Barrens (as the area is commonly known) covers nearly a quarter of New Jersey, the most densely populated state in America, but very few people live here. There’s a lot of empty land and forest in the Pine Barrens (the area was a featured spot for dumping bodies on The Sopranos, and that probably wasn’t just a figment of some screenwriter’s imagination). Pine Barrens’ folklore, including the Jersey Devil, which we’ll get to in a minute, makes the area interesting. The Pine Barrens is a great destination for riding, motorcycle camaraderie and good food.

The area has a rich history. America’s eastern seaboard formed about 200 million years ago; the Atlantic Ocean deposited sand along this coastline and 65 million years ago the Pine Barrens began to emerge. When the Ice Age ended 12,000 years ago plants and trees appeared. Lenape Native Americans settled here 10,000 years ago. Swedish and Dutch settlers arrived and focused on fishing and whaling. England claimed the area in 1606 and shipbuilding (using the region’s ready supply of pine, cedar and oak) emerged as the dominant industry. Cranberry bog farming followed in the mid-1800s. The area remains the third largest source of cranberries in the U.S. Blueberries were first cultivated here and blueberry farming remains a dominant industry. Over time, most manufacturing industries left and the Pine Barrens reverted to an isolated and heavily forested region. The Pine Barrens has ghost towns, including Batsto Village. Wildlife is plentiful, including river otters, deer, black bear, bobcat, bald eagles, many species of reptiles and more. Congress designated the Pine Barrens as the Pinelands National Reserve in 1978, and a decade later the United Nations designated the area an International Biosphere Reserve.

When I was a youngster, the Pine Barrens had a reputation as a backward area. I can tell you firsthand, though, that’s not the case. The area is reputed to be haunted by the Jersey Devil (a version of the chupacabra; a devilish creature with the head of a goat and large bat-like wings), the Black Doctor (the ghost of Captain Kidd), and other assorted supernatural beings. These make for interesting stories, but I wouldn’t let any of them influence plans to ride in the Pine Barrens.

My recent ride in the Pine Barrens on a vintage 1966 Honda Scrambler was most enjoyable. Our first stop was in Chatsworth, an old Pine Barrens wide spot in the road with only a few buildings and a roadside eatery. We bought sodas and hot dogs at the Hot Diggidy Dog, sat on a roadside bench, and chatted with other riders. From Chatsworth, it was on to Lucille’s Luncheonette in Warren’s Grove on County Route 539, one of the main roads through the Pine Barrens. Lucille’s (featured on Anthony Bourdain’s Food Trail) is known for its pies. We parked under a carved, life-sized Jersey Devil statue in Lucille’s parking lot. Other than that statue, we didn’t see the Jersey Devil on our ride, but who knows? Maybe he saw us. Anything is possible in the Garden State.