Underground Hackettstown
Every long standing city or town I've noticed has a bit of history underneath its streets. I was just wondering if any of the old buildings on Main Street are connected underneath the road, or if anything at all is down there? This town's too old not to have any good surprises like that...
gorilla monsoon
I once heard tell that there was a tunnel from the Hackettstown Police Dept. to Dunkin Donuts. Don't tell anyone, though. Its supposed to be a secret.
redneck 
H-town mama 
Calico696 The buildings are ALL connected underground. The question is, can you squeeze into a 4" diameter sewer pipe?
ianimal 
bummer 
CagedAnimal I once heard that there was a tunnel from the stone foundation house next to the Pres. Church on Main St., east, under David's Country Inn, under Mt. Avenue to the old stome foundation house on Mt. Ave. I was also told that when the Professional building was built next to David's Country Inn in the 90's, the passage way was damaged. This tunnel was used to move slaves out of town by way of the "Musky" river.
City Chick i worked on the renovation of Davids Country inn...way back in the 70s...no such tunnel or any evidence of one was found...water.... sewer and gas lines are all that exist of underground hackettstown
waybill There is a book Historic Main Street Hackettstown New Jersey
By Leonard Frank and Raymond Lemasters Printed by Harmony Press INC ,Easton Pa
It will answer a lot of Questions
Yeah... a pointless question I guess. Great call with the underground donut hotline, Redneck. I've been drinking Wolfberry lately... the way it makes me feel in the morning I'm surprised I didn't ask if there were oompa loompas manning the tunnels underneath main st. --let's kill this one..
There is a House in belvidere that had a hidden room in the basement that has the iron shackles still on the wall where the slaves were put as not to give a way they were there as they were moved up the tracks of the under ground rail way there was a tunnel from the house to the carrage house and to the house across the street , things i find as i go about doing jobs
Ahhhh....guess what? There IS a tunnel that goes from St Mary's over to the Annex part of the church. I traveled that many times during my tenure there.
yes i know about the tunnel at st marys...traveled through it quite a few times myself...it was used to get from the school to the church and back on during bad weather...no mystery there...and yes there were slaves in the hackettstown area...but never as many as in the south...hackettstown was also home to some prominent abolitionists...
Reggie I heard that there was a tunnel under the original Central House that connected it during prohibition to an area that housed illegal liquor.
the prominent abolitionists i speak of were the Lundy family...they and a group of their followers protested against slavery...and held gatherings in the area...i have never heard of any part of the underground railroad passing through Hackettstown...as far as any secret tunnels during prohibition...the illegal liquor business was an open secret in Hackettstown...there was no shortage of booze...not to mention how many illegal liquor stills operated in the hills around Hackettstown...most everybody made home brew...some kept to themselves...some chose to sell it...illegal booze from the Hackettstown area was quite often transported to the Newark NJ area...as well as other locations...
How about that gate under the cemetary hill near the Musconteccong River (not far from Dunkin Donuts!) ? Is it still there ? What is under there ? Near where the Memorial Day parade use to end.
i must revise my comments about underground Hackettstown...there are a series of underground stone vaults along the Morris Canal on buck hill...they are all that remains of the Harvey & Brother Brewery that operated from 1835-1880s...the vaults are stone lined and were used to keep the freshly brewed beer cool...the vaults are on private property...if you seriously need to do some underground exploring...i would recommend the abandoned oxford railroad tunnel in Oxford New Jersey...or the abandoned twin railroad tunnels at Manunka Chunk...i have enclosed a picture of one of the Manunka Chunk tunnels...it is very popular with local people who like to do some exploring
going out willow grove to water loo just before the interstate on the left i noticed a cave for the first time
but in the basement of marlys there were stone arch ways that were sealed up
CagedAnimal -The cave on waterloo is an old iron ore mine, it only goes back about ten feet and is filled with water.
Drew University in Madison also has a long underground trail, they also moved slaves under there, that place has lots of hauntings too.
Right by the roadway?
if so I dont think its a cave
are you seeing the old lime kiln along Waterloo Rd.?
near the kiln along a stream is an old wall from what I assume was a mill.
How about Byram Ice Tunnel aka Rosevill Tunnel?
Some good underground there.
deansangie there used to be an underground zoo that ran underneath the hometown hardware when it was rockaway sales. It went all the way to where the train station is now. really cool
this time of year would be great to visit roseville tunnel...there should be huge floor to ceiling ice columns...all through the tunnel
Just rode by the mine on Waterloo Rd., did'nt have time to check it out but you can see the entry in the side of the hill south of 80 a bit.
Some good sunken in mines by the Cascade Falls along the Sussex Branch.
In Ledgewod you used to be able to walk through the tailrace from the morris canal inclined plane 2 East. It led to the turbine pit....I thought it was totally awesome.
I think its gated up now?
the last time i checked out the mine on waterloo rd it was full of water and garbage...some of the mines along the abandoned Sussex branch are long closed Uranium mines...i have explored the branch...but have no intention of going near a Uranium mine...i did have a chance to explore the Pahaquarra copper mines that was neat...i believe that the copper mines are all closed up now
"there used to be an underground zoo that ran underneath the hometown hardware when it was rockaway sales. It went all the way to where the train station is now. really cool"
bitohistory -- WHAT??
Rebecka I grew up on Mine Hill Road, at the foot of what I assume is Mine Hill, named because of the old iron mines under it. The hill and the mines extend from a brook just west of Rt. 46, under Mine Hill Road, all the way to the Muskonetcong River. A friend of my dad's said that his dad had walked through the length of the mines, emerging on the east side of the river just above Steven's State Park. It was very early in the 20th century, he was a teenager, and never tried what was he described as a foolish act again. He tried when he was older to relocate the exit to the mine by the river, but never could find it. When I was growng up, friends, siblings, and I hiked all over the hill, sometimes coming upon very deep, wide holes going straight down containing water in the bottom. My dad said they were air shafts for the mines. The largest was on a farm at the top of the hill owned then by the Saunders family. Anyone know the history of the mines? How old are they? What was the iron used for? How long did they last? Also, are the lime kilns in Waterloo and by Stevens State Park connected in any way to processing iron ore, or do they have a different purpose?
Millie 
i have seen the remains of the mine workings on top of Hackettstown mountain...they appear to be verticle shaft mines...the drainage shaft you refer to is called an "adit"...they were used to drain ground water out of mines...there is a long adit under the town of Wharton NJ...that was used to drain several mines of groundwater...the water drained to the Rockaway river...i have no other knowledge of the Hackettstown mines...i can see why your uncle was scared... the adit would be a long narrow passage...the iron from this area was used from before the Revolutionary war all the way up until the industrial revolution...for all sorts of iron goods...pots pans...railroad rails...firebacks...train wheels...utensils...most of the iron produced in the Warren County area was pig iron...that needed to be further processed before it could be made into steel...lime kilns were used to produce lime for farm fields...the lime made the soil better for planting...hers an old picture of iron miners at the Scrub oaks mine near Dover NJ...i am descended from a mining family...who worked the iron mines...
Thank you, Waybill. I really apprediate the pictures you put in the Forum. I've learned so much more about Hackettstown than I knew growing up.
I grew up in Hackettstown from the time I was 6; we moved there from Budd Lake. It seems strange now to think of not having any family left there since my mother died (aged 95) in 2005, I've been living in Pittsburgh for a long time now, but still miss the area.
My family has always been interested in local history, and I remember as a child Eleanor Ort saying that Mine Hill was properly Gold Mine Hill. Later my brother, who often visited Harold Nunn, told me that Mr. Nunn had talked about there being gold mined in the area around 1837, that it caused a sensation at the time and was completely forgotten in the much larger strike out in California in 1849. Having had 2 49ers in my family (neither of whom got rich), my grandmother commented that they should've known better than to go at all.
My father was a real estate agent at one point in the 60s, working for Jerry Esdaile's agency; Dad's real gift was in listing properties, and I often went with him as a teenager. At one point he was listing a defunct boy's camp, and the owner commented that there were many iron mines pockmarking the area. Didn't know before reading this about any copper--interesting!
Question: going up Schooley's Mtn. road from Hackettstown, there used to be a log cabin building/home built on the right over the stream. It was built by Elias McMurtrie around the turn of the century, later operated as the Mountain Tearoom by him and his wife, who later lived next door to my family on Washington Street. She told me that the orignal tiny cabin was on the other side of the road, right by the driveway that goes back to a sort of lodge perched on the other side of the ravine; her husband had dug out a little rootcellar underneath that connected to a cave. For years, whenever we drove over the mountain to Long Valley, I would look for that child-sized wooden door. At one point, when I was about 14, my best friend lived on the mountain, and one day I rode my bike up, and we explored it but not very far because she got too scared and our flashlight was dimming. The last time I went by it, the door was gone and the doorway looked as if it was filled in or had tumbled in.
On Shades of Death Road, near Haunted Hollow, there is a cave called Indian Cave,
There was a real need for lime kilns in the 19th century. My dad was interested in them, noticing some along area roads--there used to be one on the way to Washington, on the right.
" I have seen the remains of the mine workings on top of Hackettstown mountain".
I spent many a day crawling through and climbing down those mines as a young boy.
Waybill-underground stone vaults , that picture reminds me of the tunnel that Trout Brook utilizes to pass under the hill(next to Buck Hill,Route 46).Looks very similar to my recollection. I believe the Morris Canal passed over this tunnel(or very near). Maybe the same design/contractor built that tunnel. I never could find any stocked trout up that far.Please keep showing those vintage photos.
Ned...anything you can tell about the mines on Hackettstown Mtn would be very interesting...Bob as far as your question about the tunnel photo...yes contracters from Hackettstown worked on the manunka chunk tunnels...it would be hard to say if it was the same people...the stone arch tunnel still stands where trout brook passed under the Morris canal...the Hackettstown side was still in good shape...but the Independence Twp side had partially collapsed...i used to fish there too...here is a nice picture of the abandoned oxford Railroad tunnel...i have personally explored this several times...it extends well over 3000 feet under the mountain near Oxford NJ...the pinpoint of light you see in the distance is the end...it took 8 years to complete this tunnel
Bessie This thread is great. The Manunka Chunk Tunnels are great. I took both all the way through a few years ago. Amazing stuff.
Keep this thread going, i love hearing about all this stuff.
Pic is of my buddies in Roseville Tunnel outta htown in Byram. Posing on junked bikes tossed from the top.
I grew up on Moore Street - and there are interesting things under the surface in Hackettstown. In our backyard at the time there was an old pipe into the ground, and if you looked down into it there was an old, stone-lined water cistern. The interesting thing about it was, the house across the street had one too, and if you looked to the west side of it there was the stone lining, but if you looked in the opposite direction it had created a large cavern. So being kids, we flushed water into with a hose. Then we ran back over to my house and checked out the cistern and - - - sure enough, we could hear the water running into it. So - at least on one part of Moore Street, and probably throughout town, old underground cisterns have eroded out soil between large stones and created underground caverns in a number of places. Moore Street, and then over toward the college and then over toward the high school are probably full of them, there's a lot of sand-stone down there.
Oh - and there used to be old kilns off the ball fields near the town pool.
Stephan Tunnels in H'Town? Thought everyone knew that! Main St E under sidewalk from Liberty St to vic of Church. When new sidewalks were up dated in late 50's many loads of 'fill' were unexpectably needed. Should not have been unexpected! Most commercial properties had metal covers in center of old walk way. Ready access for improvisd coal cellers for old style heating systems. All they had to do was break entries from individual centers. Gave them more storage tat way. Dscontinued coal use and new walkways finished them off. By the way, the BIG mnes are the deep ponds (lakes), open pit mining southwest of Beattystown. Water was a deep solid green. Home to the largest fish you could visilize. CARP that is, definitely not GOLD!
oldsoldier Forgot to mention - several homes have or had underground bomb shelters. Our back porch on Moore Street was an old bomb shelter my parents had blocked off in the late 60s when we moved in. But before it was blocked off it was pretty cool - hand crank vent fans, two rooms - bunk room and primary living area. Access from the basement and then from the outside which they filled in.
Cavanaughs Bar and Grill which is Marlys now on main street has a under ground history that there was a fortune hidden in the basement .
Someone brought up bomb shelters in basements any others. any one find there old house has hidden rooms, passages .any homes you find to be of the gothic nature .
stephan...i remember the private bomb shelters in hackettstown...and at that time they were very expensive to build...there was one on high street...near st marys school...there was another...near the library just off of washington street...i guess history has proved this idea has outlived its use...the old pool hall on main street was marked as a public fallout shelter...many towns around Hackettstown had emergency food and water rations stored in the basements of schools during the cold war... i often wonder if the bombs had really been dropped...who would have been able to survive...and how the supplies from the fall out shelters would have been distributed..not to mention the drills as school children we went through...ducking under our desks...to be ready for nuclear attacks...i still keep 2 school desks in my basement...in case of a nuclear attack..all we have to do is duck right under them...that was what they told us...back then
Waybill,
In Kindergarten in the current middles school we had air raid drills infrequently, but they all revolved around heading down past the locker rooms to the gym, where we sat against the wall with our heads down. At Hatchery Hill we went into the hallways for the rare air raid drill. Never could figure out by then if the North Vietnamese were really going to attack - ha. I was aware of the bomb shelter on Washington Street, but not on High Street. Back in the early 70s provisions could easily be purchased at old Army/Navy stores (there was one in Washington) - you could buy huge tins of crackers, canned goods, etc.
I recall fallout shelter signs being visible at the Fire Station and Middle School and St. Marys school. I heard tell stories of an underground room beneath the parking lot of the Jigger Shop - but being all growed up now I know that couldn't be - it would have collapsed under the weight of those mid-70s cars. There was also a rumor of a tunnel that went from Madison to the garage for the hosue on the northwest corner of Madison and Church Street.
And I used the tunnel at St. Marys many times heading from CCD to the church to prepare for First Communion. I also tell my kids now (we live in Florida) how I had to walk home from CCD in the snow and cold with fingers so frozen you couldn't touch your pinkey and thumb together. They have it easy - they get Mommy and Daddy to drive them to CCD three blocks off the ocean.
Where was the old pool hall on Main St ? Was it near Kerrs Pharmacy ? and What ever happened to that pharmacy ? It was private/family owned I believe. It never seemed too busy compared to Bachs(what was it called before that - it started with an L)?
Bob...the pool hall was next to the old Jack and Jill convenience store across from the Jigger shop...by the way the Jigger shop is gone and the Jack and Jill convenience store is still there but under a new name...the pool hall had a rear entrance behind the old Hackettstown Gazette offices...Kerrs pharmacy was one of the older pharmacies in Hackettstown tracing its roots to the pharmacist Rea...whose old bottles can still be found around town... Bachs/Liggetts/Rexall pharmacy opened later on...there is no longer a pharmacy on main street Hackettstown...Kerrs closed years ago...and Bachs sold out to a national chain and relocated to the corner of east ave...across from Mcdonalds...Stephan...we were always told that a nuclear attack by the Russians could happen at anytime...i still remember going to the Memorial day parade and hearing military officers warn us that Hackettstown would be hit by nuclear weapons because of our proximity to Picatinny Arsenal...and New York city
Old Soldier...you are right about the new sidewalks on main street...some of the buildings had metal doors on the sidewalk to accept deliveries...i remember Helens Toyland having a set of metal delivery doors right in the sidewalk next to liberty street...also some of the stores on main street actually had basements that extended under the sidewalk
Any one know of some realy ornate or very gothic above ground crypts or vaults in our area
Gorilla Monsoon claimed to have started this thread...heres the real Gorilla Monsoon...the great Champion Wrestler...
Gill Waybill,
Where is, or where was the fall out shelter on High St?
Your post made me wonder if there's been any preparations such as mass food storage,
fall out shelters or any precautions whatsoever for a current day catastrophic event?
I really hope so ... it's hard to believe that 50 years ago we were prepared .. and in these crazy times ... we're not.
I have a bomb shelter, home made in the fiftys filled with cans and bottles (want to clean it out???) and three cisterns, one cement (50's), one stone (1860's), and one in the basement (creepy).
Hackettstown Harold Doc Miller had a bomb shelter on the corner of Cook and High.It was in his back yard when I was a kid, Late 60s.
yes Doc millers bomb shelter is still there...as are the other bomb shelters in Hackettstown...there were several...my family did not have the kind of money it took to build those things back then...but we survived never the less..
waybill, Do you Know if any of the stone vaults along the morris canal are still in tact? i have been going crazy looking for them since last summer but the only thing I found is a stone wall that looks like it was a waterfall at one time. Right next to the wall there is an area that has a pile of rocks that look like they could have been a structure. someone has been removing stones from the pile, this may be one of the entrances but I am not sure.
This is a bit off topic, but it does have to do with Hackettstown history. Maybe 10-15 years ago, there was an orgnaization formed similar to Hackettatown BID. I forget the name of it. But there was a news story on WRNJ about a man in one of the southern states (I forget which one) who bought some peat moss at his local K Mart. When he dumped it out, he found a high school ring from Hackettstown High School. It was very old, I think it was from the 1800's. There were initials engraved in the ring. The man who found it, looked up Hackettstown and found the only one in the U.S. and contacted someone from Hackettstown, again I don't remember who it was. But he sent the ring to whomever he contacted and it made the news. When the story was reported, they were in the process of trying to see if they could identify the owner and then see if there were any family members still in the area. It was a very small class and it was a man's ring, which narrowed it down somewhat. But that was the last I ever heard anything about it. I contacted the group who was doing the research, but they never got back to me.
Did anyone else hear this story or anything about an outcome if there was one? They had a theory that it was someone working on the muck in Great Meadows who lost the ring in the muck and it took all those years for it to be picked up and sent to wherever it would be packaged.
I just found it to be such an interesting and intriuging story, but I could never find anymore information on it.
Tanya I think that HH ring story was in Weird NJ years ago.
Read there are or were extensive tunnels under the Newton Square & also under the old Ledgewood Circle.
BABYBULL24 the stone vaults under the site of the brewery are still intact...but they are on private property off of Baldwin St...i have no idea who the owner is...there is really nothing to see...its just a big underground stone vault...the bottom of the vault used to always have about an inch or so of ground water...
Any one have secret rooms under ground at there house or secret rooms or passages that are still useable
It's my understanding the stone vaults from Harveys store..built under the Morris canal ( Now on private property) have been filled in. Think there were three at one time but unsure. Are these the ones you are looking for?
Grascal Grascal, Yes these are the ones. I Figured they were filled in because of all the time i put into looking for them, I only found the pile of rocks. Thanks.
the underground stone vaults were from the Harvey Brewery they were used to store the beer..they were filled in once before...to keep the local children from playing in them...at one point the county expressed an interest in preserving the vaults... there were two vaults connected by a large iron door underground...it would be one thing if the vaults have been filled back in...i hope they have not been demolished
the vaults are still there...one on either side of a fence...the pile of rocks is the top of the second vault...the first vault...is located under a small playground...the opening to the vault is just barely visible in front of the playground...i just went to have a look
go to the intersection of Roosevelt avenue and Harvey Street at that point the Morris Canal crosses Harvey st...you will notice an old building foundation...and at that point follow the Morris Canal towpath for about 1000 feet...in the backyard of a house very close to the old canal bed you will notice a wooden fence...there will be what looks like a rockpile on one side and a childrens playground on the other...thats where the vaults are...again...they are on private property...
I went there just the other day and saw the rock pile, it was cool to see where it was even though its closed off. thanks i have been looking for them for months.
Rylan3325,
There is an entrance to the mine but it's in some ones backyard and I believe its closed off by a pile of rocks.
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