I was looking through the book images of America, the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, by Karen F Riley, and I came upon this old photograph. According to the caption under the photo, The subject of this photo has been the center of much debate. Some people believe that it is a photo of Weymouth and some people believe that it is a photo of Harrisville. The caption states that evidence has been raised in the book Heart of the Pines that suggests that it is actually Harrisville. Upon closer inspection of the photo I tend to disagree. I believe what we are actually looking at here is a view of Weymouth. I will list some of my reasons below and I invite anyone who has ever visited the Weymouth site or is familiar with its history or familiar with this photograph to comment below and let us know what you think this is a photo of. 1. First of all the photo appears in the book with the building on the left side and the large body of water on the right side. The caption does mention that this photo is often shown reversed. I happen to know that when old tin type photos are reprinted on paper they are often reversed. So when I scanned this photo I flipped it to what I believe is the correct orientation. Once flipped to this orientation it bears a striking resemblance of the view that you would have of Weymouth if you were approaching from what is now the Black Horse Pike heading north on what is now Weymouth Road. 2. Second notice the large body of water to the left of the roadway. Based on my explorations of Harrisville and many old photos I have seen of Harrisville I do not believe there were any large bodies of water that ran through the town of Harrisville. Yes, there was a hand dug canal that ran through the town, but as far as I know that canal was not separated from any of the buildings by a roadway and the canal was far too narrow to appear this large in a photograph. The only roadway I know of that ran through Harrisville was North and South Main Street. From the old photos of the town there were buildings on either side of the roadway and the canal ran behind the mansions and company store but there was no roadway between the buildings and the canal. At least none that I am aware of. Yes there was Harrisville Lake but I do not believe Harrisville Lake would have been visible from North or South Main Street as it is too far away. I believe what we are seeing here is actually the Weymouth mill pond prior to 1916 when the dam broke and the mill pond drained.. 3. Notice the small bridge in the foreground. I believe this is the bridge that crosses over the Atlantic paper mill race. Just behind the camera you would probably see another bridge that crossed over the Weymouth mill race which is now blocked off when they rebuilt and elevated the roadway. Just to the right and behind the camera would be the driveway that now leads down to the parking lot at Weymouth furnace Park but was not there at the time. Also, notice how this bridge and millrace are located directly in front of the building and you would cross over the millrace immediately before reaching the building just as you do today when approaching the Weymouth site from the South heading north on Weymouth Road. To my knowledge there was no such feature at Harrisville. 4. Now lets draw attention to the building itself. This building does not appear to match any of the buildings that I have seen in the old photographs of Harrisville. Its not the company store, its not the Gristmill, it definitely isnt any of the three mansions, it isnt the bunkhouse, it isnt any of the workers houses, it most definitely isnt the Harrisville paper mill, and it definitely isnt the schoolhouse. It does however bear a resemblance to the descriptions and the current ruins of the Atlantic paper mill. The forward section of the building near the roadway appears to be where the old pulp mixing vats were located and the rear section of the building near the smokestack appears to be where the paper pressing machines were located. And speaking of the smokestack notice how it is in exactly the right position from the roadway and is the correct height and shape of the smokestack that currently exists at the Atlantic paper mill ruins. Also, notice how it is a stone and masonry structure just like the Atlantic paper mill (the Weymouth paper mill was a mostly wooden structure). If this is a photo of the Atlantic paper mill I estimate that it was probably taken sometime between 1890 and 1916. If I remember correctly the paper mills ceased operation in the 1880s and if you look carefully you will see that the wooden roof on the structure has already collapsed. I figure it would have taken about 10 years of abandonment for this to happen. And it must have been before 1916 because the mill pond is still intact and the dam broke in 1916 draining the mill pond. Now, I freely admit that I could be wrong. But based on what I see in this photo and what I know of Harrisville and Weymouth based on old photos and my explorations of these sites, I believe this is actually a photo of Weymouth. So what do you think? I would be interested in hearing your comments particularly if you have ever explored these sites or are familiar with their history or are familiar with this photograph.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 06:53:46 +0000
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