In the hills north of Belvidere, NJ (up toward the Delaware River), there are a number of trails that look exactly like streets platted out, with occasional clearings that look like they ought to be for houses or other buildings. It's not too clear in Google, but if you search for Belvidere in www.historicaerials.com, in 1931 there was clearly a road to the north that went right up to the river. By 1956, there was a clear arrangement of streets on cleared farmland to the north. However, by 1970-71, they were starting to fade back into the land again, now covered with trees. The 2007 and 2008 aerials on that site show that you can still make out the trails and clearings when the tree cover is gone in winter.
So, based on the historic info, it seems like there used to be a farmstead up this way, and perhaps more. And it seems like there was planned to be far more than that. I can't offer much more in the way of information on what may have been a ghost town, because I have yet to find any references online to what is/was up there. I went there in person and could not find a good place to park my car without being suspicious - the main trail/former road to the water is gated off after the last house. I am curious if anyone else could dig anything else up on this.
I researched some tax maps (modern day), and apparently the entire land is owned by BASF Corp. and zoned for industrial use. That makes me wonder if the original 1950s plan was to develop the farmland for settlement by BASF workers (Belvidere remains a sleepy Warren County town despite the huge chemical plant there), but later dropped from consideration. I was going to go back and try to find a less sketchy way to explore, but given the ownership I don't want BASF on my ass...
The 1943 USGS topo labels it 'Hercules Powder Co' (a BASF predecessor) and shows a bunch of buildings (probably storage bunkers).
Quote from: http://www.njskylands.com/tn_riverroad_093.htmIn the late 1930s, anticipating problems in Europe, the government clandestinely acquired land on which war materiel could be manufactured with minimal threat of sabotage. Hercules Powder Company manufactured smokeless powder for military munitions, building large storage bunkers (now gone), connected to the factory by a system of lanes that still show up on USGS topographic maps. Older residents still recall the excitement caused on the day in the 1940s when "something blew up" in there.
Quote from: NE2 on April 18, 2012, 12:31:05 AM
The 1943 USGS topo labels it 'Hercules Powder Co' (a BASF predecessor) and shows a bunch of buildings (probably storage bunkers).
Quote from: http://www.njskylands.com/tn_riverroad_093.htmIn the late 1930s, anticipating problems in Europe, the government clandestinely acquired land on which war materiel could be manufactured with minimal threat of sabotage. Hercules Powder Company manufactured smokeless powder for military munitions, building large storage bunkers (now gone), connected to the factory by a system of lanes that still show up on USGS topographic maps. Older residents still recall the excitement caused on the day in the 1940s when "something blew up" in there.
If that's all the case, the storage bunkers may not actually be gone.