Work your way down the White Horse Pike, or stop in downtown Hammonton for some authentic Mexican or Italian food. Grab a fresh blueberry shake at Sofia Supreme's roadside stand or a homemade blueberry soft-serve at the retro-themed Royale Crown.
Drive through acres of farmland, taking in verdant fields and the occasional cow or horse that looks up at passing cars before turning back to feeding. Pass rows upon rows of squat blueberry shrubs nestled in white sandy soil and wind down a road that looks like it was paved a month ago. Park at the Catholic retreat house on the right. Walk toward the woods, past the picnic area.
And there you will find ... a pyramid.
The Pinelands of New Jersey hold their share of secret places, odd spaces, unusual sights and what-was-that? sounds.
The Pyramid, a work constructed from concrete, granite and mirrored glass, is a 1,600-pound monument to brotherly love and loss in Mullica Township by Vox, an artist, writer and "roaming Catholic" from Palmyra.
Vox, whose given name is Robert Monroe Collingsgru, built the pyramid in what was at the time an isolated spot in the woods behind a ramshackle retreat house. His brother John, who struggled with a heroin addiction, eventuallysuccumbed to it, but that wasn't how Vox wanted him to be remembered.
"People have all these ideas about what an addict is, but that was not him," Vox said, recalling his brother's long periods of sobriety and how "he was the greatest guy."
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One side of the structure is covered in mirrored tiles, to see oneself in fragmented form. The second side, Vox explained, is black granite, symbolizing darkness we all encounter: grief over a loved one's loss, depression, pain, addiction, illness. The third side is white, signifying redemption, resurrection, renewal.
"You call it what you want, depending on your religion — born again, enlightened, whatever. And you go back again and you’re at the mirror side and this is the new you. You’re changed. You’ve grown.Then back to the black side ... It’s this life, death, resurrection and it happens again. And the more you come through it, the more interesting you are as a person."
As word spread about The Pyramid, more people wanted to commemorate their own lost loved ones. Religious statues, Stations of the Cross and a rosary walk all emerged, to Vox's initial dismay.
"I was like, 'No, no, no,' " he said. "I told (Monsignor Mike Mannion, who runs the retreat house) it was too Catholic."
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But as he heard others' stories, including a father whose daughter died by suicide after an abortion, a woman who lost her beloved godson, and a father whose daughter died of cancer, Vox came to a realization.
"The job of an artistis not to 'influence,' which isthe word everyone likes to use," he said."It's more to inspire, to helppeopleto see what creativity they have. As much as I love and hate the place down there, it’s like, well, look what I did, I inspired people. That’s the real compliment. You don’t get to own what you inspire people to do."
In that spirit, here are some more wonderful, unusual and strangethings in and inspired by the Pinelands.
The Pyramid, Rosary Garden and the entire Discovery House retreat are open to people of all faiths, said Mannion, to "relax and take in a deep breath." To visit, call P. Wright at 757-636-1960.
Plants in the Pines that aren't, um, pine
The Pine Barrens are their own unique ecosystem, unlike any place on Earth. But aside from the ubiquitous pitch pine— the spindly, sparse trees that are most commonly associated with the region— there are dozens of other species that call the Pinelands home.
According to the Pinelands Alliance, three wildflowers (the Pine Barrens Gentian, Bog Asphodel and Swamp Pink), are virtually extinct everywhere else but plentiful in the Pines. Still, each species is watched under various degrees of state and federal protections, especially from habitat loss and illegal gathering.
The Pinelands also are home to about 30 species of orchid, the Pinelands Alliance says on its website, 15 of which are "characteristic of true Pine Barrens habitats."
There are carnivorous plants — a plant adapted for capturing insects — as well, including pitcher plants, sundews and bladderworts.
For more information about the plants of the New Jersey Pinelands, visithttps://tinyurl.com/bdetw35horhttps://tinyurl.com/3nvcjec8
Is there a portal in the Pines?
In his 1936 book, "Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey," Henry Charlton Beck calls Ong's Hat a "vanished town of murder, of prize fights and of isolated country dances," a place that "a hundred or so years ago, we were told ... was a center of life among the Pineys," with "brawls and fisticuffs, some of them bloody enough."
While the book outlines Ong's Hat's somewhat sketchy origins, including how the ghost town got its unique name, there's another, more mysterious narrative. WeirdNJ, the indispensable guide to all things strange and unusual about our great state, dove into Ong's Hat's paranormal possibilities in a post entitled "Ong's Hat: Piney Ghost Town or Gateway to Another Dimension?"
Drawing on a book by Joseph Matheny, "Ong's Hat: The Beginning," WeirdNJ tells the story of a 1950s quasi-church/sect and one of its "travelers," Wali Fard. According to their tale, Fard bought 200 acres in the Pine Barrens and, joined by "a group of runaway boys from Paramus and two lesbian anarchists," he formed his own breakaway sect, publishing newsletters and drawing the attention of a pair of Texas twins and UFO enthusiasts, Frank and Althea Dobbs.
The pair, rejected from Princeton after submitting a PhD thesis on "cognitive chaos," believed people could tap into the unused portions of their brains to perform extraordinary tasks, including halting the aging process; the sect formed the Institute of Chaos Studies.
WeirdNJ's post says that within a couple of years, the Dobbs twins discovered "the Egg," a device they used to chart brain waves. Experimenting with mind manipulation, they believed they could "control the chaos they found within the mind," the post says. But one version of "the Egg" appeared to open a portal to another dimension, opening "the Gate." And when a chemical spill from nearby Fort Dix (now called Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst) forced them to abandon the Pines, they did so not physically, but "inter-dimensionally."
"In this dimension," WeirdNJ writes, "they still lived in Ong's Hat, but humankind did not exist."
So, is Matheny's book fact or fiction? According to WeirdNJ, the author isn't saying, so you'll have to decide that one for yourself.
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The (other) pilot in the Pines
The monument to Emilio Carranza, known as the Mexican Lindbergh, is a well-known memorial in the woods of Wharton State Forest, where the pilot's plane went down in 1928.
But another tribute to another pilot is a bit of a Pinelands puzzle: On a January day in 1971, Major William F. Dimas took off from McGuire Air Force Base in an F-105B Thunderchief, leading a pair of fellow Air National Guard pilots in a routine training exercise. The 36-year-old airman never returned to the base: He flew too low as he approached his destination, striking a fire tower. The fighter jet exploded in flames, crashing in the woods and killing him.
For years, the only evidence that remained of the crash was a chunk of the jet's landing gear that came to rest in a cedar swamp, some of its fuselage hidden under leaves.
But in 2021, 50 years after Dimas' demise, a small tribute appeared at the top of Bear Swamp Hill, the crash site. A Burlington County Times story noted "a small plaque, mounted on one of the four remaining concrete footings of the fire tower and a small American flag secured above it, reminding those who happen to come across it that a hero lost his life where they stand."
"Please respect this site and the memory of our fallen hero. Leave anything found — do not remove any remnants," the inscription ends.
But, as the BCT reported, "Dimas had finally received his well-deserved due under the pines.But no one seems to know who put it there."
The Jersey Devil, movie star
Though many claim to have seen the Jersey Devil − that cloven-hoofed, winged cryptid known in folklore and legend as the cursed 13th child of a Pine Barrens crone − in reality, its existence is very much in doubt.
But in movies, the Jersey Devil lives to terrorize unsuspecting victims: The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) counts 10 titles under the heading "Jersey Devil in Horror Films."
A June 2018 post by "themonsterman-15193" describes appearances by "a legendary and famous cryptid from both folklore and reality," with "all horror films to feature this terrifying creature."
There's 2009's "Carny," in which "a devilish creature escapes from a carnival to wreak havoc on a small town," with Lou Diamond Phillips of "LaBamba" fame in a starring role. "The Barrens," from 2012, features a family camping trip-turned-nightmare, as does 2006's "Satan's Playground." In "The Last Broadcast" (1998), a film crew delves into the woods seeking the cursed beast. And 2002's "13th Child" has an investigator wondering whether a series of murders in Jersey is the work of a human killer or some supernatural being. Robert Guillaume, an esteemed film and TV actor best known for his roles in "Benson" and "Soap," makes an appearance in that movie, the only one on the list we've actually seen (an ill-advised attempt to introduce a pair of Nebraska natives to a bit of Jersey culture). Sadly, his considerable talents weren't enough to salvage the low-budget bomb.
It hasn't hurt the Jersey Devil's image much, however; you can find it attached to everything from a pro hockey team to a craft brewery, spanning one end of the state to the other.
More movies:M. Night Shyamalan is filming part of 'Knock at the Cabin' movie in Burlington County
Pirates in the Pines
The Pinelands are one of New Jersey's natural treasures.
But what if there are actual treasures, like gold-doubloons-and-jewels-in-a-big-wooden-chest treasures hidden within the woods and swamps of the state's largest preserve?
According to the 1979 book "Blackbeard the Pirate and Other Stories of the Pine Barrens," some believe that pirates and privateers who sailed the Atlantic — and apparently came ashore at points including Cape May in South Jersey — may have buried their ill-gotten booty in the woods after pillaging in tiny inland settlements and villages.
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Waterways in what is modern Cape May and Cumberland counties were, according to JerseyShorePirates.com, were popular stops for ships preparing for long journeys. "Vessels would stop here to take on ammunition, fresh water, food-stores and livestock. As vessel traffic increased to the port, so did the population. Primarily a swampy and marsh area, pirates soon learned the value of its natural hiding places along the bay," the site says.
The slow, supply-laden ships made for easy targets, the site continues. Pirates would ambush them from the marshes, steal what they could, then hide it in the woods until it was safe to retrieve it.
"There is evidence to support that Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and Stede Bonnet buried treasure in and around Cape May," JerseyShorePirates.com says. "One popular site believed to be the resting place of some of Blackbeard's treasure is (Higbee) Beach."
But if you wanna be a pirate, a puffy shirt might be as close as you'll get. "The shoreline has suffered tremendous erosion, the area is now federally protected and thus digging is not permitted," the website cautions.
Blue, beautiful... and deadly?
They're beautiful pools of fresh water hidden in the Pinelands, peaceful, azure oases in the middle of the woods. And on a hot, humid Jersey day, they might seem inviting to swimmers and hikers looking for a quick cool-off.
But don't be fooled: The blue holes of the Pinelands (one in Winslow is particularly well-known) are not as tranquil as they might seem. The soft sandy soil that gives life to blueberries, pines and other flora can shift and give under a person's weight and the absence of any plant or aquatic life in the blue holes gives a clue that they're not safe.
Blue hole's murky mysteries:WeirdNJ explores a blue hole in Winslow
George Smith, then the Winslow Township Police chief, told the Courier-Post in 2016, "There have been quite a few drownings (at Blue Hole). It's very deep."
Not the Pine Barrens
And finally, we end not in the actual Pine Barrens but instead somewhere in Upstate New York, with a pair of hapless gangsters chasing a Russian "interior designer" through the woods before getting hopelessly lost on a cold fall night.
We're talking of course about the infamous and at times hilarious "Pine Barrens" episode of "The Sopranos." Writer Tim Van Patten told Entertainment Weekly in a 2007 interview that the story was inspired partly by a dream and partly by his own childhood.
"My father was a horse player and he used to take me and my brother to Atlantic City," he told the magazine. "On the way down, he’d always try to make an adventure out of it, so we’d stop off at the Pine Barrens. He’d tell us these crazy stories about the Jersey Devil — half-man and half-beast — living in there. It was a spooky place with a kind of magic in it. So, I was lying in bed and I sort of half-dreamed this idea."
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But as anyone with a corpuscle of cedar wooder in their veins knows, the forest where Paulie and Christopher get lost, shiver and bicker over ketchup packets is not the Pine Barrens. For one thing, there's hardly an evergreen in sight, let alone the sparse, skinny trees New Jerseyans know so well.
Instead, according to IMDB.com, the episode was filmed in New York's Harriman State Park. A Jersey-based show filmed in New York?! Madonna mia!
Still, the episode directed by Steve Buscemi is widely considered a classic chapter in one of television's most iconic shows. Entertainment Weekly called it "partDeliverance, partAbbott and Costello Meet the Russian, partBlair Witch Project, and allSopranos," and "a case study in how good television is often a product of both good planning and happy accidents."
Phaedra Trethan has been a reporter and editor in South Jersey since 2007 and has covered Camden and surrounding areas since 2015, concentrating on issues relating to quality of life and social justice for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. As a kid, she waded in cedar wooder at Atsion Lake and picked wild blueberries in the woods behind her grandparents' house, but she's never come face to face with the Jersey Devil. Contact her with feedback, news tips or questions at ptrethan@gannettnj.com, on Twitter @wordsbyphaedra, or by phone at 856.486-2417.
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