Park Hopping Momma: burlington county

Rancocas State Park

Hainesport, NJ

Rancocas State Park was a park we visited in the fall. I happen to spot signs for it one day when driving to another park and googled it to see if it would be somewhere we'd wanna go. There wasn't a whole lot I found when I first googled it but it didn't sound like a bust.

When Max and I along with a friend of mine made the drive out there, it took us a bit to find the entrance. The entrance was located at the end of dead-end street in a neighborhood. It hardly looked like the entrance of a park. The road was awful. Barely big enough for one car so if another car came in the opposite directions, it was a tight squeeze. Not to mention the potholes! I had to drive super slow so I could navigate around the massive holes and it was almost impossible to move around them!

Eventually, we made it to the parking lot. One of the exciting things about going to a new park is the unexpected. We followed the path up a hill and come upon a dilapidated garage or shed-like structure. The roof had caved so it wasn't a safe idea to go in to explore. Someone had spray-painted the side with an American Flag and a quote. Due to remnants of a post by the water, it almost seems like a boat could have been tied up there.

A few feet beyond the structure was this rather impressive concrete house up on a hill. Most of the home was intact due to the materials used. Graffiti took place of furniture. Broken glasses and trash littered the corners. But, man, I wish I could have seen this house in it's heyday! Large windows offered stunning views of the lake and open wooden area. Based on the layout, it appeared that there was a covered foyer that leads to where a front door would have been. Stepping inside brought us into a pretty big living room with an amazing stone fireplace. Heading through the next doorway leads to a possible bedroom to the left, stairs leading downstairs and a kitchen to the right. The kitchen led to a massive concrete patio which took up the majority of the back of the house.

Giant concrete steps took us down to the lower level. It could have possibly been a courtyard. There was what appeared to be a utility closet that was located almost under the top steps. I guess there was an outdoor patio but it also looks like the two small outer rooms could have been enclosed. Inside was another massive room with a possible workshop to the left and a second room to the right. Since it was on the lower level, there wasn't as much light to fully see everything so we had to rely on flashlights.

After we explored as much as we could, we continued to walk through the woods. Pretty sure we ended up going in circles a few times. But, overall, it was still pretty nice.

Our Stats

Pros: Abandoned house, moderate hike

Cons: No public restroom, the drive to the park may be full of potholes

Max's Recommendation: "The long steps."

My Recommendation: "Be cautious when driving to the parking lot! The road may be a bit rough."

Overall Rating 7/10

Batsto Village

Hammonton, Nj

On Saturday, the boys and I made the hike (about 1 hour and fifteen minutes) to Wharton State Park; specifically Batsto Village. Batsto Village consists of 33 various historical villages and structures from when this was a bog iron and glassmaking industrial center back in 1766. The village remained in operation until 1867. It is also believed that this was a former stomping ground of the Lenni Lenape as well.

The 32 room mansion that has lodged numerous ironmasters over the years stood out impressively amongst the other clusters of various buildings. It honestly reminded me of those old 'fixer upper' houses in horror movies that overly eager, unsuspecting couples buy and move their families into only to discover there are ghosts or other supernatural beings lurking in the shadows. Certain rooms of the mansion are open for tours, however, with a toddler in tow, we chose to not take a tour.

Due to a lack of sleep on Max's part, we mostly wandered without direction through the vast grounds. It was also super windy so we didn't stop in one spot for too long. We walked across a lovely dirt bridge that offered amazing views of the bright blue water of the Batsto Lake and River. A rushing dam sent water to the Sawmill. The boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the cascading waters before running off towards the many cottages that housed workers.

It was really neat to see how intact the houses still were. Most of them looked frozen in time, waiting for their inhabitants to return. Considering it's early November and we've had a lot of rain recently, the clusters of leaves litter the ground. Max loved running through the leaves, sending them fluttering into the air. Sam picked up leaves as big as his face and even pretended to use them as a mask. We eventually made our way to back to the lake and explored the Sawmill. I tried to taking cute Fall pictures of the two of them but the boys were more interested in running up down the walkway of the Sawhill and jumping off a platform nearby.

There is so much to see at Batsto Village that by the time we made it back to where the mansion stood vigilant in the heart of the old ghost town, we still had many more buildings to explore but not a whole lot of time left. We briefly ran around the post office, where the boys knocked on the old doors, pretending to trick or treat, the ice house and a few other smaller buildings. From what I've read, we missed quite a few buildings and it would be nice to walk around more. It is a given that we are coming back here again to discover more!