Home demolition uncovers historic log cabin from 'last ghost town in Morris County'

ROCKAWAY TOWNSHIP — A recent demolition project has uncovered clues to the 200-year-old history of a once-thriving mining village here, offering insights into what historians call "the last ghost town in Morris County."

The 19th-century log cabin in the township's Hibernia section emerged during an aborted attempt to raze a dilapidated house off Green Pond Road. Peeling back layers of clapboard, shingles, aluminum siding and two additions, the owner discovered the rough-hewn, one-room dwelling that likely served as a mine worker's home in the 1800s.

"This is an amazing find," said Cathy Finkel, president of the Green Pond History Association. "It's history right in front of our eyes. There were 3,000 people living here, working those mines."

"Now it's a ghost town," added Joe Macasek, president of the Canal Society of New Jersey, during a recent visit to the property.

Through records, Finkel has documented much of the iron-mining industry that once thrived in the Upper and Lower Hibernia sections of the sprawling township. But little in the way of physical evidence of mining operations still exists.

"This is something I never thought we would ever see in my lifetime," she said of the tiny dwelling and basement. "We thought we knew all the historical structures, so to see something like this discovered in 2023 is amazing."

Peeling layers of history

The cabin sits on an elevated lot off Green Pond, with the rocky Wildcat Ridge forest preserve rising behind it. It's owned by Tucker Kelley, a lifelong Rockaway Township resident and former local councilman who owns more than a dozen residential and commercial properties in town.

Kelley bought the lot in 2007 from an elderly woman who lived in a small home there but moved away when she took ill.

"I wasn't interested in the house," Kelley said. "I just wanted the land to maybe develop at some point."

He subsequently built a home for his family up the road, but later drew up plans to build a farmhouse-style dwelling on the Green Pond site and make it his permanent address.

When he began the demolition earlier this fall, operating his own equipment, Kelley noticed a "weird beam" as he stripped away the yellow aluminum siding to sell as scrap metal.

Closer inspection revealed jointed, hand-cut logs in one corner of the building. Eventually, Kelley carefully razed the front and side additions that had been added to the structure, revealing the log cabin within that had been converted into a kitchen.

"I stripped the inside by hand to preserve it as best I could," he said.

Relics of the past

He also found a trove of newspapers, books and other items inside dating back to the early 20th century. Two dolls he discovered now decorate the exposed front window of the cabin, along with a makeshift Christmas tree decoration and an American flag.

Other relics, including a small "grapeshot" cannonball and antique nails and tools, were handed over to Finkel. She has enlisted experts from Morris County and beyond to determine the building's exact age.

A historian at Columbia University estimated a "first guess" of its origin at 1820 to 1840, Finkel said, "but without further structural testing and other archeological evaluation, we don't know yet."

"There's not a lot of written information on this area," she added. "You didn't have the town halls and counties keeping records like they do today."

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The experts, Finkel said, are examining the nails and other evidence from the cabin in what she terms "a very tedious process" that can cost "tens of thousands of dollars."

Hibernia mines armed Washington's army

Macasek is another historian excited by the find.

"To appreciate this, you have to understand where you are," Macasek said. "It was a mining town. People have lived here since the 1700s. There was a blast furnace across the street. This was an economic and industry center of Morris County. Thousands of people lived and worked here."

Hibernia dates back to the early 18th century and predates the incorporation of Rockaway Township by more than 100 years. As it did in many northwest New Jersey towns, iron mining spurred growth in the area, especially after the Civil War, historical documents show.

By 1870, an underground railroad stretched from more than 2,500 feet inside the Hibernia mine and connected with rails along Green Pond Road to deliver iron ore to destinations as far away as Trenton and Phillipsburg. But flooding problems and competition from Midwestern mines led to a steep decline for the local industry by 1913.

The tale is told on historical markers scattered around the area, including at Hibernia United Methodist Church, the Kitchel Homestead and the Mount Hope neighborhood, where an ironworks made ordnance for George Washington's Army.

'Not just a cabin'

Macasek pointed out that Morris County is full of preserved historic homes of the wealthy.

"But how many workingman's houses, in a workingman's town, as simple as this, have survived into the 21st century?" he asked. "This kind of thing almost never survives. This is a workingman's house, Very humble, but typical. It's not just a cabin in the woods."

Kelley said the discovery has slowed his home-building plans, "but it's worth it."

"Most contractors or developers would just run it over, but I own it, so let's see what we can do," he said. "Let's get as much information as we can and find opportunities to either preserve it here, move it or, at a minimum, document it for history."

William Westhoven is a local reporter for DailyRecord.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: wwesthoven@dailyrecord.com; Twitter: @wwesthoven

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Home demolition uncovers historic log cabin from 'last ghost town in Morris County'