Crossley is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

located within Berkeley Township in Ocean County, in the U.S. state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

.Locality Search
State of

. Accessed November 29, 2014. It is located along an abandoned

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

rail line, approximately west of Toms River CDP. Only the ruins of Crossley remain, though the town and its surrounding area have been converted into the Crossley Preserve – a hiking and nature area.

History

Crossley originated as a clay-mining town in the late 1800s, and remained active until the early 1900s. The clay was used to produce

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

pottery, bricks, and pipes. The land at Crossley, owned by the Crossley Clay Works, was acquired in 1914 by the George C. Crossley Company. It was sold in the 1920s to the Cypress Land Company, who later sold it to the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust.

Crossley Preserve

The New Jersey Natural Land Trust establish the Crossley Preserve on of land at the abandoned townsite. The densely forested Pine Barrens of New Jersey surround the area. The preserve contains historic and cultural sites, and is used for environmental education, recreation, and endangered species protection. A portion of the Thomas F. Hampton Memorial Trail follows an abandoned "donkey" railroad once located at Crossley. The

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

was used to haul clay—mined from open pits—to Crossley, where it was then loaded onto rail cars of the former

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

. The mine pits have since formed into ponds. Flora and fauna along the trail include the Pine Barrens tree frog,

pitch pine ''Pinus rigida'', the pitch pine, is a small-to-medium-sized pine. It is native to eastern North America, primarily from central Maine south to Georgia and as far west as Kentucky. It is found in environments which other species would find unsuit ...

, scrub oak, laurels, and

Atlantic white cedar ''Chamaecyparis thyoides'' (Atlantic white cedar, Atlantic white cypress, southern white cedar, whitecedar, or false-cypress), a species of ''Cupressaceae'', is native to the Atlantic coast of North America and is found from southern Maine to Geo ...

. Signs have been placed along the

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

informing visitors about fire control, endangered plants (including the state endangered Pickering's morning glory, and the federally threatened Knieskern's beaked-rush), Pine Barrens ecology, and research on endangered pine snakes and corn snakes. The signs also identify artifacts and features of the ruins of Crossley.

References

{{Ocean County, New Jersey Berkeley Township, New Jersey Ghost towns in New Jersey Protected areas of Ocean County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Ocean County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey