devils' half acre

warcricket

Like a Jerk
i recently read about a place called the devil's half acre in the second weird new jersey book. It said that it was located in sourlands but it had no trails leading to it. the directions they gave to it were pretty vague. so i was wondering if anyone has been there, and could give me some directions.

as for what it is, the book says that it is basically a half mile boulder field that forms some deep caves. It goes on to say that early colonist tended not to settle near the area because of superstitions stating that some of the caves were entries to hell.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Just go anywhere in the Sourlands on the next full moon, slaughter a goat at midnight, and the trolls will come get you and take you there.
 

hardtale70

She's Gone From Suck to Blow
Shop Keep
I'm a goatrider(herder) and the Acre 18 dirtjumps are in my backyard, Does that count for anything??
 

J-Dro

Well-Known Member
It goes on to say that early colonist tended not to settle near the area because of superstitions stating that some of the caves were entries to hell.

Funny, I know some people who won't mountain bike there for the same reason.:D

Anyhoo, on this map, Devil's Half Acre is shown up near Roaring Rocks. Most people know where that is.

http://www.sourland.org/SourlandsMap.pdf

Some of that property up there is technically part of the neighboring 3M quarry. Somerset county has an agreement that allows people to hike/bike up by Roaring Rocks but don't stray too far off the trail since the Ranger's patrol it often.

If you've never seen Roaring Rocks when the water is flowing fast, you owe it to yourself to check it out. You won't believe you're still in NJ.
 

J-Dro

Well-Known Member
The Legend of Devil's Half Acre.

We all know that the Devil has inhabited the Sourlands for centuries and continues to do so. The Devil is also a winged creature, and as such was intent on building a great wall to divide east from west. The famous Devil's half acre was created as he dropped some of the rocks he was carrying as he hurriedly responded to his wife's sudden call to dinner. He never bothered to retrieve them because of the many other acts of deviltry he was engaged in round the world.

These days, the Devil's Half Acre (actually much larger then that) is watched by vultures who look for lost hikers for prey.

Now you know.
 
Last edited:

J-Dro

Well-Known Member
The funny thing is, I didn't make that up. The Sourlands has a really interesting history and folklore that goes back centuries. This blurb came from a book documenting the history of the region.

The best part I think, is that the devil, being as bad-ass as they come, was so scared about getting his butt kicked by his wife for being late for dinner.:D
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
The part about dropping the boulders sounds good but the part about being afraid of his wife sounds just totally made up, especially in the old days when men really did run the roost
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Little things like this are interesting. This is a few miles from my house along one of the road rides I do:

Devil's Tomb
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Weird NJ is the best! I love this kinda of stuff too, I have been to my share of "haunted places" and anti-gravity roads. I get creeped out by it. Very fun.
 

Maurice

New Member
Little things like this are interesting. This is a few miles from my house along one of the road rides I do:

Devil's Tomb

Ah, it makes sense. That road has a section which is shaped like stair-steps. Coming down it, it's hard not to catch air.
And the building they mention does not appear to have any opening at all. It's still a bit of a stretch to call that the "devil's tomb" though.

Riding trails alone at night is far spookier. Some parts of my commute are also quite entertaining when it's pitch black out.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Ah, it makes sense. That road has a section which is shaped like stair-steps. Coming down it, it's hard not to catch air.
And the building they mention does not appear to have any opening at all. It's still a bit of a stretch to call that the "devil's tomb" though.

Riding trails alone at night is far spookier. Some parts of my commute are also quite entertaining when it's pitch black out.

I've read before that those staircase road are from the old carriage days. It gave horses a place to rest when coming up steep hills.

I've come down that hill way too fast before, and on the last blind corner hit the brakes and skidded way out into the road. If a car had been coming up I would have been in serious trouble.

Have you ever seen the estate up on top of the hill across from the lake? That's another of the Weird NJ stories linked in there. Good stuff.
 

Maurice

New Member
Yes, I love to ride in that area, not much traffic and you can string together some decent vertical feet in very little miles. I wish we could carve some trails on the other side of lake rd. From the dam old logging roads can be discerned.

Those estates are big $$$, no wonder weird stories float around. There's a road between lake rd. and the top of the hill (mountaintop rd?) where you better not take the climbing direction or you'll get chased by dogs. And they don't exactly grow poodles or weiner dogs. Good way to get good at sprinting up hills.
 

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
I don't recall the name of the road, but I remember when we used to ride up Cokesbury Rd. from the school, we'd descend the other side of the ridge on a road that had a few pronounced terraces such as you're describing, and it was fun to catch some road-bike air at speed on these.

I also have a great memory of catching air on a set of railroad tracks out around Rt. 31, down in the drops and doing 35+ mph. Both of my bottles self-ejected on liftoff. I wish I knew the name of that road too.

I miss road rides in the hills.:(
 

Maurice

New Member
So much for riding the crap out of those sweet hills... Interesting stuff. I did try to ride Highland Ave. up and over once, maps.google did show it connecting to the other side. I ended up at some medical facility. I thought I could ride through it, but the road ended at some kind of cul-de-sac with a few creepy barbed-wire lined dirt roads with "no trespassing signs". Apparently I'm lucky I didn't end up as some science experiment.

Chris, you must be thinking of Deer Hill rd., off of Bissel rd. I like to either climb it (makes me feel like the horses Norm mentions) or go down it full tilt. One day I hit 45mph+, and a dog stepped on the road out of nowhere and stood in the middle staring at me. I tried hitting the brakes but the rear wheel just skidded and it didn't slow me down at all. I thought "f. it" and just looked ahead trying to anticipate the dog's movements. The beast didn't move and I finally stopped shaking ten minutes later. I still like to bomb down that road, just fisting the bars.
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
OK boys, if this warm weather keeps up let's do the Lebanon 52 next weekend. Or at least some semblance of these Satanic Tombs, Evil Roads, and Nun Slaughterhouse Mansions.

Talk about thread drift...
 

warcricket

Like a Jerk
i was at the devils half acre yesterday with 2 friends, after looking for an hour and a half or so, we finally found some coolio caves. the largest one we found had 4 rooms, and was large enough to stand in. there were probably some larger ones but we ran out of time to find them
 

J-Dro

Well-Known Member
i was at the devils half acre yesterday with 2 friends, after looking for an hour and a half or so, we finally found some coolio caves. the largest one we found had 4 rooms, and was large enough to stand in. there were probably some larger ones but we ran out of time to find them

Nice! Were there any trails leading up to the caves or was it just keep looking til you find? I would imagine a trail would be hard to follow anyway through those rocks.
 

Trail Conditions

Current Conditions

powered by Trailforks.com
Top Bottom