From Ongs Hat to Buddtown

The weather was dreary as I approached the dirt road turnoff from Rt. 70 towards Ong’s Hat. After years of exploring the woods, I had never traveled the dirt trails that wind into the area.

Ong’s Hat has been one of the most famous of the New Jersey Pine Barrens ghost towns. For decades mapmakers have placed it on their maps, despite the fact that for the better part of the 20th century, there wasn’t a single building to betray its location. The historian Henry Charlton Beck began his explorations here in the 1930s. He discovered a clearing with some rubble from tumbledown buildings and unkempt Indian grass. The town’s only resident - Eli Freed - made his living by farming twenty acres of land that he cleared himself.

Ong’s Hat languished in obscurity until the turn of the 20th century when murder placed the name of the town on the front page of the newspapers. John Chininiskis, a Polish wander, and his wife settled into town. One day Chininiski’s wife disappeared. Rumors began circulating and not long after, John disappeared as well, leaving behind their house and belongings. He supposedly traveled to New York but the trail went cold after that and he was never seen again. Many years later a hunting party came upon a woman’s skeleton in the woods near Ong’s Hat. After that gruesome discovery, most of the residents who were still hanging on left.

The dirt road was narrow and appeared as if it hadn’t been used in quite some time. As if to confirm my suspicions I came upon a blown down tree blocking the road. Fortunately it wasn’t too large and I was able to drag it clear. Continuing on I came to a crossroads at the boundary of Lebanon State Forest. There, just off the trail, I noticed a broken survey marker pointing out the exact location of the corner of the Lebanon tract. Continuing down along the road I passed a spot marked on the topographic maps of the area as a mining operation. There was a small lake and a fence surrounded the property with ominous “No Trespassing” signs. Besides the occasional turnoff used by hunters to park their vehicles in season, there was nothing to see on this road.

The road will finally bring you to the “village” of Ong’s Hat. There are a cluster of modern well kept houses, and at the intersection of the dirt road and Magnolia Road, the Apanay Cafe restaurant. This is the Ong’s Hat of today - forgotten but somehow not.

Magnolia Road comes in from Four Mile Circle. Taking the dirt road to the right before you get to Ong’s Hat will bring you to Early’s Crossing, the intersection of several dirt roads and a clearing where a lone tree stand sits. Just who Early was or why the place was important enough to have a name is lost to time.

Taking a left from Ong’s Hat will eventually bring you to the Magnolia Road tavern at the corner of Magnolia Road and Ong’s Hat road. With its pale orange paint and cartoon characters painted on the side, one would have a hard time believing that the bar is a hangout for the Hells Angels as some people claim.

Ong’s Hat road will bring you past several cranberry bogs, one of which has an abandoned house on a well maintained piece of property. The house itself looks in good condition until closer inspection when you can see that the roof has caved in and all of the doors and windows are gone. I have a feeling that this may have been the homestead of Eli Freed. Not wanting to spend too much time trespassing, I hurried along towards Buddtown.

Buddtown was once the last stop on the Mule Road from Dover Forge. Bar iron, traveling to market in Philadelphia was carried over this road, crossing numerous swamps over log causeways. The town, named after Thomas Budd, grew up around a sawmill located on “Stop the Jade” creek. By the time Gordon surveyed the area in the 1830’s, a tavern, store, and a new sawmill were located in town. The creek got its name by a group of people chasing after a wild horse yelling “Stop the Jade.” (Jade being an older term for horse.) Much of the charm of old Buddtown remains. Most of the buildings are more than one-hundred years old, and many residents can trace their history back to the Budd family. Of all of the forgotten towns in the Pine Barrens, Buddtown remains the closest to it’s roots.