Robert Beard - Rockhounding Pennsylvania and New Jersey: A Guide to the States Best Rockhounding Sites

FALCON GUIDES

Copyright 2013 Morris Book Publishing, LLC

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Maps by Daniel Lloyd Morris Book Publishing, LLC

Project editor: Meredith Dias

Text design: Sheryl P. Kober

Layout: Sue Murray

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Beard, Robert D.

Rockhounding Pennsylvania and New Jersey : a guide to the states best rockhounding sites / Robert D. Beard.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7627-8093-8

1. RocksCollection and preservationPennsylvaniaGuidebooks. 2. RocksCollection and preservationNew JerseyGuidebooks. 3. MineralsCollection and preservationPennsylvaniaGuidebooks. 4. MineralsCollection and preservationNew JerseyGuidebooks. 5. PennsylvaniaGuidebooks. 6. New JerseyGuidebooks. I. Title.

QE445.P46B43 2013

557.48dc23

2012033953

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The author and Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

T his book represents more than twenty-four years of rockhounding in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and many people have helped make this book possible. I would first like to thank my editor at Rock & Gem magazine, Lynn Varon, who put me in contact with Globe Pequot Press, and William Kappele, another Rockhounding series writer and contributing editor at Rock & Gem, who suggested me to Lynn as a potential author for this book. I would also like to thank James Miller of JMiller Media, who published my articles with Rock & Gem since 1993. This gave me magazine writing experience and enabled me to learn much more about rock, mineral, and fossil collecting than I ever anticipated.

I would like to thank my editors at Globe Pequot Press, Jessica Haberman and Meredith Dias, for their reviews, suggestions, and encouragement while the book was taking shape. Melissa Baker in the map department was also extremely helpful with her comments and suggestions. Many thanks are due to the production staff and the many people who were instrumental in producing and distributing the book.

I would like to thank my friends from the Central Pennsylvania Rock and Mineral Club, who always made my family and me very welcome at meetings and club field trips. In particular, I would like to thank Don and Linda Kauffman, Ed Charles, Joe Daugue, Pen Ambler, Kerry Matt, Jeri Jones, and R. J. Harris for many interesting discussions at club meetings, field trips, and especially the clubs annual Gem and Mineral show. I learned a great deal about quarry collecting and many new sites from my involvement with the club. I highly recommend joining your local mineral cluball the clubs that I know in Pennsylvania and New Jersey have always welcomed new members and can teach both new and advanced collectors a great deal through their events and field trips.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family for supporting this effort, in particular my mother, Nancy Beard, and my late father, John Beard, who always encouraged my writing and came on many field trips. But most of all I would like to thank my wife, Rosalina, and our two children, Daniel and Roberta. We took many field trips together and had some very interesting adventures, particularly when getting lost in the northern New Jersey Highlands, going to iron and copper mines, and exploring the Concrete City in Pennsylvania. Rock collecting has given us many unique family adventures, and I hope that other families can share similar experiences, at least the positive ones, through the field trips in this book.

R ock hounds encompass a very wide group, from the amateur with no background in minerals to the advanced geologist with an extensive background in mineralogy. My main objective in writing this book is to provide a reference for the fathers or mothers who want to take their kids rock collecting and need to find a place to start, and for the advanced geologist or collector who does not know Pennsylvania or New Jersey and wants to see some rocks when they visit either state. Mineral clubs, schools, and groups that want to take field trips can also use this guide, especially for sites that are conducive to larger groups. Essentially, this book is written for everyone who has an interest in minerals, rocks, and fossils and is looking for them in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Pennsylvania and New Jersey have a wide variety of mineral occurrences, but like much of the eastern United States, many mineral localities are on private land or public sites where mineral collecting is prohibited. In this book I have focused on identifying sites that people can visit themselves or with their families without significant advance planning or permission. Quarries and mines, although they offer great opportunities for collectors, are generally active sites and require lots of planning prior to a visit; it is often difficult for an individual, especially if you are trying to bring kids, to get into a quarry or mine on short notice.

The sites described in this book are worth a visit as long as they are accessible. It is imperative to obey all signs and obtain permission to access off-limits areas when it is required. Just because a site is described in this book does not mean it will remain accessible or that collecting is permitted on the site. I have personally checked every one of the sites in this book. Many of the sites are roadcuts, roadside borrow pits, or outcrops that are somewhat limited in size but are reasonably accessible for visitors. Roadcuts are often within the highway right-of-way and sometimes belong to the state or local government. Generally, you can collect in these areas if they are safe and you are not disrupting traffic. In general, if an outcrop, roadcut, or pit is not posted, I have listed the site in this book but with the caveat that land and access status can change at any time. Be aware that even if a private site is not posted, this guide does not imply or suggest that collecting at the site is permitted.

Many sites in this book are in county parks, state forests, state parks, state game lands, federal lands, or other places that are accessible to the public, and while you can go to these sites, rock collecting is prohibited in many of these locations. However, rock-collecting rules are not applied uniformly in many cases. For instance, fossil collecting is allowed in some state parks in Pennsylvania, but mineral collecting is not. If you look at the park regulations, you will generally find that any form of ground disturbance, which technically includes simply picking up a rock, is strictly prohibited. However, many of these same parks have guides from state agencies on collecting fossils and minerals in the park. In these cases you will have to use your best judgment as to whether or not you are going to collect rocks if you visit a site. If there are signs clearly stating NO MINERAL COLLECTING, do not collect rocks. Likewise, if you are in a place where you know collecting is forbidden, you can enjoy seeing the rocks, but do not collect them.