Whitesbog Blueberry History

Historic Whitesbog 

We both recently had the pleasure of going on a photography outing to support the New Jersey Pinelands with Richard Lewis, a fine art landscape photographer. After spending a day with him on a fun group photography tour at one of our favorite parts of the NJ Pinelands, Franklin Parker Preserves, I started following Richard on social media. 

Soon after, Richard posted some amazing autumn photographs of sunrise and a red rainbow at a place called Whitesbog. How is it that we've lived in South Jersey all our lives and never visited Whitesbog? Thanks to Richard's post we found our way to Whitesbog with our cameras. The historic 1857 farm and village is located in Browns Mills NJ. Whitesbog is in part of the Brendan T. Byrne state forest.

It was here at Whitesbog that Ms Elizabeth Coleman White showed the world that blueberries could be cultivated. Ms White's very interesting skill set included nursing, agricultural research and hands on experience in both cranberry and blueberry farming.

I was saddened, but not surprised, to read that when Ms White's Father died, in his will, he did not make her President of his company even though she contributed so much to expand the business for their family. The Whitesbog plantation grew from 600 to 3,000 acres.

The legacy of this special area is cared for by the Whitesbog Preservation Trust who is open to the public daily from sunrise to sunset. You can find more information and maps to several walking trails on their website (link below). The landscape is very peaceful and beautiful as you can see from my photos shown. We look forward to visiting again soon!

References and Related Links

Whitesbog

NJ Women's History 

History of Blueberries

Fall at Whitesbog in the NJ Pine Barrens

Blog post and photographs Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.