Hermann City, NJ
N 39° 37.076 W 074° 35.954
18S E 534399 N 4385429
As is typical of many types of abandoned Pine Barrens towns, there’s not much left but some foundations and walls. This former town enjoyed about three years of existence and centered its existence around glass making.
Waymark Code: WMA46K
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 11/14/2010
Views: 13
Unless you are a geocacher or an archeologist, I cannot fathom how anyone could find this place. I discovered this a long time ago geocaching and again the other day during a scavenger hunt event. We needed a brick and we recalled a small town by the river that once was. We traveled down a small path after parking the jeep at a gate. We looked to the right of the path and found nothing. We backtracked and looked left and found a brick. One brick became two, which became a small foundation which became an entire wall. Soon we were standing in the middle of this town. Some arched walls remain, fire places and foundations. I also found a glass swag pile featuring purple, green and white chucks of glass swag.
The name of the glass business was called Waplers Glass Works which manufactured Christmas decorations and “shades”(glass covers for collectables). I learned this small community had only 70 homes and stores, one of them a hotel. I suppose it was situated here close to the water as that would be a prime 'ingredient' in glassmaking and the source was free back then. The hotel stood well into the 80s, right on the dirt road. Sadly, on June 15, 1987, around 8 p.m. witnesses report hearing a loud boom and seeing a big black cloud of smoke rise from the Hermann Hotel. Some witnesses report seeing someone leaving the area in a small boat on the Mullica. Authorities determined the cause to be arson. The crime was never solved. If you go to Youtube.com, there are many videos about Hermann, some of them show the fire, the hotel before the fire and other items of interest.
I found this from another SOURCE. Down the Mullica River are ship remains at what was the glass-making community of Herman City. Some period structures (private homes) can still be found there, too, as well as some rotted foundations in the forest. Though it was quite important in its time (1870's), Herman City lived and functioned for barely six months.
To access this town, park your car here, 39° 37.168'N 74° 35.961'W, off of country road 542. Walk to here 39° 37.104'N 74° 36.019'W down the old dusty path and make a left, walking toward the posted coordinates. Start looking around and you will find Hermann, or what remains anyway.
