D&R Canal State Park - Your Passport to Adventure - Stockton, NJ
N 40° 24.590 W 075° 02.155
18T E 496952 N 4473246
This stamp can be had at Bull's Island Recreation Area which is part of the D&R Canal State Park. The New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry owns and maintains this greenway.
Waymark Code: WM6KGN
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 06/15/2009
Views: 12
Passport Program Information
The NJ Parks and Forests Service came out with a passport book for collecting stamps for visiting a select sampling of our states parks, forests and historic sites. Many fine places did not make the list but many beautiful and culturally important sites did make the list so I suppose it all evens out in the end. The passport book is divided into 3 sections, north, central and south Jersey. This stamp and D&R Canal State Park represent the third listing for Central New Jersey. If it was not for the release of a puzzle cache a few years ago and my obsession at the time for first to finds, I would never have visited all 24 sites of central and southern NJ. The puzzle cache is called Passport To Adventure (Central Jersey Challenge) and can be found HERE. The stamp and the passport books are free. To find out more about our fabulous passport program please visit HERE.
D&R Canal State Park Information
The "D&R" Canal State Park is a continuous 35-mile greenway that extends from Trenton to New Brunswick. Bicyclists and pedestrians can travel from Port Mercer to New Brunswick along the canal towpath, and canoes can navigate the entire length of the park with a minimum of portages. The feeder canal towpath is negotiable by wheelchair when dry, as is the towpath from Turning Basin Park to New Brunswick.
The D&R Canal was built between 1830 and 1834 by Irish immigrants using pickaxes, shovels, and wheelbarrows. The main canal extended from Bordentown to New Brunswick, with a "feeder" canal from Raven Rock in Hunterton County to Trenton. The canal was a major transportation route, especially for transporting coal from Pennsylvania to New York. It was less used after the turn of the century because of the competing railroad, which provided a faster means of transportation.
In 1932 the canal operations were closed and the Canal Company and Pennsylvania Railroad ceded the land to the state. The canal remained an important water conduit, and the state park was established in 1974. Today, the canal serves as water supply, recreational, historical, and natural resource as well.
The entrance to the park is here: N 40° 24.65 W 75° 02.047
