Conservation history
Building Batona: letters, weekend crews and a measuring wheel
Documented history · Sources compared
The first Batona Trail grew from volunteers’ planning and repeated negotiations with forest officials. An organizer’s diary preserves names and workdays that can disappear behind the simple statement that a trail opened in 1961.
An idea becomes a club project
Morris Bardock’s diary credits Dale Knapschafer with suggesting the route in 1960. In January 1961, Bardock wrote to state commissioner Salvatore Bontempo, and the Philadelphia hiking club formally adopted the work. The proposed trail would connect Wharton and Lebanon forests, mainly using existing roads and paths. Morris Bardock diary, transcribed by Guy Thompson.
The initial letter proposed roughly twenty miles. The diary’s title refers to the first thirty, showing that the project’s extent changed as the route developed. An early proposal should not be mistaken for the final measured trail. Morris Bardock diary, transcribed by Guy Thompson.
Permission and fieldwork
The diary records meetings with Sid Walker and Lebanon superintendent J. P. Allen, then official permission to begin on May 26. Its work lists repeatedly name Bardock, Knapschafer and Walt Korszniak among the volunteers. September entries describe measuring the completed route with a wheel. Planning, clearing and measuring were separate parts of the undertaking. Morris Bardock diary, transcribed by Guy Thompson.
A second record of the first trail
An archived state publication by John Kuser independently describes the trail as charted and built by the Batona Hiking Club in 1961 with state permission. Its map includes a mileage table. This provides a separate published check on the broad construction story even where a diary’s individual dates still need verification. John Kuser, state publication on the Batona Trail.
Rutgers’ map catalog identifies an early Batona Hiking Club map depicting the 1961–1966 period. Comparing that artifact with later maps would show changes in alignment and length without projecting the current route backward into the original project. Rutgers guide to New Jersey maps.
How the diary reached readers
Guy Thompson published the diary text online in 2010 and explicitly disclosed manual transcription and some rearrangement for clarity. The surviving online text is consequently a mediated primary account, not a facsimile of Bardock’s pages. Its named participants and correspondence dates remain valuable leads for the original club archive. Morris Bardock diary, transcribed by Guy Thompson.
Sources and research trail
- Morris Bardock diary, transcribed by Guy Thompson — Organizer’s account published online in 2010; text and editor’s caveat read.
- John Kuser, state publication on the Batona Trail — Archived article and mileage map; indexed PDF passage checked, direct web retrieval failed.
- Rutgers guide to New Jersey maps — Catalog record for an early Batona Hiking Club trail map.
The article reconstructs the original project, not present hiking conditions. The online diary contains acknowledged transcription issues; no private addresses from its reproduced correspondence are republished.