Iron and industry · Berkeley Township
Dover Forge: iron, fire and a Cedar Creek walk
Historical records compared · Public state park walk
Dover Forge's bar iron traveled out of the pines; the site later made lumber and grew cranberries. A short walk now reaches the creek that once powered the works.
Iron at the head of Cedar Creek
Berkeley Township's environmental resource inventory, drawing on a Monmouth County Historical Association manuscript, says William L. Smith, William Scott and Daniel Hillman opened Dover Forge in 1809. The deed followed in July 1810. The works stood at Dover Forge Pond on the middle branch of Cedar Creek, about four miles from Ferrago Forge. The inventory identifies it as a prominent Ocean County ironworks in the 1830s; Lacey Township's history adds that Smith was the son-in-law of Revolutionary War General John Lacey, whose nearby Ferrago Forge had also begun in 1809. These two sites belonged to a network of water-powered ironmaking and roads through the pines, rather than isolated ruins. Berkeley Township environmental resource inventory, pp. 151–152; Lacey Township history.
Bar iron leaves by Mule Road
A family account quoted in the Berkeley inventory describes two hammers, four fires and a stamping mill that broke ore and cinder into material the forge could rework. It calls bar iron the principal product and says it was hauled to Philadelphia over a woodland route known as Mule Road. That is a descendant's recollection, preserved by the historical association and repeated in the inventory, not an equipment list verified on the ground today. It nonetheless reveals how much more than a furnace was needed: charcoal, water power, teams and road connections made the remote forge useful to a distant market. Berkeley Township inventory, p. 152.
From forge to bog
The first forge burned, and the county inventory says a second was built in 1828. It gives 1868 as the end of forge operations, after which Rubin Potter used the works as a sawmill. A transcription of the Monmouth County Historical Association's finding aid, posted in the NJ Pine Barrens forum, continues the sequence to a barrel factory and 1930s cranberry use. Its description of the surviving archive lists bills, orders, correspondence, an account book and records of wages and purchases at the company store: evidence of workers and customers behind the output figures. The original finding aid and manuscripts were not directly inspected for this entry, so those details remain attributed to the transcription. The Berkeley inventory says the old pond has silted in and supports new pine growth. This industrial succession is easier to understand through the altered waterway and documents than through standing buildings. Neither source locates an intact forge foundation on today's walk. Berkeley Township inventory, pp. 151–152; forum transcription of the historical association's finding aid.
Take the public approach
NJDEP identifies Dover Forge as a separate walk-in area of Double Trouble State Park, off Dover Road / County Route 618 between Pinewald-Keswick Road and Lacey Road. Its unmarked roughly one-third-mile walking route reaches a Cedar Creek overlook; the state trail map shows a roadside parking pull-off and the Dover Forge Trail. A South Jersey Trails visit places the trailhead near 39.912378, -74.282833, at the Dover Road bend above the canoe access. That is a visitor-reported arrival point, cross-checked against the state's mapped pull-off, not a surveyed forge coordinate. The author did not find the forge footprint on that visit. Expect a quiet roadside pull-off and an unmarked path, not the village's main car park or an exhibit building. NJDEP visitor information; South Jersey Trails field report.
Conditions and limits
Check NJDEP's current park page for hours and advisories. The state says winter storm damage continues to affect the Cedar Creek water trail; a land walk to the overlook is a different activity from launching a canoe. Bring the state trail map, stay on the public path, and do not treat slag or other possible archaeological material as a souvenir. The separate Dover Forge Trail does not join the trails around Double Trouble Village, so a tour should treat the two as distinct driving stops.
Sources and research trail
- Berkeley Township Environmental Resource Inventory (2012), pp. 151–152 — Local government summary of the Monmouth County Historical Association's Dover Forge manuscript, machinery recollection and later use.
- NJ Pine Barrens forum, 2003 transcription of the Dover Forge Records finding aid — Later barrel and bog uses and archive contents; checked against the overlapping passage in Berkeley's inventory.
- Lacey Township, Township's History — Ferrago Forge, Smith's relationship to Lacey and the road network.
- NJDEP, Double Trouble State Park and state trail map — Present public access and mapped pull-off.
- South Jersey Trails, Dover Forge field visit — Independent trailhead coordinate and walk observations.
The arrival coordinate is for roadside parking. It must not be presented as the exact historic forge site; the route is unmarked and present conditions should be checked with NJDEP.