Industry and conservation
Jackson’s tree nursery and the dates that describe different beginnings
Documented history and research · Sources compared
The state nursery moved through several places before occupying a former quail farm in Jackson. Two official histories give adjacent dates for that last transition.
Seedlings before Jackson
The Forest Service nursery history begins at Bass River in 1907, when Alfred Gaskill established a nursery containing thousands of seedlings. It records a replacement nursery the following spring, then a 1926 move of production to Greenbank State Forest and Washington Crossing State Park. These are distinct milestones. NJ Forest Service nursery history.
Its list of trees grown in 1926 includes white, red, shortleaf and pitch pines alongside Norway spruce and other species. That mixture shows a production program broader than reproducing only the trees characteristic of one Pinelands site. The inventory does not trace the seedlings’ destinations. NJ Forest Service nursery history.
A move and an opening
The current nursery history dates the move to Jackson to 1981. An older DEP history says the New Jersey Forest Nursery opened in 1982 on the former Holmanville State Quail Farm. The statements may describe relocation and public opening, but neither inspected page explicitly reconciles them. Both dates are retained with their stated meaning. NJ Forest Service nursery history; Earlier NJDEP nursery history.
The older account also connects Holmanville with earlier lumbering and charcoal making and describes continued hand sorting of seedlings. This gives the site several layers of productive use: woodland industry, bird raising and nursery work. The surviving institutional accounts establish that sequence without demonstrating that the same buildings or workforce persisted across all three uses. Earlier NJDEP nursery history.
Sources and research limits
- NJ Forest Service nursery history — Indexed full historical chronology and 1926 species list inspected; direct page retrieval failed.
- Earlier NJDEP nursery history — Full short historical account read; 1982 opening date retained.
The adjacent 1981 and 1982 dates are not silently merged. Current production figures and the claim that the earlier quail farm was the world’s largest are omitted because their underlying records were not inspected.