Pine Barrens Jamboree at Wells Mills Park

A Blue Grass Jamboree....in New Jersey?

If you were somehow to find yourself at today's Pine Barrens Jamboree, you would be hard pressed to think you were in NJ.  From the Ol' Time Bluegrass music to traditional food and beverages this feels more like Kentucky or Tennessee, not the most densely populated state in America. 

The Pine Barrens is an exquisite ecological system. The vast unbroken forest of pine, oak and cedar is the largest tract of open space on the mid-Atlantic coast.  You can search shady cedar swamps for the rare curly grass fern or hike through a forest of pygmy pine trees no taller than a man. 

The pure, slow moving streams are fed by a huge underground aquifer of seventeen trillion gallons which supplies the marshes and bays of South Jersey with some of the cleanest water in the world. 

The population of this vast area once depended on natural resources for its survival.  The pines were used for charcoal making, the cedars for lumber, the naturally formed bog iron was melted down for pots, pans, kettles, stove pipes and later, cannons and cannonballs. 

The sand was used to make glass, the clay for brick and tile making.  The land produced an abundance of blueberries, cranberries, pine cones and sphagnum moss.  Families depended on deer, rabbit and waterfowl for meat on the table.  Clamming, oystering and fishing also proved profitable. 

For their cultural entertainment and recreation, the people of the pines would get together to have country "hoe-downs".  Whoever was good at whatever instrument would have a turn at pickin' and singin'.   

Which gives us today's Pine Barrens Jamboree at Wells Mills Park

 ALL DAY LONG.....

• Live Country, Blue Grass and Folk Music on the Stage by Albert Music Hall musicians
• Vendors and Exhibits
• Regional Food Specialties - Taste the "Piney Vittles" we're famous for!
• Appearances by SMOKEY BEAR
• Canoe Rentals on the scenic Wells Mills Lake
• Children's Games
• Face Painting
• Directions to Wells Mills Park, click here.

Karl Hess, Your Agent on The Jersey Shore