Old Bog Trail – Whitesbog Village, Brown’s Mills (Pemberton Township), Burlington County, NJ
Distance: With the road walk to complete the loop and some garden wandering, 0.6 of a mile.
Type: a “U”. Can be completed as loop by walking down the road past some nice houses.
Difficulty: 1 of 10
Website – Whitesbog Preservation Trust
Open – Sunrise to Sunset. General store open Saturdays and Sundays, 10 AM to 4 PM, February to December.
Terrain – bog, swamp, mixed forest, and native plant garden.
Trailheads – 39°57’35.77″N, 74°30’33.90″W
Go to the big info sign to the right of the general store.
Look for this sign directly behind the big one. The first number is on the small pond across the street from the parking area (catty-corner from the general store).
Directions: 120 W Whites Bogs Rd #34, Browns Mills, NJ 08015
Parking: There is a lot on Whitesbog Road, the main entrance road. It’s directly across from the general store.
Markings – No trail markers, but you can follow the numbered signs (correspond to a free trail guide in the general store).
Map –
Map at the site –
My track –
Description:
After completing the Mount Misery Trail on a lovely spring morning, I’d had plans to tackle another “too long to do with a toddler” hike. But after ten miles, my knee (still sore from the beating it took on the Appalachian Trail two weeks ago) was a little too stiff to consider another seven miles. Not one to waste a day that my little ones are away (couldn’t go with, have to hang out with Jerry Blavat at work, I decided to head to nearby Whitesbog Village, home to Elizabeth White, who played a major role in making blueberries a cultivated crop.
Not, I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but in 22 years of coming out to the pines, I’d never been to Whitesbog. I don’t know if it’s because I tend to stick to the vicinity of Wharton, or if I just have a mental block against blueberries. Either way, I fixed it yesterday. We’ll start with The Old Bog Trail, a short nature trail that starts across from the general store.
You’ll start at the information sign filled with flyers. Directly behind that is the info sign for the trail, which is pretty difficult to read at the moment. Nevertheless, onward! Take a straight line for the small pond.
Start.
Head for the pond.
You’ll get up on the boardwalk and walk along the bank of the pond. The trail will cross the pond on a small bridge. Make a left and get to my favorite trail marker ever.
Boardwalk is an eagle project. Nice job Ian.
Take a walk…
… along the shore.
Cross the bridge.
Looking back toward where we started along the pond.
My favorite trail marker ever.
The view from it (up).
That you’ve done a u-turn (or if there isn’t space, a K-turn), you’ll walk a few dozen feet up and recross the pond (now more of a stream) on another bridge. The trail then heads back, up on another boardwalk, and down to the edge of the bogs and follows along the edge, occasionally giving you space to poke your head out for a peak.
Heading for this bridge.
Seconds later… made it.
Another nice boardwalk.
Follow the edge of the bogs.
Like I said, occasional views through.
Holly leaves are fun.
Still going.
You’ll cross another small bridge, get onto another boardwalk, and then end up behind Sunningive, Elizabeth White’s home.
Another bridge.
Another boardwalk.
Back end of Sunningive.
I lost the trail here. Totally on purpose. Why? Because Elizabeth White kept a very large native plant garden surrounding her home. I could have walked 30 feet to the road and ended the trail. Instead I wandered the garden. The part you walk into is dedicated to native plants. There is a nice view of the bogs at the back end. The other side of the house is dedicated to what I have to assume are blueberry bushes. Well worth wandering through.
Trails here are really, really clear. And lined.
I want to build a bridge like this in my backyard. Seriously.
Peeking out at the bogs.
Nice view at the back end.
I believe this is Laurel.
I have no idea what’s going on here.
I want a yard swamp!
Sunningive from the road.
History lesson.
From here, you can walk back down the road to where you started. There are a couple of old houses along the way.
Road back.
Nice wheel.
Total, the trail is probably just under 0.4 of a mile, I did just over 0.6 with the roadwalk and wandering the garden.
In the area: Don’t you dare go home after this hike, there is a lot more to see and do here! Visit the General Store for awesome stuff!
The general store.
Also for the sweet old coke machine.
Also take a look around the village.
Finally, there is a three mile driving tour around the bogs. Totally worth the time, although be careful driving along the tops of the dikes.
lots of boardwalks, labeled trees, views of the bogs, conservation garden, and Elizabeth White's house.
Trail is not long, but they are currently expanding their trail system. It should be better when they are done.
Just a quick note to say, thanks for visiting Whitesbog! The blueberry bushes on the far side of Suningive (Elizabeth White’s home) are the original 30 plus varieties of blueberry bushes collected from the Pines that were used to help cultivate the high bush blueberry. They are approx. 100 years old.
Awesome!
Are the blueberries organic, are they sprayed?
Hello! I’m not sure if they are, you’d have to call the office to see. 609-893-4646.
Clean, maintained, accessible trails
Trail markings and signage to point you in the right direction.
We missed the beginning of the nature trail since it was very confusing to find. Instead found the beginning of the boardwalk. Access to a map to go along with numbers would be appreciated, along with better signage.
The driving tour you mentioned :. When I asked the staff at the store about that was told they did not have any information on that. It was something the State put out and did not provide them with the info. There is really not a driving tour per se, just follow the road. Sooo that’s we did.