BACKROADS • JANUARY 2023
Page 16
Wytheville VA Tourism presents
WE’RE OUTTA HERE
a weekend destinationkeeping you on the backroads
INN AT SUGAR HILL
5704 SOMERS POINT ROAD, MAYS LANDING, NJ 08330 609-625-2226 • www.innatsugarhill.com Deep in the southern part of New Jersey you will find the Great Egg River that traverses along and through the Pine Barrens of New Jersey – the largest in the nation and the third longest river that lives entirely in the state of New Jersey – the Raritan and Passaic being the longer. The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of the Garden State. Great Egg Harbor (and thus the river) got its name from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen May. In 1614, May came upon the inlet to the Great Egg Harbor River. The meadows were so covered with shorebird and waterfowl eggs that he called it “Eyren Haven” (Egg Harbor). Today, the National Park Service considers it one of the top 10 places in North America for birding. Cape May is named for him. But it was Captain George May who founded the town of Mays Landing in 1740. The jury is still out if one was the ancestor of the other. The town, with its location that was as beautiful as it was commercially viable, thrived. The addition of the railroad helped… for seven short weeks. On August 11, 1880, over 1,000 members of St. Anne’s Church in Philadelphia were returning from a day-long trip to the shore when an oncoming locomotive rear-ended the train. The collision, which occurred over the Great Egg Harbor River, led to several casualties. Many of the
townspeople in Mays Landing assisted in the rescue efforts, offering their homes to the injured. This bit of history deserves far more than a mention – and it shall. Today May’s Landing is a neat little town. We visited during September’s MotoAmerica races held a short ride to the west in Millville and spent a few evenings at the Inn at Sugar Hill. The inn sits atop a high bluff overlooking the Egg Harbor River. It was early in its life that the prized commodities of sugar, molasses and rum, arriving from the Far East by sailing ships, were stored in the safety of the high and dry thick-walled foundation of the Inn awaiting shipment