# A fun trip to Dead Horse Bay!



## Wheelah23 (Oct 18, 2010)

Well, any bottle diggers in the Tri-State area have probably heard of this place. You know, the beach that's literally _covered_ in bottles? They're mostly from the 30-50's, too new for most of you I'm sure, but I still found it fun. If you haven't heard of it, here's a description:

 "The bay was given its name sometime in the 1850s, when horse-rendering plants still surrounded the beach. From the New York Times: "Dead Horse Bay sits at the western edge of a marshland once dotted by more than two dozen horse-rendering plants, fish oil factories and garbage incinerators. From the 1850's until the 1930's, the carcasses of dead horses and other animals from New York City streets were used to manufacture glue, fertilizer and other products at the site. The chopped-up, boiled bones were later dumped into the water. The squalid bay, then accessible only by boat, was reviled for the putrid fumes that hung overhead." As the car industry grew, horse and buggies -- thus horse carcasses -- became scarce, and by the 1920s, there was only one rendering plant left.

 It was during this era, around the turn of the century, that the marsh of Dead Horse Bay's began to be used as a landfill. Filled with trash by the 1930s, the trash heap was capped, only to have the cap burst in the 1950s and the trash spew forth onto the beach. Since then garbage has been leaking continually onto the beach and into the ocean from Dead Horse Bay.

 Thousands upon thousands of bottles, broken and intact, many over 100 years old litter the shore. Though other hardy bits of trash pepper this beach of glass: leather shoe soles, rusty telephones, and scores of unidentifiable pieces of metal and plastic. The beach is usually empty, conjuring a quiet, eerie post-doomsday kind of scene that is the perfect setting for scavenging another era's trash."

 After arriving and parking in the nearby Ranger Station's parking lot, we asked directions from a local person who pointed us in the right direction. It was a rather long walk through a scrubby forest that you find near marshy beaches. We came to a three way fork in the road, and made a decision: right. Turns out, it was not the wisest choice. We continued walking, then the forest opened up into dunes, and then into beach. We could see the garbage already. I picked my way through some stuff on the surface, then started walking through the water. I found a couple good bottles there. We continued to our right, but the finds seemed to be waning. We realized after an hour of slow walking that we should walk the other way. 

 There, the density of bottles increased. It soon got to the point where you couldn't step in the water without stepping on bottles. I had to guess which were commons and tried to step on them! Unfortunately, it took a while to find the densely packed area, and we soon had to leave. I would recommend researching this place, and anyone in the area should go. It's a fun trip for those interested in bottles.








 I found a few nice bottles, and my mom found loads of shards for decorating. Here's a picture of my finds from the day. If anything catches your eye, just ask me for a closeup, I'll do what I can. The bottles _I_ have questions about are pictured larger:






 I thought this was cool. Some kind of mangrove root grew inside the bottle. Mostly whole, too.






 A milk bottle. "M.H. RENKEN DAIRY CO." It was a dairy company in Brooklyn. Cows in Brooklyn? Who knew?






 A swirly soda bottle. Hoffman Beverage Company, from Newark. Rarity?






 Some kind of Lantern shaped Candy Container. What was once the metal cap has rusted so that it's now just an annoying lump. On the base, it's embossed with "T. H. STOUGH CO./ JEANNETTA PA" It has three ingredients embossed on the side, "SUGAR/STARCH/CORN SYRUP". On the other side, it's embossed with "CERTIFIED U.S. COLORS", as well as "1/4 OZ." How rare is this Candy Container?






 Here's a bunch of different sodas and a beer. I love how different the colors are in the Cokes. They're both from NYC. The big bottle in the back says "GEO. SCHNEIDER & CO., BKLYN, NY". I can't find any information on any George Schneider, can anyone help me?






 A really tiny green bottle. Waddya think?






 I've got no idea about this one. I'm thinking it's a sample bottle of some kind, but I don't know much about that anyway. It's got a regular sized crown top, but it's a much smaller bottle than you'd expect. What do you think this bottle was? Pen for size reference.






 This one had the original cork inside, which was a pain to remove. I'm not sure how old it is, but I'd guess it's older than the other. Ideas?






 An ink-shaped bottle, but I don't think it is one. It's got this weird thing in the cap. Some orange goop is stuck in it really well.






 Sorry about the bad picture. This is a square pyramid shaped blue bottle. I thought a late ink bottle. It's got some weird material in it that I can't remove. Probably some seaweed. What do you think?







 Well, that's it. If you have any info about the bottles, please share. If you haven't been to Dead Horse Bay, I highly suggest you go!


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## cyberdigger (Oct 18, 2010)

Good source of sea glass. The cool thing is, the longer the dump erodes, the older the artifacts will wash up.. it's worth a trip back every couple years..


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## cyberdigger (Oct 18, 2010)

COOL!!!


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## lexdigger (Oct 19, 2010)

That mini crown top looks like a grape juice. We dig them around that shape and size that say Welch's on them.


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## rockbot (Oct 19, 2010)

That water must have been SHARK heaven!

 I'm surprised they didn't use the animal bones to make soap. We had several factory's in Hawaii that used animal bones for soap and made bone meal for fertilizer.


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## Wheelah23 (Oct 19, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  lexdigger
> 
> That mini crown top looks like a grape juice. We dig them around that shape and size that say Welch's on them.


 
 I looked it up and you are right. Oh well. Any ideas on the others?


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## towhead (Oct 19, 2010)

The amber one with the orange gunk in it reminds me of a glue bottle... or that orange stuff one would put on cuts back in the 1960's  Iodine? -Julie


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## Wheelah23 (Oct 19, 2010)

I forgot to mention that one piece in the foreground. I think it's a melted then re-congealed piece of glass. I guess that means they tried burning the garbage in the original dump, then decided to cap it later.


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## green dragon (Oct 20, 2010)

Neat finds. 

  Interesting the  textured  glass, worn from the surf and sand, not  mint, but  very  neat []

  Of note, I have read up on this place before, and it is definately illegal to take any items, so be careful ( relic hunting on public land = no no ) .

  Funny how garbage is now protected,  go figure...... 

  thanks for the read,  was fun to go along with you ( more pics of the site would rock ! ) 

  ~ AL


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## Wheelah23 (Oct 20, 2010)

Illegal...? I thought laws like that only applied to items over 100 years old? Maybe the laws are different here... Where can I find more information about laws like this?


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## sandchip (Oct 21, 2010)

I always heard 50 years.  Screwy government...don't litter, clean up our environment, BUT don't pick up just any trash, just the new trash.


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## green dragon (Oct 21, 2010)

> ORIGINAL:  sandchip
> 
> I always heard 50 years.Â  Screwy government...don't litter, clean up our environment, BUT don't pick up just any trash, just the new trash.


 
  NO kidding, makes NO sense [8|]

  Not agreeing, just posted, so  you'd be careful - go fir it ( and send pics ) .  I have wanted to go there for a year, since I found out about the place when I was getting into bottles, it just seems surreal, not just for the golass but the whole aura.... 

  maybe in the spring

  ~ AL


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## mr.fred (Oct 21, 2010)

The  Lantern  Candy  Container is  from  the  late  40s  early   50s-----not all that  rare---missing  Cap----Handle   and  base-------but  hold on to it-----parts  are out  there[]


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## surfaceone (Oct 22, 2010)

> A swirly soda bottle. Hoffman Beverage Company, from Newark. Rarity?


 
 Hey Connor,

 I really like this Bay tumbled soda. You know it's a landmark bottle, right?













 "Pabst's Brewery

 400 Grove Street c. So. Orange Avenue
 The Pabst's Brewery plant stands on the corner of South Orange Ave. and Grove Street in Irvington. The plant produced soda for Hoffman Beverages until 1953 when it was sold to the Pabst Brewing Co. The unique part of the plant is the large soda bottle on the roof of the building which can be seen from motorists on the Garden State Parkway. The bottle was originally used as a water tank. Pabst closed down this bottling plant in February, 1985." From Old Newark.

 This plant was sold to Pabst in 1946 by the Hoffmans. It was a landmark piece of roadside americana and a literal landmark for generations of motorists on the Garden State Parkway. Of course, the bottle according to local legend, was originally Hoffman's Root Beer when it was erected in 1930.






 "[RA: This was originally a 60-ft. tall soda bottle water tower for the Hoffman Company. A Pabst label was painted on it when the business changed hands, which explains why the shape doesn't seem quite correct for a 1960s beer bottle.... Update - April 2004 - a developer has purchased the property and plans to demolish everything to make way for shops and housing. Local preservationists hope to devise a plan to save the bottle....]

 Large brown bottle
 I am a long-time resident of the area, and can trace the bottle's history. It started out as a functioning water tank for Hoffman Beverages (soft drinks - they used to make a decent ginger ale), a long-gone NJ company. Hoffman sold the property to the Pabst Brewing Company, which erected an immense stockhouse/brewery on the site (1960s). Beer companies have been merged, beer sales have been flat (pardon me, I'm really sorry for that one) and this complex is, I believe, inactive." From Roadside America.

 The Hoffman's were apparently both brewers and fizzy drinks makers. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	











From.

 An old Hoffman slogan: "Hoffman draught beer in bottles is really draught beer." From.






 "The Pabst Blue Ribbon bottle that served as an icon of beer brewing and as a road marker for motorists along the Garden State Parkway has resurfaced along another major roadway -- the New Jersey Turnpike, just past Exit 15E -- in a junkyard in the Ironbound section.
 Cut into a half-dozen pieces, most of it is hidden, but this week slow-moving motorists could spot the giant bottle cap in T. Fiore Recycling's scrap yard. The 60-foot-high bottle sat on its perch overlooking the Parkway for more than 70 years before it was dismantled to make way for houses and a shopping mall...The bottle was erected in the 1930s, when the site was home to the Hoffman Beverage Co. At the time, it promoted Hoffman's Pale Dry Ginger Ale. The bottle later became an advertisement for Pabst, after the brewing company purchased the plant in 1945....The bottle outlived the operation, which closed in the 1980s, and it was stubborn about coming down from its six-story platform atop one of the brewery buildings in 2006.
 T. Fiore has claimed the bottle, but public memories of it linger in a song, "The Big Pabst Bottle," and even in an episode of "The Sopranos." In that show -- the third episode of season five -- Tony Soprano's Uncle Junior sits on a bench and looks up at the bottle in "Where's Johnny?" From.

 "The bottle's crown is 185 feet above street level. It measures 17 1/2 feet in diameter below the tapered neck, and when it functioned as a water tower it could hold 55,000 gallons. It first advertised Hoffman's Pale Dry Ginger Ale when it went up in 1930. Made of copper-plated steel plates about a quarter-inch thick, the bottle had a "glossy coat of enamel" and was "topped by a stopper of glittering gold." At night, it was flooded with light.

 When prohibtion ended, Hoffman Beverage Co. began brewing beer, and later 1945 Pabst Brewing purchased Hoffman. The soda bottle was repainted to become a beer bottle." From.

 "A Bid to Save an Emblem

 Another sign that has become a source of debate is the big reddish-brown bottle off the Garden State Parkway that seems to be floating in the sky, standing vigil over the shuttered Pabst brewery in Newark.

 The brewery once housed the Hoffman Beverage Company, the soft-drink concern that built the huddle of early 20th-century buildings and around 1930 erected the 60-foot ''root beer'' bottle, its notable flavor, to double as a water tower. In 1945 when the brewery took over the complex, it put its Pabst label on the bottle, which still stands even though the plant closed in the mid-1980's and crumbled into an eyesore.

 Now developers are advancing plans to raze the buildings and turn the site into a mixed-use neighborhood. Pam Goldstein, spokesperson for Mayor Sharpe James, said letters have been flooding City Hall to preserve the bottle. Richard Monteilh, the city administrator, said that the city is looking to save the bottle. ''There is a lot of sentiment to do so,'' he said. ''It could wind up in a small park on the site. The question is how to finance it.'' From NYTimes 5/9/04.

 There's a wonderful photo illustrated "abandoned adventure" of visiting the plant shortly before the wrecking crew arrived @ Weird N.J. Volume 2.

 "The large bottle that once graced the roof of one of the building was removed two years ago. NJ Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek has expressed interest in showcasing the iconic bottle outside the Prudential Center in Newark." hFrom.l

 From a delightful reminiscence on Hoffman sodas :

 "The prettiest girl 
 (prettiest girl) 
 I ever say 
 (ever saw) 
 Was sipping Hoffmann's 
 (sipping Hoffmann's) 
 Through a straw 
 (right through a straw) 
 The prettiest girl I ever saw 
 Was sipping Hoffmann's through a straw 

 -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. 

 And there was a girl perched on a rock near a waterfall in the TV ad." From Newark Talk.

 " HOFFMAN                  07 OZ.     RED AND WHITE       DARK GREEN           07 7/8  1964 HOFFMAN BEVERAGE CO.     LONG ISLAND C.  N.Y.  "HOFFMAN SPARKLING BEVERAGES" (B); SMALL CROWN       9.9
 # 326186:           
  HOFFMAN                  07 OZ.     RED/WHITE/BLUE      CLEAR W/RINGS        07 7/8  1953 HOFFMAN BEVERAGE CO.     NEWARK          N.J.  "SPARKLING HOFFMAN QUALITY BEVERAGES"; NOT PIC.      7.7
 # 33021288A:     
  HOFFMAN                  12 OZ.     RED AND WHITE       CLEAR W/RINGS        09 5/8  1964 HOFFMAN BEVERAGE CO.     LONG ISLAND C.  N.Y.  "HOFFMAN SPARKLING BEVERAGES" (B); CROWN (N & B)     8.7
 # 71041094:       
  HOFFMAN QUININE WATER    07 OZ.     BLUE-GRN/WHITE/GOLD CLEAR W/RINGS        07 7/8  1954 HOFFMAN BEVERAGE CO.     NEWARK          N.J.  SPARKLING HOFFMAN QUININE WATER ; QUININE WATER      9.8
 # 40012488: " From.

 "Hoffman Beverage ComDany, Newark, N. J., one of tTie top distributors in our area, offers you Black Cherry, Black Raspberry. Orange, Lem- on, all with true fruit flavor with- out	artificial	flavoring	o r	pre- servatives added. In addition, of course, Hoffman puts out the basic	Ginger	A le,	Sarsaparilla,
 their
 Â«=>Cream Soda, Root Beer and Club Soda, together with a non-fatten- ing "Streamline" group for
 weight-watches. These bever- ages are fine by themselves, but they provide excellent founda- tions for drinks whose distinc- tion Is limited only by your im- agination." From.

 A sad postscript to this fractured story is the old Hoffman house. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 "The Hoffman Farmhouse, within the 332 acre-county park on Baptist Church Road, was the home of Albert Hoffman, son of the founder of the Hoffman Beverage Co. in Newark, and his wife Joyce. When the township and county purchased the property from the Hoffman family in 1999, several acres were excluded from Green Acres funding, including the Hoffman house. Joyce Hoffman lived there until her death at age 88 in 2006, after which Union Township took possession. The townshipâ€™s agreement with Hunterdon County allows it to lease or demolish the house, parts of which may date to the mid-1800â€™s, but not to sell it or build around it." From.

 "HOFFMAN--Robert F., 79, of Madison, New Jersey, on January 1. Born South Orange, NJ, son of GF Hoffman, Founder of Hoffman Beverage Co. Lovingly known as ''Sport.'' Survived by wife of 54 years, Marion, of Madison, and five sons: Larry of Ridgewood, NJ, Greg of Washington, CT, Johannes of Annapolis, MD, Rob of Pennington, NJ and Tom of Weston, CT. Graduated in '43 from Columbia High and MIT in '46. Majored in Mechanical Design, rowed Varsity Crew, President of OX Fraternity, Tau Beta Pi honors. 23 years with Worthington Pump, helped found Leisuredyn Inc. in '69, manufactured world's first personal watercraft: the Aquadart. Owned RF Hoffman & Sons, engineering consultancy, concluded career with Hartz Mountain in '83. Early mainstay of Madison Y Indian Guides, 50+ year member and President of Maplewood Glee Club. Chairman of Columbia High and MIT 50th Reunions. Tutored underprivileged Newark youth in math. Avid sailor, skippered a Comet on Candlewood Lake, and later a Lightning at Lavallette Yacht Club. Visitation January 5, 2-4 and 7-9, at Bradley Memorial Home, Chatham, NJ. Celebration of Life January 6 at 11 AM, First Presbyterian Church, New Vernon. Contributions to the Maplewood Glee Club Scholarship Fund, Box 54, Maplewood, New Jersey 07040 or NJ Audubon Society/ Schermann-Hoffman Sanctuary, Hardscrabble Road, Bernardsville, NJ 07924." NYTimes 1/5/05


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## RedGinger (Oct 24, 2010)

Looks like a great day at the beach!  I've wanted to go there for a long time.  It's great to see what you found, rather than reading some complete stranger's article where you can't ask any questions or anything.  I'm getting into the older Cokes after reading "For God Country and Coca-Cola".  I actually won the book in a forum auction from Marjorie.  Anyway, great post, hope you can go back and find more.  On a beach like that, you can be very selective and picky about what to take home, which is nice and probably makes it more relaxing.


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## RedGinger (Oct 24, 2010)

> ORIGINAL: cyberdigger
> 
> Good source of sea glass. The cool thing is, the longer the dump erodes, the older the artifacts will wash up.. it's worth a trip back every couple years..


 
 Good point, Charlie.  Maybe by the time I get there, all the really old stuff will be washing up! LOL[sm=rolleyes.gif]


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## JOETHECROW (Oct 24, 2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R-FZsysQNw  []


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## 1977topps (Oct 24, 2010)

Been here a few times.  Very cool spot indeed.  I like the view of the Marine Parkway Bridge to the left.  I have actually found horse bones also.


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## Wheelah23 (Oct 24, 2010)

Well, traffic would've been bad today, at least if we went at low tide. I think traffic is best early on a Suday morning, so we plan to go next time low tide corresponds. I can be pickier next time, as I now know the better area to look. I'll get some better pics of that spot then. Thanks for the information, guys!


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