Hibernia is today a semi ghost mining town that was up and running around 1764 if not even before that time. Iron was mined then shipped by railroad here. They also had a furnace and forge. Fathers would pass these trades down to the son. Today all Hibernia is that is left is a few residents on private property and miles of trails/dirt roads leading to ruins, foundations, a mine which is inaccessible. Most of Hibernia is a ghost town!

They call this area the highlands basically it is a very secluded area full of giant cliffs, streams, trails etc through many places that have had UFO sightings and other strange things. I chose to go to Hibernia because supposedly the iron that was produced at the munitions plant for weapons went to George Washington's men during the revolutionary war. It was easy for forge axes, shovels, cannon balls etc etc when you had such an abundance of iron from the Byram, Hibernia, and Adit-Sweed's Mines in the area. 

Later I was reading that in 1942 a magazine bunker was built in Hibernia Adam claimed that these ruins were part of the munitions plant. I question all of it cause their are also supposed to be remains of the ghost town in the area and I did find a foundation hidden off to the side of the dirt road but then I was shown from Adam an area with high walls, foundations and various structures which could have been the munitions plant. Some walls were about 15 feet high and went for a few hundred feet into the hillside totally amazing.  

(Update: I was right the foundations Adam took us to that he told me was a munitions plant was actually part of the mining operation or anotherwards the Mine Crusher which you can see photos and read about its history here http://www.ironminers.com/mineforum/viewtopic.php?p=8649&sid=8225babd5a076f193538fc337478277b Hibernia did have a munitions plant but the photos taken below are not it)

I did have a trail map on how to get to the ghost town but Adam insisted we do not take the directions I had because he knew his own way to the Hibernia Cemetery and Munitions ruins so more then likely that is why I seen ruins of the plant and not the homesteads. Cause the homesteads are a mile and half away on the other end of the road which can only be hiked on the map that I had. But because of this I could not get photos of the mine entrance.

 Unfortunately my trip to NJ taught me that never again will I ever allow a member or investigator to direct our investigations because if we would have stuck to my trail head parking we could have hit some other areas in Hibernia that I felt were significant to the area. I think that the munitions ruins were very interesting lots of climbing and exploring but at the same time the mine and ghost town are very relevant to the area as far as Haunting's go. Rumor has it the area is haunted and I can see why its secluded and people have died back here from mining accidents and harsh weather.  It was not a pretty picture you could tell from walking around here that the entities did not have smiles on there faces reminded me of the Glen Falls area up in NY where they had mills and the town became flooded with everybody dying. Same feeling here just a real dismal feeling in the woods as foundations from the plant were overgrown with trees and thorn brush.

If you want a more in depth history to Hibernia Deposits of rich magnetite ore were mined since the revolution. Just before the civil war the miners tunneled deep into the massive vein of ore extracting thousands of tons per year of black metal. This deposit was worked on and off all the way into the 1900s probably still around World War II. 

The mine had a sloping tunnel which penetrated the hillside for over 2000 feet. It had 12 vertical shafts on the mountain above which intersected with the tunnel below. The deepest of the shafts was almost 3000 feet deep. They were filled in the 1970s to prevent people from falling in them and dying. 

The tunnel to the mine now has a great to allow bats to enter which is the large bat habitat in the country. Their is ruins of miner housing, hoists, furnace, misc. buildings, old road beds, railroad beds, and of course the mine itself. The cemetery you just read about prior to this prologue page was erected for the miners and ghost town residents. Everything however seems to be spread out you have your mine here, ghost town their, plant on the outskirts, cemetery hidden in the woods etc

Hibernia is a big area and if I had more daylight to work with I think I could have gotten to see more areas but when the sun goes down here its a very dark and miserable place. With muddy dirt roads and alot of thorn brush covering up these foundations and historical sites. I do believe the area we explored in Hibernia was the munitions ruins or plant its huge and its vast as the earth is consuming what once was. Perhaps the dead have also?

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Lord Rick-AngelOfThyNight