Pinelands Preservation Restoration Project

The Pinelands Visitors’ Center is a great starting point for anyone interested in learning more about the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The Alliance purchased the 12.2 acre property for its headquarters in 2002 from Ronn and Ellen Shaffer, who had lived there since 1980 and had done extensive renovations. The Visitor Center is located at the PPA’s Headquarters on the Bishop farmstead in Southampton. It provides information to visitors about the historic, cultural, and recreational offerings and the conservation efforts and issues faced by the New Jersey Pinelands. At the Visitor’s Center, you’ll find maps, brochures, and interpretive displays focusing on the Pinelands. There is also a bookstore with more than 100 titles referencing South Jersey and the Pinelands in stock. The historic farmhouse was built in 1753 and functions as the Visitors’ Center and office space for the PPA.

The Louden barn was built in 1932 and was so-called because it was built from a kit constructed by the Louden Machinery Company in Iowa and shipped by rail to South Jersey. Friends and neighbors of the Robbins family, who owned the property at that time, hauled the kit’s materials to the building site with wagons and carts and helped with the barn raising. The huge hayloft is not currently on the list of plans for renovation, but it is hoped that it will make it into the second phase of construction. However, the ground level, once home to sheep, donkeys, and horses is being renovated to provide space for offices and an exhibition area for employees and PPA volunteers. The plumbing work was done by Harriett’s Plumbing Service’s Howard Bromberg, NJLMP #10622. See below for photos of Howard’s efforts.

Also on the property, you can find a carriage house, which is used for meetings and presentations, native plant gardens, a walking trail through grassland habitat for wildflowers, birds, and butterflies.