Book Description: Most people think of New Jersey as a suburban-
industrial corridor that runs between New York and Philadelphia.
Yet in the low center of the state is a near wilderness, larger
than most national parks, which has been known since the
seventeenth century as the Pine Barrens.The term refers to the
predominant trees in the vast forests that cover the area and to
the quality of the soils below, which are too sandy and acid to
be good for farming. On all sides, however, developments of one
kind or another have gradually moved in, so that now the central
and integral forest is reduced to about a thousand square miles.
Although New Jersey has the heaviest population density of any
state, huge segments of the Pine Barrens remain uninhabited. The
few people who dwell in the region, the “Pineys,” are little
known and often misunderstood. Here McPhee uses his uncanny
skills as a journalist to explore the history of the region and
describe the people—and their distinctive folklore—who call it
home.