By Gary Cooper
On Wednesday, July 24, Paul Evans Pedersen, Jr., spun tales of New Jersey’s pristine 1.1 million acres of Pine Barrens in story and song during the State Library’s popular Author Talk series.
The Legendary Pine Barrens is Pedersen’s second published collection, and features 21 stories along with 17 original illustrations by Jodi Weiss Pedersen. The book presents a rogue’s gallery of weird and colorful characters in tales that run the gamut from offbeat explanations of natural phenomena, to unconventional takes on popular legends, to strange doings in mysterious Piney towns and taverns.
During his talk, which was more of a wonderfully entertaining performance, he put his unique spin on such legendary local subjects as the Jersey Devil and the small trolls that inhabit the forest, and posed the question of why towns were named Double Trouble, Mount Misery, Ongs Hat and Thunker.
The Pine Barrens spawned New Jersey’s first major industry, glass making. Because the sand, called sugar sand, was so pure, it did not have to be washed, but the rise of that successful industry caused mass deforestation of the pinelands. Because New Jersey did not have coal, the wood was used for fuel to make the glass. When the forest was depleted, the glass industry moved west, leaving many ghost towns.
In addition to reading passages from his book, Pedersen sang three songs: "Pine Barren Blues," "Cedarwater Blues," and "Sweetwater River."
In 1960, there was a proposal to make the Pine Barrens into the world’s largest jetport. Fortunately, for those who enjoy the drive to the shore on Route 539, Governor Brendan Byrne did not let that happen, keeping the sandy forest and the 17 trillion gallons of fresh water underneath pristine, and give the Jersey Devil a place to hang his hat.
Born and raised in southern New Jersey, Pedersen fell in love with the area’s world-famous Pine Barrens at the age of seven, on his first camping trip with the Boy Scouts. He is an accomplished journalist, photographer, storyteller and musician and a multiple Grammy-nominated songwriter and recording artist. He has been a reporter for the Hammonton Gazette, Hammonton News, Vineland Daily Journal and Weekly Retrospect.

