A Sunday Morning Spring Walk in Estell Manor Park
Estell Manor Park Picnic Area
Spring is breaking free from the cold grip of winter here in New Jersey, filled with erratic weather our family embarked on a spontaneous outing, taking advantage of a warm Sunday morning. Victoria and I undertook the effort of bringing the girls to a local park so they could get outside and enjoy the weather. On a whim (random Google search), we chose Estell Manor Park since it was only 20 minutes from the house, and it was a new location for us to explore.
Swampy area flooded with rain on the exercise route
A Journey from Glassworks to Green Space
Located in Estell Manor (obviously), the 1700 acre recreational area is part of the Atlantic County parks system. The land was originally owned by the Estell family and was the site of a glassworks in the 1800’s. During World War One, the site became a large munitions plant. After the war, the surrounding forest slowly reclaimed the land and it was turned into a park. To make a personal connection, The Great Egg River runs near the park, and is actually fed by the Hospitality Branch, the same stream that feeds the lakes in our backyard.
Eleanor playing in the park
Walking Trails and Play Areas
On first arrival, and after potty breaks, we checked out the Warren E. Fox Nature Center, complete with its large display of taxidermy animals of the Pine Barrens. After leaving the nature center, we kept our outing simple and walked the paved exercise route, which circles one whole half of the park, if that makes sense. I haven’t been able to figure out if it’s also called the Purple Heart trail, so I won’t make any definitive statements or recommendations on the trail itself. After a while on our walk we came to playground, which allowed the girls some time out of the stroller. Our oldest enjoyed playing on the big play set. Next to the playground was a large picnic area covered with big cedar trees. This is where I was able to capture the photograph used at the top of this post. The marsh wetlands leading to the Great Egg river can be seen in the distance. (Check out that depth of field)
Dead tree on the Purple Heart Trail
Making the Most of Minimal Gear
I kept my photography kit simple for this outing. With my X-H2S I brought the 18-55 and 55-200 zoom lenses. The former was mounted to my camera the entire time. I didn’t touch the telephoto lens. For the feature image, I spot metered on the grassy areas and increased the exposure compensation until I could start to see detail in the shadows. Woodland photography can be challenging at times. The contrast in light is hard to capture, and as a photographer we have to make choices to deliver the final image. To me this is the difference between snapshots and photogrpahy. Images like this are a good reminder to utilize the various exposure techniques we have available to us as photographers. There is no such thing as a “perfect exposure” in the artistic sense.
Cedar Tree
To wrap things up, we had a great time during our short trip. We only explored a small part of the park, and came across a number of trails that we’d like to explore in the future. At times during our walk I found myself daydreaming about what the place looked like over a hundred years ago when the war effort was in full swing. Towards the end of the trail, we walked passed the ruins of the Estell Glass works. I made a mental note to make an effort to return to them at a later date.
