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I have recently begun to correspond with Merce; he and his talented wife Arlene have graciously given me permission to publish an excerpt from his writings on his website:
Browse through Merce's pages. It's a breath of fresh air that will take you away, however briefly, from the busy world the NJ Pine Barrens area has become! Merce Ridgeway Jr. was the founder of Albert Music Hall in Waretown, and first president of the Pinelands Cultural Society. His Dad, Merce Sr., played in original Pinehawkers in the 1940's. Merce Jr. reformed the group in 1980 and kept his dad's music alive. You can listen to his music and download it for a nominal cost if you enjoy it as much as I do! "The Red Cedar", "The Clam Digger Song", and of course "The Pine Barrens Song" are my personal favorites. Merce has also written a book, "The Bayman: A Life on Barnegat Bay". This should be required reading for anyone who plays on the bay, because they will gain a new respect for the rich history of the Barnegat Bay and its baymen, and perhaps understand why it's so important to take care of it. We do, after all, live in a symbiotic relationship with mother earth, and the way we give back should be taking care of her. Through the above link,
you can read excerpts of the book. Clamming, oystering, scalloping,
fishing, mossing, woodcutting, trapping: these were just some of
the means to a living in the Pine Barrens and on the Bay. The excerpted
passages are magical; one can almost smell the Bay's mist and chill
to the cold winds of winter through Merce's descriptions. Merce
shares his story of life in the Pines and on the water in a simpler
time. It's a beautiful story, and one that should be read by anyone
who appreciates the Pine Barrens.
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PineyPower LLC
P.O. Box 307, Barnegat NJ 08005 609-698-2501 Member, Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce Barnegat Chamber of Commerce Forked River Mountain Coalition Natural Resource Educational Foundation/Lighthouse Center Tuckerton Seaport Please
note: Unless
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I
had the privilege of meeting Merce Ridgway in 1994, at the
First Pine Barrens Jamboree at Wells Mills County Park in Waretown.
He had come back up from his home in 
off
limits now. We gathered the Pitch Pine as we called it to burn in
the winter. Large fires that burned through the pines left standing
many dead pines. As time passed the standing deadwood dried and left
the center of the trees hard and pitchey. We hauled it home by the
truck load to be cut up on the cross cut saw. It burned hot, you needed
a good wood stove that you could shut down tight, or risk burning
the house down. Now you are not allowed to gather deadwood. If caught
they will take your truck and axe and fine you, how sad for the native.
I remember the Blueberry's, the swampberrys grew large and sweet in
the low places, but the one I liked the best were the little low blues
that grew in abundance along the defunct Tuckerton railroad. There
were other kinds of blueberry's, but these two types were the best
for the pies mom made of them. You always payed for them with some
chigger bites, but well worth the price. I wonder if you can still
see Barnegat Bay and the light house from the top of the Forked River
Mountains? That was a fine place to visit with the view and small
fossils we would find there. Once I found a small stone container
there that Dad thought might have been an Indian paint pot. We used
to go as a family there for a picnic, from time to time. I never dreamed
it would be closed off, I suppose that is progress. I played music
a lot in my youth and folks would say, Don't you feel afraid when
you have to drive across those Pine woods at night? I was always a
little surprised, because that was when I felt safe, to be back in
those wood's I loved so well.---Merce" 
