Parvin State Park - Your Passport to Adventure - Pittsgrove, NJ - State Park Passport Locations on Waymarking.com

The NJ Parks and Forests Service came out with a passport book for collecting stamps for visiting a select sampling of our states parks, forests and historic sites. Many fine places did not make the list but many beautiful and culturally important sites did make the list so I suppose it all evens out in the end. The passport book is divided into 3 sections, north, central and south Jersey. This stamp and Parvin State Park page represent the tenth listing for the Southern N.J. section. If it was not for the release of a puzzle cache a few years ago and my obsession at the time for first to finds, I would never have visited all 24 sites of central and southern NJ. The puzzle cache is called Passport To Adventure (South Jersey Challenge) and can be found HERE. The stamp and the passport books are free. To find out more about our fabulous passport program please visit HERE. The stamp for this park features a beautiful autumn scene, with trees in reds, yellow and oranges providing the foreground for Thundergust Lake, the main focus of this state park.

The coordinates are for the welcome center. This is where one would get the stamp for the Passport to Adventure booklet. The welcome center acts as a gateway for the lake (see photos). The left page, opposite the stamp reads "When you visit Parvin State Park, you will feel as if you have stepped into a painting. In the spring, dogwood, laurel, magnolia and many more flowering plants burst into bloom. Take a hike on one of the many trails and see if you can identify these amazing plants, as well as the birds and other wildlife that live in the park. The CCC created many of the features of the park. Between 1933 and 1941, they built the main beach area, the campsites, cabins, bridges and Thundergust Lake."

Each page has fast facts beneath the narrative (see accompanying picture). Fast facts for this historic site include -- 1) Parvin is one of the few places in New Jersey where you are allowed to catch a trophy-size bass. 2) More than 170 species of birds have been recorded in the park.

Parvin State Park Information

Hidden in the southwestern part of the state is Parvin State Park, a park whose history is as varied as its wildlife. Situated on the edge of the Pine Barrens, the park not only has pine forests typical to the area but also a swamp hardwood forest. Spring bursts out in bright colors and rich fragrances with blossoming dogwood, laurel, holly, magnolia, wild azalea and over 200 kinds of flowering plants. Thundergust Lake, Parvin Lake and Muddy Run are popular for fishing and boating. Swimming is allowed in Parvin Lake only.
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"Parvin State Park, 4.8 m (open all year), has been developed around Parvin Lake, 0.7 mile long. The lake was formed by damming Muddy Run, which once turned the wheels of sawmills and gristmills. Facilities for picnicking, swimming, and fishing are provided. The lake has been an excursion resort many years before its purchase by the state in 1931 together with 921 acres of land. tall pines and dense swamp cedars tower above the slow-moving stream, and there is a fine growth of laurel and holly." --- New Jersey, a Guide to Its Present and Past, 1939; page 660