I am enjoying a few days with my family in South Jersey. One morning this road sign caught my eye. I never noticed it here before so I think it is new since the last time I visited in early Sept. The sign made me think about my family's presence here in the Pine Barrens. Gatto is my paternal grandmother's maiden name. My great-grandfather, Francesco Gatto has been here since he and his wife, Cecelia came from Italy in  1882. He cleared the land, by hand and planted black diamonds, a blackberry with large thorns, and dewberries. My grandfather Thomas Neil came back here from Waterford, NJ after marrying my grandmother, Amy. So here is the intersection of Gatto and Neil Roads and a slice of our history on this land. I am not sure who owned the land before my Gatto relatives, but for thousands of years, the Lenni-Lenape Native peoples lived in what we call New Jersey. They were hunters and agriculturalists. Unfortunately, they were driven off by European settlers. My dad would find arrowheads in the field behind our house, so their presence was felt and I often wondered about their story.

Relationship to the land is a wonderful bond. My family's history here is not as long as the Lenape's, but it runs deep. This land has a history independent from humans that reaches back eons and created the Pine Barrens ecology that we enjoy today. The Pines are definitely not barren as the European settlers thought. There is a wealth of native plants and trees and wildlife. The waters are abundant - the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer covers 3000 square miles and holds about 17 trillion gallons of water. The rivers closest to us are the Batsto and the Mullica, they run a beautiful tea color from the tannins of the bull pines (pitch pines) that cover our area. We have enjoyed swimming, canoeing, and walking along these beautiful spots

Many things have changed on this land and in the Pines, and in my family, but the land remains. It is so important for us to know our "place" whether our history there is long or short. Wendell Berry, the noted farmer and poet has said, "To know who you are you must know where you are". Take some time to explore the land near your home!