The east coast is a world of cities, suburbs, and highways. But lurking in between New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore is one of the United States' largest parcels of totally protected land. The Pine Barrens, so named because nothing will grow in its sandy floor but various pines, is a world unto itself. An entirely different culture, as weird and twisted as anything found in a city, has developed here amid the miles and miles of silent trees. It's the home of the Jersey Devil and numerous other characters of folklore. The wildlife is varied and unique. It's a place of peace and quiet, and dark things that go bump in the night.
The people who actually live in the Barrens usually have been there for generations and hardly ever step foot outside their world. Suburbanites taking the back route to the shore call them "pineys" and make jokes about their habits. Little do they know that many of them are skilled craftspeople, and the oldsters among them carry a legacy of folklore and oral traditions from way before the Revolutionary War.