A stone bridge dating from the 1800s and submerged underwater for decades is now fully exposed after a New Jersey reservoir was drained — but drought is not to blame.

Chopper 4 images taken over Oak Ridge Reservoir in West Milford showed an area that looked more like a barren desert than a deep body of water.

“It’s usually packed, I’ve never seen it like that, ever,” said Luanne Blohm, who lives in the city.

Another West Milford resident, Suzanne Mlynarczyk, said she had already taken many photos of the water and surrounding area, but on Friday she “felt like she was walking on the moon.”

The reservoir, now almost empty, has recently attracted many curious people, eager to take a look at what has been discovered.

Known locally as the “Ghost Bridge,” neighbors said the stone bridge that usually sits under feet of water dates back 200 years. It is still fully intact and now completely exposed, making it a rare sight and an intriguing photo to take.

“We always drive past this reservoir, we didn’t even know the bridge existed,” Lois Kiensicki said.

“I’ve always looked for the bridge, but it’s usually covered. Lately it’s been getting lower and lower,” Blohm said.

As the state’s reservoirs dry up due to ongoing drought, West Milford officials stressed the unique spectacle is not weather-related. Instead, it’s due to scheduled maintenance on the reservoir, which is just a few miles from the ongoing Jennings Creek wildfire.

And while the empty reservoir may just be a coincidence, climate experts all agree that the region is in dire need of rain and the reservoirs need to fill up again before the situation worsens. gets worse.

“In the last 90 days, we should have had a foot of rain, and we had two inches of rain, and most of that was in September. So we have a deficit of 10 inches,” the climate scientist said. State David Robertson. .