Wharton State Forest is the largest state forest in the U.S. state of New Jersey. After Joseph Wharton died in 1909, his family estate tried selling his property to New Jersey for $1 million, which was defeated by a referendum in 1915. For the next few decades, the Wharton estate was managed by a trust company.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the federal government sought to build a jetport in the Pine Barrens. New Jersey purchased additional land in 1956, totaling in its entirety, for a sum of $3 million.
A large fire, dubbed the Mullica River Fire, broke out at the Wharton State Forest in June 2022.
Atsion Mansion
Within the state forest, once a residence and cranberry packing facility, Atsion Mansion has been vacant since 1882. The mansion was constructed in 1826 by Samuel Richards, Ironmaster of the Atsion Iron Furnace & Forge. It was built as a summer residency and used by Richards until his death in 1842. In 1960, the building lost even more of its glory when its west porch was torn down. Under the guidelines of the State of New Jersey, area contractors Wu & Associates undertook the restoration of the site. The existing exterior stucco was removed and replaced with new material; the interior plaster, wood windows and shutter were restored; fireplace mantels, stone and wood floors in the basement, and the existing cedar roof were all repaired; and a new exterior sidewalk was added to a handicap ramp. The reconstruction of a western porch provided a historically accurate interpretation of the building to represent the way it was originally. The mansion is unique, in that the mansion is equipped with no electricity or indoor plumbing, allowing visitors to imagine how the Richards Family lived in the early 19th century.
Inside Wharton
thumb|right|150px|Carranza Memorial
A monument marks the location where Mexican aviation pioneer Emilio Carranza crashed on July 12, 1928 while attempting to fly his Ryan Brougham airplane, the Mexico Excelsior, non-stop from New York to Mexico City, final leg of a historic goodwill flight to the United States. The monument, installed with funds donated by Mexican schoolchildren, depicts a falling eagle of Aztec design. Every July on the Saturday nearest the anniversary of his crash (second Saturday in July) at 1:00 p.m. he is honored at the monument site by local residents and representatives from the Mexican consulates in New York City and Philadelphia.
Flora
The flora of Wharton State Forest includes a variety of trees such as pitch pine, loblolly pine, pond pine, shortleaf pine, Atlantic white cedar, red maple, blackgum, magnolia, sweetgums, oaks, and sassafras. The forest floor is predominantly covered by bracken ferns.