Boro of Lakehurst Historical Society Museum 300 Center Street Lakehurst, NJ 08733

Boro of Lakehurst Historical Society Museum 300 Center Street Lakehurst, NJ 08733

Boro of Lakehurst Historical Society Museum

300 Center Street

Lakehurst, NJ 08733

(732) 657-8864

https://lakehurstmuseum.org/

Open: Sunday 12:30pm-3:00pm/Monday-Tuesday Closed/Wednesday 12:30pm-3:00pm/Friday-Saturday Closed

Admission: Free but donations are accepted

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g46549-d23615473-Reviews-Lakehurst_Historical_Society_Museum-Lakehurst_New_Jersey.html

The Lakehurst Historical Society at 300 Center Street

I visited the Lakehurst Historical Society Museum on a trip to South Jersey and was taken by the depth and stories that the displays told of this community, its historical background, the influence on shore communities and the nearby site of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. They even had artifacts that people collected and saved from the disaster.

The former decommissioned Catholic Church houses the collection of the history of the community

The History of the Church as a Museum:

When the Borough of Lakehurst faced increasing population, Manchester Township started construction of the new church in 1972. The members of the Lakehurst Historical Society met with the head of the church and discussed plans to convert the church into a small museum. The request was granted through the Trenton Diocese. The grand opening was on July 18th, 1993 (Museum pamphlet).

The building is surrounded by the resting place of many citizens of the community

The surrounding cemetery of prominent families

The history of St. John’s Church:

William Torrey, the founder of Lakehurst, donated land to the Irish immigrants to build the first Roman Catholic Church in Ocean County, New Jersey. The first mass was observed in 1874 in St. John’s Church. Today this little white gem is the popular museum of the Boro of Lakehurst Historical Society (Museum pamphlet). The museum was established in 1993.

The Mission of the Museum:

Our objective is to preserve the history of Lakehurst, NJ.

The main gallery of the old church tells the different stories of this community

The beautiful and historical stained glass windows decorate the sides of the museum

The history of the air travel through blimps and how this type of travel changed transportation between Europe and the United States

A docking ladder to leave the air ship

The history of this type of air travel

The types of blimps docking in the area

The docking stations at the air field in Lakehurst, NJ

The Hindenburg disaster which happened nearby ending our international travel on the zeppelins

Some of the artifacts saved from the wreckage of the Hindenburg disaster

Another form of transportation in the region was the now defunct Blue Comet Train, which was a major form of transportation from urban areas to the shore communities.

A model of the ‘Blue Comet Train’

The model of ‘The Blue Model Train’

The History of the ‘Blue Comet’:

The Blue Comet was the dream and the folly of R.B. White, the President of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. He developed the train line with such luxury and distinction that for the classier set, there would be no other way to come to the Jersey shore. The color blue would permeate through the whole line.

The line operated like a luxury hotel and never turned a profit. At the start of the Depression, the cost of the trip became prohibitive and the shore destinations it catered to fell out of favor to the wealthy. The last run was on September 28th, 1941 (Museum pamphlet).

Community activities through the years such as the Lakehurst Baseball team are displayed in the museum.

The Lakehurst Baseball Team display

The back of the museum displays life in Lakehurst over the last century with many artifacts donated from clothes, household items and personal artifacts from many families who have lived in the community.

The every day items of a Lakehurst daily living in clothing and furnishings over the last century

One of the standout items was this beautiful Civil War era Swiss music box that was played for me

The video of the music box:

The antique music box

Many other household and personal items have been donated by community members tell the day to day life of members of all classes of the community

Clothing, toys and decorative items

Decorative items for the home, clothing and personal items

Antique toys from the turn of the last century

A display of school items used in the classroom. Not much has changed

The mapping and history of Lakehurst’s agricultural past

The farm and construction building equipment of the past

Community social routines of every day life were on display in the museum.

Local shopping and dress making in the early 1900’s. There was even old advertising from Bambergers on display

More household artifacts

The progressive history of the town over the last century

Mr. & Mrs. Torrey, the founders of Lakehurst, NJ whose land the town grew upon

The History of the Torrey family:

Samuel Whittemore turned over a mile square tract of land (640 acres) as a wedding gift to his daughter, Adeline and her husband, William Torrey in 1821. Torrey mapped out the land (now known as Lakehurst). Adeline Torrey named most of streets after trees and flowers and William lined Union Avenue with Elm trees.

William Torrey was a devout Presbyterian but donated the land in 1869 to build the old St. John’s Church. The first Mass was in 1874 (Museum pamphlet).

Artifacts from Lakehurst’s manufacturing past of Brickmaking

Telephone operators station

Artifacts from the town’s Military past

WWI military helmets

Domestic life changed when people returned from battle. Many of these items created during the war years are still with us.

Domestic items through the years

The glass bottle collection

The glass bottle collection

Artifacts from the transportation and rail industry

The jail cell from the old police station

Blogger Justin Watrel in the display

The home life of the residents of Lakehurst

The most unusual artifact in the collection, the stuffed dog, ‘Stuffy’ who used to welcome residents to the local hardware store.

The sign for the Lakehurst Hardware store

The stuffed dog, ‘Stuffy’ from the Lakehurst Hardware store

The museum does a nice job telling the story of this small Southern New Jersey community and the growth of shore towns locally.

3 thoughts on “Boro of Lakehurst Historical Society Museum 300 Center Street Lakehurst, NJ 08733”

    1. Thank you. It is a great little museum. I am glad that you enjoyed it.

      Have a good morning.

      Sincerely,

      Justin Watrel, Blogger WordPress.com
      VisitingaMuseum.com/MywalkinManhattan.com

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a reply to jwatrel Cancel reply