The Margate Historical Society at 1 South Washington Avenue
The Margate Historical Society is a small history museum that tells the story of Margate, NJ and nearby Atlantic City, NJ. The two towns are intertwined by history and business. This small museum is run by the Margate Library, part of the town’s municipal system.
The museum sign when open
The entrance to the museum
The inside of the museum and their fire and rescue displays
This interesting museum covers the history of the Fire, Rescue and Police Departments with lots of artifacts from all three departments including pictures and equipment.
The rescue and life guard display
The display explains both the lifeguard stations and members and the rescue units run by both this department and the fire department.
The museum has a lot of interesting artifacts from the Margate Fire Department that covers both the working and social aspects of the department. Many cover the last 100 years of the department.
Margate Fire Company #1 Banner
The history of the Margate Fire Department
The Margate Police Department also had an interesting display of artifacts including a jail cell. The department also donated uniforms and items to arrest people.
The museum features the history of the town from community events and organizations to artifacts on buildings and businesses.
Transit display
The history of the community of Margate, NJ
The town has many historical sites especially the “Lucy the Elephant” building down the road from the museum, which is one of the most well known structures at the Jersey shore.
The history of the Margate trolley system that used to exist on the shore line
Artifacts from the old trolleys
The history of the early community
Artifacts from residents of the town that continue to be collected by the museum
Artifacts from the community
The corner stones from the local schools
The museum has an interesting display of the 1964 Democratic Convention that was held in a fading Atlantic City. One of the biggest complaints was that the hotels were past their prime. This was before gambling would be introduced five year later.
The Democratic Convention in Atlantic City that was held in 1964
The museum touches on all parts of the Town of Margate,NJ and its role in the formation of beach communities along the Jersey shore. The museum shows the spirit of this New Jersey community.
The inside of the museum and the extensive displays of this small but interesting local museum.
The museum takes about an hour to visit and is packed with interesting information. The museum has very limited hours but you can work with the library in the off times to arrange a private tour.
The Tuckerton Museum and the Seaport at 120 West Main Street in Tuckerton, NJ
The entrance to the complex from Route 9
The entrance to the Tuckerton Seaport complex on a sunny Saturday morning
The complex was once a bustling fishing and shipping area that has now been preserved as a cultural site with tours, a series of restaurants and a museum.
The Mission of the Museum:
(from the Tuckerton Seaport Museum website)
Our mission at the Tuckerton Seaport is to preserve, present and interpret the rich maritime history, artistry, heritage and environment of the Jersey shore and the unique contributions of its baymen.
The dock area by the coffee shop
The artwork by the parking lot and coffee shop
I walked over to the main building which served as both the gift shop and museum. It was funny that the gift shop took both the first two front rooms of the museum. I had to look behind shirts to see the displays.
The docks and touring boats by the museum
The Seaport Tuckerton Museum at 120 West Main Street
The History of the Complex:
(from the Tuckerton Museum website)
Originally launched as the Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen’s Museum, the Tuckerton Seaport has evolved over the past twenty-two years into a community museum and community center occupying 40 acres located along historic Tuckerton Creek in Tuckerton, New Jersey. Tuckerton Seaport benefits from a prime location at the center of the Jersey shore, easily accessible via Exit 58 on the Garden State Parkway. Tuckerton Seaport works as a coastal cultural center to bring folklife traditions of the past and present to life through programs on land and water.
The museum was just opening up as I arrived and the staff was busy getting everything ready so I just walked around the museum. It is an interesting museum on New Jersey’s nautical past and the growth of the shipping and trading that went on in the turn of the last century. The museum also showed the bustling fishing industry that still exists today.
The Giant Chicken greets you at the door
The Giant Chicken was a road stop symbol of the White Way Farm Market and a tourist attraction
I thought it was rather cute and could see why people stopped
The view from the front porch of the museum was spectacular on this sunny day
The exhibit at the museum ‘Museum in the Making’, which is a through look at Tuckerton, its past and its contributions to the growth of New Jersey
The first room also served as a bustling gift shop with the main attraction this carving of the ‘Jersey Devil’
A display of Duck Decoys
A collection of woodcarvings of fisherman
The popular businesses that once lined Route 9 up and down the shore area
Displaying life down the shore in that era with quilting and sewing
The display of wood carvings and artwork on the first floor
The artworks made of driftwood by local artists
The driftwood art display on the first floor
The rooms both on the first and second floor were displayed by themes of Lenape Indian life at the shore, the Dutch and English traders, growth of shore farming, shipping and trade and fishing industries and the development of tourism in the area with steamships and the railroads.
The first room in the museum is a detailed look at the life of the Lenape and the froth of the fishing industry
The early life at the Jersey shore
The Native American display
The first part of the early development of Tuckerton started as the fishing and hunting grounds of the Native Americans until the settlement of the Dutch
The history of the Lenape
The arrival of the Europeans started the bustling shipping and trade industries that supplied the home country
With the growth of industry and farming many people started businesses to supply the population
Some started popular businesses that lasted over a century
E. Walter Parsons Jr. had a very successful fishing business that was in the family until 1984
With the rich soil in the area, local farmers worked the land providing fruits and vegetables for the growing population
Early farming equipment on display
The second floor galleries depicted the developing life at the shore with creating of modern life saving for the shipping and fishing industries and with coming of railroads, the bustling tourism industry with the change of leisure travel after the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution.
The second floor rail transportation display
The second floor display on shipwrecks off the Jersey coast
The development of modern Life Saving procedures
With storms at sea and affecting life in the area, as it still does today, there was a growth and development of modern Live-saving procedures and rescue methods.
The Life Saving exhibit
The use of the Lyle Gun in rescues
The series of pulleys and wenches are still used today in different forms. They had to create a safe way to rescue people not just from storms but accidents as well.
The Life Saving and Rescue display
Rescue display
The railroad made its way to the Jersey shore bringing tourists from both New York and Philadelphia and bustling North Jersey. This opened the area up to tourism as leisure travel grew at the end of the nineteenth century.
One example of a visiting tourist was the Cinderella Cramer display with long distance travel to the shore.
The first female passenger of the Tuckerton Railroad
Getting the rail ticket
Tourism developing at the Jersey shore
The Cinderella Cramer display representing that eras travels to the shore with Victorian standards and use of steamer trunks
Packing the steamer trunks for the long journey
Artifacts from the shore
Life at the shore still had its perils as it does today with storms affecting development and shifting shore lines
The lighthouse light display
The museum once served as a beacon for shipping and the top level served as a lookout. Today you can walk upstairs and enjoy the views.
Traveling up the tower stairs
On this beautiful sunny and clear morning that I visited, the views were spectacular.
The view of the port area of the complex
The view of the inlet and Lake Pohatcong across from Route 9
My video of the views from the top of the lookout
The Tuckerton Seaport Museum tour was a very thorough look at the community and its development over the last three hundred years. The exhibits showed the progress the community has made and where it is headed in the future as the shore communities keep changing.
With the economy, the rise of AI, climate change and overall population growth toward the shore, it will be interesting to see the changes of the future.
Leaving the museum complex at the end of the trip
Tuckerton has an interesting past as a shipping and fishing destination and now you can tour the buildings and see what life was like back then and there it is moving in to the future today.
Don’t miss all the historical sites and interesting restaurants of this wonderful NJ beach town.
Somers Point, NJ is such a picturesque and historical town with lots of historical sites and delicious restaurants to visit. It is fun to just get in the car and drive the Historic District and see how the town has grown and developed.
I took time out of my walking project in Manhattan after finishing the Chelsea neighborhoods, walking the 13-mile Broadway walk for the sixth time and preparing to do “The Great Saunter” on my own next week to go ‘down the shore’ as we say in New Jersey (it’s never ‘Down to the Shore”, that takes too long).
I had never been to Somers Point, NJ before. It is a small waterfront community across the bay from Ocean City, NJ, which is a popular resort and recreation town. Somers Point is low key with wonderful restaurants and bars, a popular waterfront and beaches on The Great Egg Harbor Bay and beautiful little turn of the century beach homes and a town steeped in history. I read about three historical spots on Shore Drive in the heart of the Historic District and had wanted to visit them.
The Somers Point Historical Society at 745 Shore Road
I visited Somers Point, NJ recently to see the historical shore town and explore their small museums. The Somers Point Historical Society differs from its neighbor down the road, the Atlantic County Historical Society in that its concentration is on the Town of Somers Point and not the entire county.
The Somers Point Historical Society sign welcomes you
The Somers Point Historical Society started in 1987 as part of the “Save City Hall” campaign to save the historic City Hall building. The plan was to highlight the history of Somers Point and its place in the community and to save some of the older buildings in the town.
The City Hall was saved and it was renovated for the new library. The organization was also helped with funding and applying for National Historic Recognition for the Bayfront Historic District that lies between Shore Drive and Bay Avenue on the waterfront district of the town (Somers Point Historical Society website).
The building that the society is housed in was originally a Baptist Church that was built in 1886 and later became the Somers Point Library. When the new library was built, the Society bought the building and the organization was formed. The museum started with about 600 artifacts and it has grown much largers since.
The Somers Point Historical Society main room
The museum is based around the one main room that tells the history of the Town of Somers Point. One display is on the USS Somers named after Commandant Richard Somers. Our tour guide told us that there is always a Somers named vessel in service with the Navy. There was a complete display on the navel vessels including a section on Master Commandant Richard Somers.
Display on items from the USS Somers plus ships and boats
The number of items in the collection includes weapons, dishes, photographs, nautical items and pictures of all the Navy vessels named after Richard Somers. These historical items show the contribution that Richard Somers made to the armed forces of the United States. There were also family hierlooms among the artifacts. It was told to me there will always be a USS Somers in service dedicated to him.
More items from the USS Somers
There was a nice display on the trolley car system that used to line the shore traveling from Atlantic City down the coast to Somers Point. This was a picture taken during the holiday season when shopping at the shore was pleasant experience.
Christmas shopping at the shore must have been fun
When the Lindenwood Historical Society folded for business, the Society inherited their impressive collection of ship models. There are all sorts of styles and designs of ships that line the entire room. There is very interesting display of clamming and shellfish harvesting equipment that is on display along with period clothing. It really showed how much shellfish production has not changed much over the years. There was an extensive display of shipbuilding materials showing the town’s shipbuilding yards and production that used to be part of the town’s businesses.
Fishing equipment and shipbuilding tools along with period clothing
There is also a very extensive theater and arts program that is part of the town’s past and current social life. Being so close to Ocean City, NJ and its most famous summer resident, Grace Kelly there is a strong sense of theater and the arts around the community.
The theater playbills and items dealing with the local ‘arts’ scene.
The one thing that the historical society helps you remember that this is still a shore community and tourism plays a huge role in the history and make up of the town. You can see by the artifacts that things are geared towards the water and the extensive shipbuilding and fishing industries.
The Society also runs all sorts of fundraisers, movie nights and car shows to help raise money for the Society and does a lot of outreach to the community.
It is a fascinating look into the past of the shore community of Somers Point, NJ.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 