Open: The museum is seasonable and open for special events. Please check out their website for more information. Open for the Sussex County Heritage weekend event.
I visited the Old Sparta Train Station Museum as part of the Sussex Heritage Weekend and it was a fascinating trip back in time to when these rural communities started getting connected to the cities after the Civil War.
The museum was at the beginning stages of development with displays being created in the rail system in Sussex County and train artifacts that were mounted on display. There was a model train set chugging along a train route.
The side view of the station
The plaque dedicated to the train station
The water tower outside the train station on the station’s grounds
The grounds where the station and the water tower are located are still an active train line.
The inside gallery at the Sparta Train Station Museum
The back part of the station’s gallery
Old travel equipment used on the train rails
Though the collection is small for now, the docents explained they will continue to add more to the collection. They were also a wonder book of knowledge on the history of this area of New Jersey.
The history of the museum
The building and the museum have had quite the history. This includes the fire and the rebuilding.
The train displays
The train display
The engine display
The docents were a wonder book of information on the history of the rail system and of the station building itself. The museum is just starting to develop so for now it is quick visit through the museum when it is open and visits back to see how it grows it collections. For now, it was a very interesting visit.
The Clayton Historical Museum is the perfect example of a community recording and preserving its past and showing the direction of its future through historical timeline of this town. From its place in glass manufacturing the the cheer of its high school, the museum displays the community pride of Clayton, NJ.
It shows how small towns all over New Jersey can preserve their past while still being part of the community at large. Each of the rooms in the museum displays a part of the community and its progression through time.
The first small gallery is dedicated to the uniformed forces that help protect this small community, the majority of the second gallery is dedicated to the glassworks business that once dominated the area and the back gallery displays its community with schools, the business district and the continuation of the glassworks.
The docents and volunteers give you the freedom to walk around but time is limited because the museum is only open for two hours a month plus special events happening in the town.
The History of the Museum:
(From the Museum website)
Clayton Historic Preservation collects personal papers, local business and organization records, photographs, early maps, genealogies, church histories, family Bibles, historic books, newspapers, artifacts and so much more.
The Veteran’s Exhibition in the middle of the museum
Our museum’s archives showcases the heritage and culture of Clayton, allowing visitors to explore and appreciate the town’s fascinating journey. Clayton Historic Museum is a guardian of the borough’s rich heritage, offering visitors a journey through its exhibits and displays (Clayton Historical Society pamphlet).
The entrance hall to the museum
The church artifacts in the first entrance gallery
The Clayton Historic Museum fosters a sense of pride and appreciation for Clayton’s past by preserving artifacts, documenting stories and engaging the community. CHP invites residents and visitors to explore, learn and connect with the borough’s history.
As a testament to the borough’s commitment to preserving its unique identity, CHP is creating an enduring legacy for future generations(Clayton Historical Society pamphlet).
The front gallery dedicated to the town’s First Responders:
The front gallery of Clayton Fire and EMS displays
The Clayton Police and Fire Department displays
The Clayton Police display
The middle gallery is dedicated to the glassworks businesses:
The middle gallery
The glass making industry was a majority of the work force at the turn of the last century and shows New Jersey’s craftsmanship over the years.
The glass milk bottles showing the areas both dairy and glass bottle industries of the past
The back gallery contained a lot of Clayton’s manufacturing and retail history
The glassworks history in the community run deep
The Clayton Glass Works factory at the turn of the last century
Decorative glass was one of its specialties
Creative glass works are part of the extensive collection at the museum
The everyday decorative items were made right here in New Jersey
The main part of the gallery discusses and displays how important the glass industry was to the community and the creativity of the artisans.
The display of the glass blowers chair and the time and effort once part of this craft
The glass blowers chair on display
The museum’s exhibits offer an overview of Clayton’s history, covering various aspects such as industry, agriculture, transportation and daily life.
Collections from The local Clayton High School
The Clayton, NJ local business district businesses
Through an assortment of photgraphs and documents, visitors can explore the Borough’s development.
The beautiful decorative glass on display
The Clayton High School display showing small town pride
The progression of the telephone
The antique Victrola got its start in the Edison labs here in New Jersey
The exhibits provide a deeper understanding of Clayton’s past, fostering an appreciation for the borough’s heritage.
A clipping from the Salem Oak in Salem, NJ is in the yard behind the museum
The Mission Statement of the Museum:
(From the Museum website)
• Acquire and preserve documents, records and relics of the Borough of Clayton, Gloucester County and the State of New Jersey
• Encourage the protection and preservation of the historical landmarks and points of interest
Furnish historical information and documentation to the Borough
• Partner with Clayton Special Events and neighboring Preservation Associations to exchange and display historical related information, documents and artifacts
The middle gallery of the museum’s extensive glassworks collection
Remember that the museum is only open from 11:00am-1:00pm the third Saturday of the month so plan your trip to museum accordingly.
The front of the library and museum in the Fall of 2025
The historic sign
I recently visited the Beach Haven Library and Museum in Beach Haven during the holiday season and discovered a historical library with a rich history in both the community and on Long Beach Island.
The museum on the second floor
On the second floor of the library is the history room of the Beach Haven Library that contains a collection of historic artifacts and ledgers from hotels and businesses on the island. Each of the case lines tells a different story of the community from the grand hotels that once lined the shore and have since disappeared to the lives of the families that once called the island home. When I talked with one of the librarians, she told me that estates from the area donate these items to the library and this has established their collection.
The second floor fireplace
The antique kitchen equipment
The second floor of the library has another fireplace where vintage pottery and kitchen items are on display. There are also decorative pieces of pottery lining the shelves.
Historic China inside the Emily Lloyd Wilson Secretarial desk. Her father designed the Baldwin Hotel in Beach Haven.
The historic ledger from the Parry Hotel
The library has another fireplace where extensive collection of hotel ledgers and artifacts.
Letters from Elizabeth Pharo proposing the Library in 1923
Short History of the Library:
(From the library pamphlet)
Mrs. Pharo presented to the library board a proposal to build the library entirely at her own expense. She contacted Philadelphia architect, R. Brognard Okie to design the library. He chose the model of a Pennsylvania Farmhouse. The library was completed in the Fall of 1924. The museum is now over a hundred years old.
The dedication to Elizabeth Pharo, who dedicated the museum.
The Long Beach Island House Guest Ledger and historic items from the historic Bond Hotel
The records of the past resort town Long Beach Island used to be with guests coming from New York City, Philadelphia and beyond.
Historic items from the Tuckerton & Long Beach Building Land and Improvement Association
The Engleside Hotel ledger and items from the hotel
The New Jersey Declaration towards the Declaration of Independence
Historic books and periodicals
The library has an interesting collection of vintage and antique books that have been donated to the collection.
Photo display on historic sites in Beach Haven and pictures of the original library
Some of the pictures are from the old library and the artifacts come from ships ground ashore. The library has a diverse collection of items to view.
The Compass from the historic shipwreck ‘Fortuna’ that wrecked off Ship Bottom in 1910 and historic boat
The second floor museum gallery holds the diverse collection of artifacts
The second floor of the 1928 building
The first floor of the library has all sorts of historical artifacts along the walls
The Holiday Kickoff in 2025:
I visited during the library’s Holiday Open House with games, trivia and activities. There was also live music in the afternoon. It was a way that the library gives back to the community. It was a nice family event with good food and nice conversation with people from the community.
The Holiday Open House
The fireplace was going when I was talking to the librarians
It was a very nice family event where patrons families could relax, have something to eat and play games with their children. The Liberians could not have been more friendly and engaging with the public.
The Children’s Room had a holiday challenge
The museum is a rare gem tucked not just on the second floor but along the shelves and tables of the entire historic library giving visitors a chance to see all these historic artifacts mixed in with the library book collection.
The History of the Beach Haven Library:
(from the library website)
Attempts to establish a library in Beach Haven had begun as early as the 1880’s with a gift of books for the town’s children by Dr. Edward Williams. Williams, along with Charles Parry of the Parry House and the Baldwin Hotel, was a partner in the Baldwin Locomotive Works. The library collection was first housed in the home of Samuel Copperthwaite on Engleside Avenue. It was later moved into one of the Sunday School rooms of the Kynett Methodist Church, which had been built in 1890.
After the old Quaker Meeting House was donated to the town by Walter Pharo, the Reverend Alexander Corson of the Methodist Church began work, with the help of his wife, to turn the former Meeting House into a viable library. By the time they left in 1908, it was well on its way.
In 1923, Walter’s widow, Elizabeth Pharo, presented the library’s board of trustees with a proposal to build, entirely at her own expense, a new library for the town. It would be sited two blocks away from the Methodist church on a corner lot which she owned at Third Street and Beach Avenue. The library would be dedicated to the memory of her husband’s parents, Archelaus Ridgway Pharo and Louisa Willits Pharo–the founders of Beach Haven–as well as to her late husband Walter.
Mrs. Pharo contracted R. Brognard Okie, one of Philadelphia’s finest architects, to design the new library. He chose as his model a Pennsylvania farmhouse–not an early lifesaving station, as some believed. Unlike a traditional farmhouse, however, it would be constructed entirely of brick and steel and include several stunning features: three working fireplaces, a vaulted ceiling, and an interior balcony encircling the first floor.
Tons of concrete were poured and steel girders for the new, two-story structure were already up by the spring of 1924 on the southeast corner of Beach Avenue at Third Street. Okie moved to Beach Haven to supervise every step of the construction, which was all done by local builder Floyd Cranmer. Ten railcar loads of bricks were used to build the solid outer walls and it was soon evident that the town was to have the finest library on the New Jersey coast.
As the library neared completion in the late fall of 1924, its beauty was already drawing praise. Every window in the structure was framed with long shutters of pale green, which gleamed against the white brick exterior. A sweeping, multi-dormered black roof added a grace seldom seen in a public building. Surrounded by a low, white picket fence and later, a well-kept green lawn, it added an incomparable dignity to what, in that time period, was the town’s main street, Beach Avenue.
There are two large colonial-style working fireplaces on the first floor. One is in the main room and the other is behind it in the long back room on the ocean side of the library. Today this room houses the Mystery collection and its solid, ten-foot table makes it useful as a meeting room. In the early years, however, it served a different function–it was designated as the men’s reading room, and there male patrons could sit in large comfortable chairs to read magazines and newspapers. It was well lit by two tall French windows and it opened out onto the screened porch on the north side.
The main reading room with its vaulted ceiling is encircled with a balcony reached by a spiral stone staircase, its steps topped with thick slabs of slate. The balcony flooring is of oak, as are all of the spindles in the railings. The upstairs walls are lined with books. One great window on the west side rises ten feet to the ceiling. The rest are all set into dormers. On the east wall behind the upstairs balcony there is a door where one may step down into a well-furnished little museum with high, beamed ceilings and a huge stone fireplace. It is filled with old hotel registers, deeds, diaries, photographs and other mementos of Beach Haven’s vibrant history.
The Beach Haven Public Library is a prime architectural treasure on Long Beach Island and a direct link to a colorful past that is the town’s most precious heritage. Mrs. Elizabeth Pharo’s gift to the town, itself now almost 100 years old, is as stunning as the day it was built. The taxpayers who support it are proud of its status as the only independent library in Ocean County and have chosen to keep it that way.
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.
