Boro of Lakehurst Historical Society Museum
300 Center Street
Lakehurst, NJ 08733
(732) 657-8864
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:
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.
