Events

Holiday Open House

Don’t miss our annual Victorian Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 3, from 10:00 – 3:00. Meet and take pictures with a Victorian era Santa from 11:00 – 1:00, tour our holiday decorated house and museum, have some refreshments, and enjoy a model train exhibit. Admission is free! For additional information, please call Jeff at 609-339-9134.

The Lights Go Out in the Electric City: South Lakewood Park, An Exclusive Enclave for Socialites and Scientists, Reduced to Burning Embers and Forgotten by History

The subject of this talk by Robert A. DeSando is a forgotten “city” in New Jersey known alternately as South Lakewood Park and Electric City. During the late 19th century, Lakewood was a winter resort for the rich and famous, including John Rockefeller and Jay Gould. It had grand hotels that entertained the elite of New York and Philadelphia society. Led by a visionary scientist and inventor with a knack for getting entangled in scandals, investors from New York and Philadelphia proposed to build a lavish rival resort in the pines three miles away from Toms River.

Their goal was two fold: creation of a posh playground for the wealthy and a gathering place for inventors, scientists and engineers who were experts in power generation and electricity. Work was well underway. In the 1890s a luxury hotel was built, a 150-foot arc light tower was installed to bathe the new community with “artificial moonlight” at night, a number of homes were constructed, and roads and a new railroad station were provided. Then, as success seemed assured, a series of catastrophes struck. By 1905, the community vanished. Today, most people – even those living in the area – do not know South Lakewood Park or The Electric City ever existed.

Robert A. DeSando is the author of the book The Lights Go Out in the Electric City: South Lakewood Park, An Exclusive Enclave for Socialites and Scientists, Reduced to Burning Embers and Forgotten by History, published by the Ocean County Historical Society. He has been a journalist, lobbyist and state official. Now retired, he is active as a member of the Ocean County and Lakewood historical societies.

To register for this free, in-person program, please send your name, zip code, email address, and the date of the program to oceancountyhistory.zoom@gmail.com.

Victorian Holiday Tea

Celebrate the Holidays with a Victorian Holiday Tea! Back by popular demand, our Holiday Tea will be offered to those wishing to visit the beautifully decorated Mathis House Tearoom at 600 Main Street in Toms River. Guests may look forward to the ever-delicious scones, yummy tea sandwiches, and scrumptious mini-desserts that accompany generous pots of fine tea as they chat with friends in the historical elegance of this stately home. As usual, a few lucky guests will win door prizes. Seating is at 11:00 A.M. The cost is $40 for members and $45 for non-members.

Be sure to make your reservation by calling 732-286-3693. Checks should be made out and mailed to Ocean County Historical Society, 26 Hadley Avenue, Toms River, NJ 08753 within one week of phone reservation, with Attention: Deb in the bottom left-hand corner of the envelope.

Bill Cranmer: Gentleman, Craftsman, Scholar, and Decoy Carver

Please join the Ocean County Historical Society in welcoming Arthur C. Liese, who will present the story of Bill Cranmer, a master carpenter, home builder on LBI, and classic New Jersey museum quality decoy carver. Mr. Cranmer was a well read, scholarly gentleman. Most importantly, he was a man of character, pride, and integrity.

Arthur C. Liese is the President and Managing Director of the Sporting Gallery and Book Shop, Inc. Founded in 1933 in New York City, it is the oldest gallery of this unique specialty in this country. He is the leading expert on 20th Century American Sporting Art during the Golden Era of Sport (1927-1941). He is an appraiser and well published author and lecturer on this subject.

To register for this free program, send your name, zip code, email address, and the date of the program (September 11) to oceancountyhistory.zoom@gmail.com.

New Jersey's Lost Piney Culture

Deep within the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the Piney people have built a vibrant culture and industry from working the natural landscape around them. Foraging skills learned from the local Lenapes were passed down through generations of Piney families who gathered many of the same wild floral products that became staples of the Philadelphia and New York dried flower markets. Important figures such as John Richardson have sought to lift the Pineys from rural poverty by recording and marketing their craftsmanship. As the state government sought to preserve the Pine Barrens and develop the region, Piney culture was frequently threatened and stigmatized. Author and advocate William J. Lewis charts the history of the Pineys, what being a Piney means today and their legacy among the beauty of the Pine Barrens.

William J. Lewis is a lifetime resident of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, as were multiple generations of his family before him. He shares his Piney adventures on social media networks under “Piney Tribe”. He preaches exploration without exploitation and to teach our children to be tomorrow’s environmental stewards. After proudly serving as a U.S. Marine, William went on to graduate from Rider University. He founded an environmental nonprofit to get kids outdoors and has served in leadership roles for both governmental and New Jersey nonprofit organizations. His travel mileage stretches across the globe from many locations in the United States to the Horn of Africa, which has helped in enriching his perspective of our New Jersey Pine Barrens.

To register for this free program, send your name, zip code, email address, and the date of the program to oceancountyhistory.zoom@gmail.com.

Hello Girls Get the Message Through

Join Monmouth University Professor and former US Army Fort Monmouth Command Historian Melissa Ziobro for a talk on how the US Army Signal Corps employed women as telephone switchboard operators during WWI. The “Hello Girls” worked long hours to ensure battlefield communications. Their Chief Operator, Grace Banker, hailed from NJ. After the war, the women fought for veteran status, and they are being considered for a Congressional Gold Medal today.

Melissa Ziobro is the Specialist Professor of Public History in the Monmouth University Department of History and Anthropology and the primary point of contact for the University’s public history minor. She is the current President of Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region, and has served for many years as the editor for New Jersey Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, a joint venture of the NJ Historical Commission, Rutgers University Libraries, and Monmouth University. She is a trustee of the NJ Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation, the Ocean County Historical Society, the Monmouth County Historical Association, the InfoAge Science and History Museums at the Camp Evans National Historic Landmark, and Preservation NJ, and works regularly with other public history organizations throughout the state.

To register for this free program, send your name, zip code, email address, and the date of the program to oceancountyhistory.zoom@gmail.com.