Pirates, Lighthouses and Boardwalks: The History of the Jersey Shore

Home is where the heart is, and for many of us, our tickers beat along with the waves of the Jersey coast. Did you know that the land we love was once dubbed “worthless” and sold for a mere 4 cents an acre? Author, photographer and speaker Kevin Woyce revealed that and many other fun facts and stories at an event at the in Rumson.

Woyce opened his “History of the Jersey Shore” presentation with the story of William Kidd, a New York ship captain who was hired to hunt pirates in the late 1600s. 

“There really were pirates of the Caribbean back then,” said Woyce.

Ironically, Captain Kidd turned the tides and was arrested for piracy in Boston in 1699. It was rumored that he had buried his treasure along the Jersey Shore.

“For the treasure hunters out there, the good news is nobody has found it yet,” said Woyce. “The bad news is that it may not have existed at all, as Captain Kidd constantly denied it.”

The Jersey Shore was often called “the graveyard of the Atlantic,” referring to the slew of shipwrecks along the coastline. The Barnegat Pirates were known to intentionally cause shipwrecks by using lanterns that sailors would confuse as fellow ships signaling safe waters. The pirates would then loot ships once they wrecked ashore. Locals dubbed “wreckers” followed suit into the 20th century and would sell shipwreck finds at auctions. In the 1700s, the issue of shipwrecking was addressed by the creation of lighthouses.

“Lighthouses would show where the shore was, mark dangerous spots and lead to safe harbors,” said Woyce.

The Sandy Hook lighthouse is America’s oldest lighthouse and was designed and built in 1764 by Isaac Conro. Only a few miles away stand the Twin Lights of Atlantic Highlands, which were paired together to distinguish them from Sandy Hook’s single light.

“Despite their name, the lights are not twins,” said Woyce. “One tower is square and the other octagonal.”

The Jersey Shore’s two other original lighthouses are in Cape May and Absecon.  The Absecon lighthouse stands at 169 feet tall, making it the tallest lighthouse in New Jersey and third tallest in the United States. George Gordon Meade designed the Absecon lighthouse in 1857.

“You may know him as the Union General who won the Battle of Gettysburg a few years later in 1863,” said Woyce.

In the late 1800s, the Jersey Shore became the “Summer Capital” of the nation. First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln favored Long Branch as her summer destination, and President Ulysses S. Grant later followed suit.

“Grant made Long Branch his summer home for the rest of his life,” said Woyce. “He liked to play cards, drive carriages along the beach and see horse races at Monmouth Park.”

The United States Hotel in Atlantic City was the first hotel in America, priced at $3.00 per night including meals. As more hotels continued to pop up, people flocked to the shore and often tracked it back into the lobbies with them. To solve this sandy problem, the first seasonal wooden boardwalk was built in 1870. While it was used in the summer and stored in the winter, Atlantic City’s first permanent boardwalk was built in 1884.

Woyce’s presentation also included the origins of the United States Coast Guard, Atlantic City’s famous wooden elephant and the founding of Asbury Park. When asked how his interest in Jersey Shore history came about, Woyce reminisced about summers spent with his grandfather in and around Tuckerton.

“As you go from town to town, you notice they’re all different, and I wondered why,” said Woyce. “Through my research, I found that anything that’s left from the past is here because someone decided it was worth saving.”

What is worth saving is also worth sharing, and Woyce’s informative and entertaining storytelling was enjoyed by all attendees. Woyce will return to the Oceanic Free Library on Thursday, June 16 to present the history of the Statue of Libery, Ellis Island and Liberty State Park. For more information on his programs and books, visit kevinwoyce.com.