Tuckerton Seaport facts for kids
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| Established | May 2000 |
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| Location | 120 West Main Street (Route 9) Tuckerton, NJ 08087  United States |
| Type | Maritime museum |
The Tuckerton Seaport is a fun museum and village in Tuckerton, New Jersey. It's right on the Jersey Shore, in Ocean County. This special place covers 40 acres (about 16 hectares) and opened in May 2000. You can explore 17 old and new buildings connected by a boardwalk. There's also a nature trail through a forest and wetlands. The Seaport is part of a group of maritime museums. It celebrated its 10th birthday in 2010.
Contents
A Look Back: How the Seaport Started
The Tuckerton Seaport was built on land along Tuckerton Creek. This area was once a wooded spot. In 1989, there were plans for a motel and marina here.
In July 1993, the Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen's Museum opened nearby. This museum later announced a bigger plan. They wanted to build an 11-building village called the "Tuckerton Seaport." As they planned, the project grew even larger.
The Tuckerton Seaport officially opened on May 13, 2000. Over a thousand people came to the opening. The governor at the time, Christine Todd Whitman, was there. The wife of famous ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau also attended. The village had a "soft opening" a week earlier.
To handle new visitors, the roads around the museum were changed. A new traffic light was added. The cool nautical-style lampposts at the Seaport have a history too. They used to be at the Trump Marina in Atlantic City. They were moved to Tuckerton when that area was redeveloped.
You can even get a special New Jersey license plate called "Baymen's Heritage." It shows the Tucker's Island Lighthouse and a Canada goose decoy. These plates were first sold in 1998. The money from them helped build the Tuckerton Seaport. You can still buy them today.
In 2010, the New Jersey Surf Museum opened at the Seaport. It shows the history of surfing in New Jersey. It has over 300 surfboards on display. It is the only surfing museum in the state.
What You Can See: Exhibits and Buildings
The Tuckerton Seaport has many interesting exhibits and buildings to explore.
Main Exhibits
- Visitor Center/Gift Shop: This is where you can find information about the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve. On the third floor, the "Life on the Edge" exhibit teaches about the Barnegat Bay Estuary. Downstairs, the "Walk on the Wildside" exhibit shows the four habitats of the Jersey Shore. It has a large mural and taxidermied animals.
- New Jersey Surf Museum: This museum tells the story of surfing in New Jersey. You can see many rare and special surfboards here.
Historic Buildings and Recreations
Many buildings at the Seaport are either very old or are recreations of important historical structures.
- Tucker's Island Lighthouse: This lighthouse is a main attraction. It used to be on Tucker's Island. That island was a resort that was destroyed by a storm in the 1920s. The lighthouse is now at the museum's entrance.
- Skinner/Donnelly & Periwinkle Houseboats: These are two old houseboats that have been saved and are now at the museum.
- Joe Dayton's Sawmill: See how wood was cut and shaped in the past.
- Perrine Boatworks: This is a working boat shop. You can learn about how boats were built long ago. It shows old and new Barnegat Bay sneakboxes and garveys.
- Parson's Clam & Oyster House: This building is a recreation of an old seafood place called "Parson's Seafood."
- Jay C. Parker's Decoy Shop: This is a recreated workshop where people made decoys. Decoys are fake birds used to attract real birds for hunting.
- Crest Fishery: This is a smaller version of a fishing house from Long Beach Island (LBI). It shows how "pound fishing" worked in New Jersey. There's also an interactive fish market.
- Hotel DeCrab: This building shows what hotels were like when the Jersey Shore first became popular.
- Hunting Shanty: This building was the original home of the Barnegat Bay Decoy and Baymen's Museum. It was moved to the Seaport in 2000.
- Sunny Brae Salt Box: The oldest part of this house is from the early 1700s. It was rebuilt and added to in the 1960s. Today, it serves as the Tuckerton Borough mayor's office and a meeting hall.
- Sea Captain's House: This is a historic Victorian house built around 1835.
- Andrews-Barlett Homestead: This house was built around 1699. It was for one of the people who first settled the Tuckerton area. It is thought to be the oldest home in Ocean County.
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More to Explore
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Ocean County, New Jersey
- New Jersey Maritime Museum
