Lake Lenape and the Great Egg Harbor River
Throughout the Revolutionary War and the 1800s, four-masted schooners were built at the bulkhead of Lake Lenape and the Great Egg Harbor River.
Though it was a long sail from Atlantic up to Mays Landing, ships loaded and unloaded their goods. Wooden schooners and sloops were the prime way of moving products. This also involved horses and buggies to cities like Philadelphia and New York.
Mays Landing was named for Captain George May, who sailed the waters in 1740, and later purchased land.
Trails were cut by the Lenni Lenape, of course, who ventured most everywhere along the Jersey waters long before early settlers decided to stake their claim. The sounds of ship-building and glassmaking were almost deafening as logs were cut and molded into parts of great ships.
Lake Lenape today
Lake Lenape Park is almost 2,000 acres, “offering many opportunities for adventure and enjoyment” according to an Atlantic County brochure.
Off-season the park is quiet: a beaver runs across a private road to cabins for camping, his tail flopping behind him; squirrels playfully jump from tree to tree, while birds chirp away just a few days from the start of spring. Bald eagles are often seen looking down from tall oaks.
The 344-acre lake is smooth as glass, not a boat on the water. There is activity during the summer months on both sides of the lake.
Off-season hikers and dog walkers mainly occupy the areas.
Lake Lenape West has 35 campsites, most with waterfront views. Two-trunk trees are everywhere. Indian landmarks?
Boat clubs for rowing also occupy the docks and their sculls are on trailers near the boathouse and facilities they share with others who launch motorboats, kayaks, canoes and sailboats.
Fishing is popular, with the Annual Lake Lenape Bass of the Year Contest and other tournaments.
There is a Great Egg Harbor River Fishway Restoration Project in progress. Three of the types to be helped are alewife, white perch and striped bass.
The lighthouse on Lake Lenape East
The lighthouse on Lake Lenape East is not an actual working lighthouse; but has memories from many visitors and residents who remember it in good condition and the backdrop for many proud occasions.
In 1939, all of Lake Lenape was owned by the Leiling family who decided they wanted to attract attention to the lake for development and recreation. Herman Dehn, Sr. was hired to build the lighthouse on an island abutting Lake Lenape East. The foundation is concrete and sand. Dehn built the lighthouse himself with the help of some local children. The interior, which is five stories high with a typical lighthouse spiraling stair, took four more years to construct.
For years hymns played while the Leilings owned the lake, naming the lighthouse the “Singing Tower.”
In the 1960s, Winnie and Ed Young purchased the park next to the lighthouse. Local residents complained about the hymns, and the lighthouse was left quiet. They have built and kept up first-class facilities for swimming at an adjacent beach, a clubhouse for parties, pickleball courts and a playground for children.
Sadly, they decided not to touch the lighthouse because of history and nostalgia. Viewed close up, it is in deplorable condition. A now almost defunct Save the Lighthouse group wrote:
“Images of the Lighthouse can be seen on Municipal, County, and commercial publications.
The Lighthouse has been the backdrop of thousands of church picnics, and reminders of people and small businesses who enjoy recreational facilities.
The Lighthouse is a point of reference for boaters who use the landmark for high school rowing regattas, and couples who are married there.”
Back to ship-building and industry
One can only imagine the difference between the Great Egg Harbor River today and Lake Lenape today to the noise of ship-building and industry of the 1800s.
Starting as a crossroad between Philadelphia and Tuckerton, before Atlantic City was developed as the World’s Largest Playground, Mays Landing became a popular place to live after it became the Atlantic County seat in 1837.
Built along creeks and landing, large ships were floated out to Great Egg Harbor Bay.
Well-remembered names such as George Wheaton, Samuel Gaskill, the VanZant family, James and John Clark, George May and Nicholas Lane were a few of the sailing shipbuilders. Half of Atlantic County’s large ship-building industry was at Mays Landing.
After 1885, only ship hulls were constructed at Mays Landing; they were towed to Philadelphia to be rigged. Iron products had filled ships’ cargo holds for a century, along with products from local glass and iron furnaces.
Building Mays Landing
A large cotton mill was built in 1865, known as the Mays Landing Water Power Company.
The architecture fits the economics of the people who lived there, from politicians and attorneys to mill workers and tradesman. There were bungalows, cottages, Victorian homes, Second Empire style and Greek Revival.
Hotels sprung up for travelers, vacationers and those doing county business.
Richard Westcott built the Mays Landing Hotel, one of the largest buildings in town, which is still standing.
Methodists built the first church in town, which was destroyed by fire in 1877 and rebuilt.
A graveyard - the Westcott Free Burying Ground – is between the Presbyterian and Methodist churches: Daniel Frazier, a Revolutionary War veteran who died in 1791, was one of the first to be buried there.
The railroad came to Mays Landing in 1865. At first it was a stop on the way
to Atlantic City, but by 1880 the town was a destination itself.
The three-story brick cotton mill was the largest employer in town, eventually becoming part of Wheaton Industries.
Two schools, a water works, and the Memorial Park were built.
Sugar Hill
William Moore was manager of the nearby Weymouth Furnace.
He was an entrepreneur, adding land and other investments. His threestory home was built high on a bluff called Sugar Hill, surrounded by an iron fence and adorned with elaborate gingerbread trim.
In addition, he was a politician. His office and the home of his son are still standing.
Sugar Hill got its name from ships which unloaded molasses, sugar and rum from Cuba. These perishable stores were placed in the basement of William Moore’s home until they could be safely transported to Philadelphia.
Sugar Hill became a lookout while privateers attacked British ships and other ships were built.
George Wheaton built a hundred sloops across the water from Sugar Hill.
Captain Samuel Snell was called “The Hero at Sugar Hill” for capturing 19 British ships and selling their cargo at the headwaters near Sugar Hill.
Becoming a senator, William Moore owned over 50 sailing vessels along the Atlantic Coast.
Later Sugar Hill became a general store and inn owned by the Abbott family. There was a rumor that treasure was buried on the property. To the perplexity of Mr. Abbott, holes were dug on the estate for years by drunken patrons looking for quick wealth.
Over time, articles from the New Jersey Maritime Museum, located at 528 Dock Road in Beach Haven, have featured many New Jersey towns. Some were important and now ghost towns; others are bigger and better. If you have missed Mays Landing, now is the time to visit this well-kept and diverse town.