The Gilded Age Shore Still Keeps Its House Lights On

From the Long Branch Boardwalk to the Navesink River, the Shore Remembers Who Built It

Walk the Gilded Age shore and you will find the original houses still standing — the 1773 stone-and-brick home at Walnford, the Carpenter Gothic chapel that seven presidents visited in Long Branch, the lighthouse where the first Fresnel lens was tested in America, and the 1890s farm in Holmdel where interpreters still work the land in period dress. This fall, one of those landmarks is mid-renovation, and a county-wide society is tying the story together.

Monmouth County Historical Association — The County's Memory-Keepers

• Based in Freehold, the MCHA has stewarded Monmouth's historic properties since 1895, including Longstreet Farm and the Holmes-Hendrickson House in Holmdel.
• The Association operates the county's main history museum in Freehold, holding artifacts from the Gilded Age resort era.
• It also runs Historic Longstreet Farm, a National Register-listed living history farm open to the public year-round.
• Phone: (732) 462-1466.

Historic Walnford — From Industrial Village to Country Estate

• Set on the banks of Crosswicks Creek in Upper Freehold, Historic Walnford began in 1734 as a gristmill village and was bought in 1772 by Richard Waln, a Quaker import-export merchant from Philadelphia.
• Waln built his Georgian home in 1773 and named the community Walnford; his descendants farmed the property — at its peak about 1,300 acres — for nearly two centuries.
• The Mullen family donated the estate to Monmouth County in 1985; today the Monmouth County Park System runs it as an open-air living history museum.
• The Walnford Historic District, a 50-acre area of 16 contributing buildings, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Source: Historic Walnford · (609) 259-6275.

Church of the Presidents — Seven Presidents, One Mid-Renovation Chapel

• Consecrated in 1879 at 1260 Ocean Avenue in the Elberon section of Long Branch, the Carpenter Gothic St. James Episcopal Chapel served as the summer resort church for nearly 75 years.
• It is the only site in the United States associated with seven presidents — Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, and Wilson — who vacationed on the shore.
• Saved from demolition in 1955 by preservationists, it is now the Long Branch Historical Museum.
• As of April 2026, the church is undergoing a major structural renovation funded by state and federal grants, with plans to reopen to the public as a museum and educational center.
• Source: Long Branch municipal announcement · Church of the Presidents.

Twin Lights — Where America's First Fresnel Lens Was Tested

• Perched on the Navesink Highlands in Highlands, Twin Lights is the first American lighthouse to use a Fresnel lens, with two of the revolutionary lenses installed in 1841.
• The station was rebuilt in brick and sandstone in 1862 and became one of the first lighthouses in the country to power itself with electricity, in 1898.
• Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006, the site is owned and operated by the NJ Department of Environmental Protection.
• The volunteer-run Twin Lights Historical Society helps preserve the site; the North Tower still carries a private light.
• Phone: (732) 872-1814.

Longstreet Farm — The 1890s in Period Dress

• At 44 Longstreet Road in Holmdel, this National Register-listed farm is a working recreation of rural Monmouth life in the 1890s.
• Staff dress in period clothing and carry out the daily and seasonal work of the era — planting, harvesting, and tending livestock — while visitors watch for free.
• Open daily year-round, it sits on the same historic property as the Holmes-Hendrickson House, both stewarded by the Monmouth County Park System.
• Phone: (732) 946-3758.

Why it matters locally

For Monmouth families, these properties are not museum pieces behind glass; they are the physical record of how the shore became what it is — the mill village that turned into an estate, the chapel where presidents stepped off the train, the lighthouse that first proved a new kind of lens could guide a ship into harbor. They give a family a concrete place to point a grandchild and say, here is where it began, and they are sustained by the same kind of quiet, multi-generational support that holds up everything else on the shore.

How to get involved

• Join the Monmouth County Historical Association. Membership supports the county's history museum and its stewardship of Longstreet Farm and the Holmes-Hendrickson House. (732) 462-1466 · monmouthcountyparks.com
• Support the Twin Lights Historical Society. This volunteer nonprofit helps preserve the National Historic Landmark lighthouse in Highlands. twinlightslighthouse.org · (732) 872-1814
• Visit and give at Historic Walnford. The open-air living history museum in Upper Freehold welcomes docent volunteers and conservation gifts. (609) 259-6275 · monmouthcountyparks.com
• Follow the Church of the Presidents renovation. The Elberon chapel is mid-restoration as of 2026; the Long Branch Historical Association is leading the push to reopen it as a museum. longbranch.org
• Take a free day at Longstreet Farm. The 1890s living history farm in Holmdel is open to the public year-round and welcomes school-group and family visitors. (732) 946-3758

How Love of Humanity supports this work

Love of Humanity is a peer 501(c)(3) in Monmouth County — not a funder, not a competitor, but a connector. We read the institutional announcements, attend the public events, and translate them into plain-language briefings for families deciding where a gift or an afternoon belongs. If you are a donor, a family-office trustee, or a foundation director in Monmouth who wants a second set of eyes on a legacy-giving decision, we are happy to walk through the landscape with you. No fees, no obligation — just a conversation between two nonprofits that serve the same families.

This roundup is editorial. No fees were paid. Love of Humanity is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.