What a Gilded Age Shore Leaves Behind

What a Gilded Age Shore Leaves Behind

By the 1880s, the Central Railroad of New Jersey had turned a stretch of quiet fishing coves into the summer destination of choice for New York's industrial families. What they left behind is still standing — the brownstone lighthouse towers on Long Branch Island, the Shingle-Style chapel in Little Silver, the Dutch fieldstone farmhouse on Longstreet Road, and the 30,000-object archives in a Freehold clubhouse that holds it all together. This is a short guide to how the shore's Gilded Age was built, and the quiet institutions keeping it alive for the families who live here now.

The Rail Line That Built the Shore

• The Central Railroad of New Jersey's Long Branch branch opened in the 1870s, making a day trip from Manhattan to the shore practical for the first time
• The era's signature guest was President James Garfield, who arrived by rail and died at the family home on Long Beach Avenue in September 1881
• The grand summer hotels of that period — including the 1875 Hotel Brighton — anchored a social calendar that drew New York society to the shore through the early 1900s
• Elberon, Deal, and Allenhurst grew up along the same corridor, each keeping its own version of the Gilded Age story in boardwalks, architecture, and family names still in use today

The Families Whose Names Are Still Here

Longstreet

• The Longstreet family has been rooted in the area since the early 1700s; the farmstead on Longstreet Road in Holmdel still operates as a working historic farm with seasonal tours and orchard walks
• Longstreet Farm

Holmes

• The Holmes-Hendrickson House, built around 1754, is one of the oldest surviving Dutch-German vernacular farmhouses in New Jersey
• MCHA moved the house to 62 Longstreet Road in 1959, after Bell Labs purchased the original farm property; docent programs continue there today

Applegate and Conover

• The Applegate and Conover families were active in coastal development and civic life from the late 1800s through the early 1900s; family papers and letters in local archives document how the shore's built environment took shape
• Monmouth County Historical Association collections make these family papers available for research

Twin Lights: The Lighthouse That Put the Shore on the Map

• The Twin Lights on Long Branch Island were first lit in 1828; the current brick and sandstone complex dates to 1862
• In 1898, an on-site electric generator made the Twin Lights among the first lighthouses in the country with their own power — and at the time, the most powerful lights in the Atlantic region
• Today the site is a National Park Service stop where families can climb the towers and trace the sight lines that once guided ships into New York Harbor
• The Twin Lights Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) formed in Highlands in 1955, led the effort to save the landmark and still runs docent and volunteer programs

Church of the Presidents: A Chapel in the Making

• Consecrated in 1879 in Elberon, Long Branch, the chapel earned its popular name after a series of visiting presidents made the shore their summer destination
• Designed in the Shingle Style by the New York firm of Potter & Robertson, the building was saved from demolition in 1953 by local preservationists and re-dedicated in 1955 as the Long Branch Historical Museum
• Major renovation work — structural stabilization and restoration of the Carpenter Gothic interior and its stained glass — is underway, with reopening expected as a museum and educational center
• The project has been funded through a combination of state and federal preservation grants and local fundraising

Why it matters locally

These places are the physical argument that this shore was built, not by a single family or a single decade, but by a long succession of families who chose to stay, build, and pass things forward. For families in Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, and Sea Girt, that story is closer than most — it is the road they drive, the boardwalk they walk, the church on the corner of Ocean Ground. Knowing the sequence of hands that kept each place standing turns a drive-by landmark into a shared inheritance, and that is what stewardship actually looks like at the neighborhood scale.

How to get involved

• Visit the Holmes-Hendrickson House — 62 Longstreet Road, Holmdel; open Fri–Sun, May through September; admission $5 adults, $2.50 students, free for MCHA members and children under six. mcha.org
• Join the Monmouth County Historical Association — the association, founded in 1893, curates more than 30,000 artifacts and runs the Monmouth Moments lecture series; membership includes exhibition access and partner-site discounts. mcha.org
• Volunteer at Twin Lights — the Twin Lights Historical Society runs docent and grounds programs throughout the season. twinlightslighthouse.org
• Follow the Church of the Presidents renovation — public updates on the restoration and the planned museum reopening come through Long Branch's historical and municipal channels. longbranch.org
• Walk Longstreet Farm's seasonal programs — orchard walks and family tours run through the summer and fall. longstreetfarm.org

How Love of Humanity supports this work

Love of Humanity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, works alongside the Monmouth County Historical Association, the Twin Lights Historical Society, and the local preservation partners above to make this kind of heritage accessible to local families. We produce editorial, family-friendly content that connects the people and places of the shore to the institutions that steward them, and we look for co-branded opportunities — house tours, family field guides, and legacy-giving conversations — with the organizations doing the on-ground work. If your family has a legacy on this shore, the institutions listed here are where that story is already being kept.