A Building About to Be Lifted

On the Navesink River at 31 Union Street in Red Bank, a building that has stood since 1879 is about to be lifted out of the water — carefully, deliberately, and with more than two dollars of planning behind every piling it will land on. This autumn, the Monmouth Boat Club, one of the oldest yacht clubs on the American coast, begins a preservation project that is as much about a family's relationship to a place as it is about timber and steel. For the families of Rumson, Fair Haven, Little Silver, and the towns between, it is a rare, dated, and named moment to stand beside a century of waterfront civic life.

One Hundred and Forty-Seven Years on the Navesink

The Monmouth Boat Club was founded in 1879 as a rowing club, when paddle-wheel steamboats and packet ships still ran the busy trade between Red Bank and New York City and the oyster fishery was at its height. Its clubhouse, built in 1895 and expanded in 1929, is the only National Historic Register building left standing on Red Bank's original waterfront (Two River Times).

• Founded 1879; clubhouse built 1895, expanded 1929 (Monmouth Boat Club / monmouthtimeline.org).
• The oldest riverfront building on the Navesink, built on wood pilings sunk into the riverbed (Friends of Monmouth Boat Club).
• Stages member races every week of the season and hosts regional and national regattas (Monmouth Boat Club).

Why the project is now

The pilings have been slowly deteriorating for decades, and the building has begun to lean toward the river. In 2025, Preservation New Jersey named the club one of the state's Ten Most Endangered Historic Places, which focused the club's attention on a full foundation replacement rather than another round of patching.

A Lift, a New Foundation, and a Higher Line

The plan is to lift the entire historic building, move it about 50 to 60 feet within the club's own grounds, replace the failed foundation with modern piles, and return the structure to its location — roughly 18 inches to two feet higher for flood protection and improved access.

• The project is estimated at more than $2 million; the club is volunteer-run (Two River Times).
• The New Jersey Historic Trust approved a $750,000 grant in 2025 — the first grant the club has received in its 145 years, per Commodore Andrew Zangle (Two River Times; NJ Historic Trust).
• Bids went out in spring 2026; construction is anticipated to begin fall 2026 and run roughly six months through the winter, targeting completion by summer 2027 (Red Bank zoning record; Two River Times).

The role of the Friends

Members and community supporters formed the Friends of Monmouth Boat Club, a dedicated nonprofit whose entire purpose is to raise the remaining funds and steward the historic artifacts housed inside the building — so the club's civic life can continue while its foundation is rebuilt.

The Wider Waterfront: A Second Club's Ninth Decade

Red Bank's Navesink is not the only stretch of Monmouth coast where a family's summers were shaped by a boathouse. Down the coast in Oceanport, the Shrewsbury Sailing & Yacht Club is in its 90th year, and its junior program has been turning neighborhood kids into sailors since 1953.

• Founded in 1936 as the Shrewsbury Handicap Sailing Association; now 200-plus members in its 90th anniversary year (SSYC; Two River Times).
• The Junior Sailing Program, established 1953, has produced honorees statewide, regionally, and nationally; a dedicated junior building was built in 1985–86 (SSYC history).
• The club runs its own regattas, including a Laser-Sunfish Spring Regatta and Spring Series (SSYC).

A third institution worth knowing

Just across the river at 88 Riverside Avenue, the Molly Pitcher Inn has anchored Red Bank's social waterfront since 1928, named for the Revolutionary War figure of the nearby Battle of Monmouth — a reminder that this stretch of shore has hosted community life for well over a century.

Why it matters locally

When a 145-year-old club can be saved with a state grant, a dedicated friends-nonprofit, and a construction crew, it is proof that a place's value is not decided by a balance sheet alone. For Monmouth families, the Monmouth Boat Club's preservation is a concrete example of civic stewardship at work: a building, a river, and a tradition carried forward by the people who grew up in its shadow. It is the kind of institution that a family can point to and say, this is part of who we are — and it is still here.

How to get involved

• Support the preservation. The Friends of Monmouth Boat Club raise funds for the foundation rebuild and steward the club's historic artifacts. Donate@mbcfriends.org; mbcfriends.org.
• Sail with the club's youth. The Shrewsbury Sailing & Yacht Club's Junior Sailing Program has been running since 1953; registration opens in early spring. 732-229-9818 (in season); ssyc.us/jr_sailing.
• Host on the Navesink waterfront. The Molly Pitcher Inn has offered Red Bank's social waterfront since 1928. 732-747-2500; info@mollypitcher-oysterpoint.com; themollypitcher.com.
• Visit the club. Monmouth Boat Club, 31 Union Street, Red Bank — regattas and member racing run weekly through the season. monmouthtimeline.org (history).

How Love of Humanity supports this work

Love of Humanity is a peer 501(c)(3) in the same county. We don't run these clubs, but we build the quiet infrastructure around them: the co-branded family-education content that tells a building's story to the families who grew up in its shadow, the donor stewardship that connects shore households to the friends-nonprofits and scholarship programs that keep these institutions alive, and the long relationships that make patronage compound. Where the clubs hold the waterfront, we hold the narrative — the follow-through and the shared commitment that keeps a century of civic life legible to the next generation.

Support Love of Humanity: lovehumanity.charity/#donate · Stripe checkout

Board leader, foundation director, head of school, or family-office trustee reading this? We build co-branded family education with Monmouth institutions. partnerships@donatetoloveofhumanity.com

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