Ocean’s
The Eden Woolley House
The Township of Ocean Historical Museum
Ocean’s Heritage, Winter 2019
Heritage
Vol. 35, No. 1, Winter 2019
The Cow Barn near the Eden Woolley House is added to the Museum complex
The Museum now oversees six buildings
M
y grandmother warned that the reward for work well done is more work . . . .
It all started with a house In 1999, the Township approached the Museum—then housed in two rooms of the School Board Offices—to ask if we would take on the rehabilitation of an 18th century (in its oldest part) farmhouse being moved to parkland. Despite a modest membership and an annual budget that barely reached $5,000, we said “yes” to the more than $750,000 project. The house was moved in 2005. We raised money, managed contractors, recruited volunteers, populated three galleries, and opened the doors to the Eden Woolley House, the Museum’s new home, four years later (record time as such projects go).
Added playhouse and pool house In 2008, we relocated the Victorian Ryan playhouse to the Woolley House grounds. (It had been rescued and moved to the school board property years before.) In 2014, we took responsibility for the Pool House behind the Woolley House, cleaned and secured it, and now use it for storage. We
Museum member Joe Carey by the Cow Barn he’s worked tirelessly to rescue.
recently added a shed to the House grounds for additional storage.
The Tower loomed large All the time we were working on the House and ancillary buildings, the handsome nearby Tower on adjacent parkland loomed large. It once housed water pumping equipment for the farm that occupied the surrounding acres. It sat, visible from the Woolley House, exposed to the elements and wildlife, slowly rotting away. Even in its sorry state, it stood as a compelling symbol of Ocean’s rural past. Though weary from the House restoration, in 2011 we took the first steps to rescue the Tower. We secured grants from the 1772 Foundation and the Township. We replaced roofs, restored windows, added electric and security systems, The Cow Barn and Tower, October 2018. rebuilt the porch, fumigated, painted, cleared brush, and more. need to know about the Museum. The Tower is stabilized. It sits, gleamMember Joe Carey “adopted” the Cow ing white and secure for all to see. There’s Barn. “I couldn’t get that lonely structure more work to be done: heating and AC, off my mind,” Joe explains. “It was being igstairs, and interior finishing. Our vision nored and destroyed by the elements. I startis to open the Tower as an adjunct to the ed stopping by, pulling off a few vines. Soon Museum with a permanent display on the I was there most days—scraping, repairing, region’s farming history. taking stop-gap measures to stem the decay.” And finally, the Cow Barn Joe’s commitment drew supporters. In Just a few feet from the Tower sits a 2018, we talked to the Township and addsmall barn. As we started work on the Tow- ed the Cow Barn to our roster of buildings. er, it was barely visible through the vines Volunteers from the Eatontown Lions Club and brush that enveloped it. It, too, was a scraped and are returning to paint the extecharming reminder of our farming past. rior. We found grants to repair the roof. So tempting. But no! Our plate was We estimate another two years before already more than full. the Cow Barn opens to the public. But stay What happened next tells you all you tuned. We’re on a roll.
