Hand-drawn 1849 map to be unveiled

Hand-drawn 1849 map to be unveiled

Wine and Cheese Open House, 7 p.m., Friday, June 21 at the Eden Woolley House

A Historical Society (SHS) brought a happy surprise. They had a gift for us: a copy of a map of Shrewsbury, hand drawn in January 1849—mostly likely created to outline the boundaries of the new municipality, the Township of Ocean, scheduled to split from Shrewsbury a month later.

They have given us both a digital and a full-size paper copy of the original, now framed and ready to be unveiled to the public at a wine and cheese open house at the Woolley House, 7 p.m., Friday, June 21.

The discovery and restoration

SHS volunteers discovered the original several years ago while searching through a closet at the Shrewsbury Historical Society Museum (419 Sycamore Ave.). After agreeing to fund the map’s conservation and receiving a grant from the Monmouth County Historical Commission, the SHS entrusted the rare document to the famed Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts in Philadelphia. More than a year later, it was fully restored, framed, and on display at the Shrewsbury Museum in time for this past “Weekend in Old Monmouth,” May 4 and 5.

The history In all likelihood the map was drawn by Benjamin W. Corlies, an Eatontown surveyor, whose initials “BWC” appear below its scale indicator. Corlies annotated the document with hand-drawn images of houses, churches, and waterways.

It was from the Shrewsbury shown on the map that the Township of Ocean, by act of the NJ Legislature, February 21, 1849, withdrew, taking with it all the land from Sea Bright south to the Manasquan inlet.

Join us

Come to the Woolley House, 7 p.m., Friday, June 21. Join us in raising a glass to the Shrewsbury Historical Society for its gift and to the Township on its 170 anniversary year.