The Story of the
Township of Ocean Historical Museum
Welcome to the Township of Ocean Historical Museum web site. The Museum occupies the historic Eden Woolley House, one of the few 18th-century homes surviving in Ocean Township. The house is an architectural gem and a 250+ year repository of local history. It was saved from destruction in 2005 and moved 1100 feet east to its present location in Joe Palaia Park.
In 1970 The Township of Ocean Historical Society was formed to advance public awareness of community history as well as to preserve artifacts and materials that give witness to that history. The Society met in the Public Library. By the early 1980s, there was a need for a permanent space to collect, display and promote an appreciation for the history of Ocean Township, Monmouth County, and the state of New Jersey.
In 1983 a group of interested citizens asked the Township of Ocean Board of Education for use of a classroom in the former Oakhurst School to start a community museum to preserve and exhibit artifacts, records, and photos of the area. The members of the Board agreed. In 1983 a Museum was established and a new organization was formed, merging the Historical Society into the Township of Ocean Historical Museum Association. The Museum was incorporated on April 25, 1984.
Locating the new Museum in the School attracted longtime residents and former students. They were inspired to dig out mementos to donate to the collection for exhibits. Visitors commented on the memories and stories the old photos and artifacts stirred up. During the next twenty-five years, the vision of a community museum became a reality, and several thousand people came to learn and recall New Jersey history. The organization grew, as did the hours the Museum was open to the public.
From its beginning in 1984, the Museum was founded and developed by interested volunteers who recognized a need and raised funds, constructed exhibits, and opened the facility to the public. Volunteers continue to support and maintain the Museum. Many of the founding members are still actively involved in the day to day operation of the Museum.
In 2001, the Mayor and the Township Council moved to save the historic Eden Woolley House on the corner of Deal Road and Route 35. The property developer of that time agreed to move the Woolley House to the Haupt/Terner tract that is the site of the public library on Deal Road, and in 2005 the Woolley House was moved 1,100 feet to the east. The Council asked the Museum to make its new headquarters in the Woolley House adjacent to the Library, to be used as a new, larger facility for the organization to expand its programs, projects, exhibits, and services.
Volunteers from the Museum began the historical restoration of the House, named after Eden Woolley, Ocean Township's gentleman farmer, surveyor, moneylender, and first elected committeeman. Museum personnel used qualified contractors for the restoration while some of the work was completed by skilled volunteers.
Grants, donations, fundraisers, Business Partnerships, and the 2008 Society -- the contributions of money and time by many businesses and individuals helped in the completion of this project. The historically restored structure was first opened to the public in December 2008.
The restoration was completed in April of 2009 and after moving the contents of the Museum from the old Oakhurst School to the Eden Woolley House, the Museum was officially opened to the public on July 5th, 2009. With that move, the Museum went from a membership of about 100 families, open one afternoon weekly, operating on less than $5,000 a year, to an organization responsible for the Eden Woolley House and four ancillary buildings, with (in 2024) a membership of 340 households and an annual operating expense budget of close to $34,000.
We remain an all-volunteer operation.
We are the stewards of five historical buildings:
The Eden Woolley House (home of the Township of Ocean Historical Museum). The Eden Woolley House is open to the public, free of charge. It houses three galleries offering exhibits that illustrate our regional history.
The adjacent Pool House, dating to the property’s history as a gentleman’s farm,
An early 20th century Play House rescued from demolition and moved from the property of a Township estate, furnished with vintage toys.
The nearby historic Water Tower and Cow Barn, both symbolizing Ocean’s farming past, also on parkland once part of the gentleman’s farm acreage now also occupied by the Museum.