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    US Life Saving Station - Historic Ocean City Life Saving Station

    US Life Saving Station

    3.5(2 reviews)
    6.6 mi

    If you're at the shore and want to take a short break from all the sun and surf and other…read moreactivities, how about indulging in a little history. The historic life saving station in the north end of Ocean City is a pleasant journey into a bit of maritime history. You can still see some of the old life boats which were used in rescue attempts of people imperiled in and on the sea. The original kitchen and bedrooms are still here which were used by the men and women who worked at this facility and saved many a life over the years. Interesting enough - at one time this life saving station was directly on the beach and ocean but the years have shifted the sands and now it is a very long block inland from the water. Worth a visit if you are in the area.

    This Ocean City station was called Beazeley's Station until 1883. Rebuilt in 1885-1886, it is the…read moreonly U.S. Life Saving Service station left in New Jersey that was rebuilt according to the Service's distinctive 1882-type design. This design is both stunning architecturally, with its gabled roof and lookout tower, and highly effective in the use of space to house both boats and surfmen. In 1905-06, the station was expanded to add a boat bay, a wrap-around porch, and other improvements. The footprint of the building was doubled, and the structure is the only surviving 1882-type station to be expanded according to the historic New Jersey Pattern. In 1915, the U.S. Coast Guard absorbed the U.S. Life Saving Service and assumed control of the Ocean City Station. It is the last of the three stations that were located on the island. The others were the Peck's Beach and Corson's Inlet Stations. The Station passed into private hands in 1945 until the city purchased it in 2010. The house changed hands several times during those sixty plus years with a very scary period in the 90's where the home left the hands of private homeowners and was bought by a developer, Pansini Custom Design, who wanted to subdivide (aka knock the original structure down) the property in order to build three duplexes. A group who called themselves Save Our Station Coalition was formed to keep the life saving station from being demolished and finally after several years of rangling over price the home was purchased in 2010 for 958K after the developer initially in 2005 wanted over $2 million. Although the group's website is very spartan and their Facebook page has not been updated in a year, everything continues to move forward with the home currently being jacked up so that work can be done on the foundation. Once that is completed, contracts are in place for everything in the interior to be furnished and completed along with the roof, porches, siding and paint to accurately reflect what the building looked like in 1905. While it may not look like much now, when completed this will be the only Life Saving Station in the country that will be 100% period accurate. Three stars for now but I'm sure five will be on the way when everything is completed next year.

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    US Life Saving Station
    US Life Saving Station - Office & bedroom

    Office & bedroom

    US Life Saving Station - One of the original life boats

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    One of the original life boats

    Marthas Furnace - walk, anyone?

    Marthas Furnace

    5.0(1 review)
    38.1 mi

    This is a rather special Yelp. Its not for a restaurant or hotel or cafe or salon. Its for a ghost…read moretown. Yep. In New Jersey. In the Pine Barrens. Scared? No need to be. Its a superb day trip--a place unlike any other. You wont find tourists here; or probably any other living soul for miles around. Its just not that well-known enough. Its not an excursion accompanied by a lot of tourist-board support, advertising, or fanfare. There are no audioguides, no pamphlets, no maps. There's also no fees, gates, ticket-stands, trinkets, permits, or clerks. You can just park on the shoulder of the expressway, and mosey right in off the roadside. Its just a tract of deserted woodland. Its a part of New Jersey only a few people ever have reason to explore; its for the imaginative and intrepid. In the course of a year, the site probably only gets a couple photographers, an artist or two, or perhaps an author once in a while. Some 4WD-nuts pass by occasionally. [And this Yelp won't change that--even if I told you about great dining here, this place will always be forlorn and neglected.] Its the location of a vanished Piney town which sprang up in the 1800s around an iron-smelting furnace; and which has now almost completely disappeared from above-ground. Iron? There were iron mines in New Jersey? Not exactly. Its a strange chemical process, organically-occurring, whereby it forms in the swamps and bogs around here. You'll notice all the water is naturally 'tea'-colored. But all the left-behind equipment and abandoned buildings are now, just as if they never were. You might only notice some strange shapes --hummocks, berms--in the terrain and that's about it. This is where your imagination comes to the fore. You're strolling around on top of a village. Chalk one up for NATURE! If it doesn't grab your fancy, then..no matter--just wandering around in the Pine Barrens is in itself, ethereal and stupefying. Take care not to get lost; because the trees have an eerie manner of all looking exactly the same. A few unmindful steps can get you turned around. The Pine Barrens are just a fabulous and unique environment. People love to discredit the Garden State without ever having heard of forests like this. To try to explain: the soil is flat, level, and sandy and without underbrush--covered only with a carpet of pine needles. Thus, with the trees racing up so tall and straight--like columns in a church--and also branching so high; the effect is quite cathedral-like. Sun slants through as if coming through high windows. And its uncannily quiet. Like a big empty room. Just the coolest. Bring boots (its occasionally muddy) and a survival knife *just in case* of feral dogs. I recommend this excursion to all the Yelpers who like to make a fuss over their daring and adventurous, active lifestyles. You're not impressing me with your tour-guide led whitewater rafting adventures. Try exploring the Pine Barrens. .

    Photos
    Marthas Furnace - And when he crossed the bridge, the phantoms rose to meet him..

    And when he crossed the bridge, the phantoms rose to meet him..

    Marthas Furnace - Burr

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    Burr

    The Shoemaker Holly - landmarks - Updated May 2026

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