Celebrating 60: Bayshore Waterfront Park

The Park System realized a long-term goal to establish a County park on Sandy Hook Bay when it acquired eight acres in Port Monmouth from the Conservation Fund in 1988. Since then, the Park System has consolidated 90 lots into Bayshore Waterfront Park, Port Monmouth, preserving a valuable coastal landscape from intense bayshore development and providing almost a mile of public access along the bay. 

Settlers established Shoal Harbor, the historical name of the Port Monmouth area, in the late 17th century. The Seabrook-Wilson House, one of the oldest houses on the Bayshore and a local landmark rich in community and maritime history, became part of the park in 1998 in a land transfer with Middletown Township. Daniel Seabrook acquired 202 acres on the Bayshore in 1696, and his son or grandson built the oldest section of the house in the early 1700s. After five generations as a Seabrook family farm, William V. Wilson purchased the farm in 1855 and lived there with his family until the turn of the century. Several owners operated the house as an inn during the 20th century under names like the Bay Side Manor and the White House Tavern. 

Seabrook-Wilson House

By the late 1960s, the house had become dilapidated and vacant. At the urging of local residents concerned about its preservation, Middletown Township acquired the property in 1969, and a local historical association operated it as the Spy House Museum. The Park System acquired the building from Middletown Township in 1998 and it was restored in 2009. The building is now used for Park System programs, with exhibits on the history and ecology of the Bayshore. The park also includes a fishing pier, a favorite of local fishermen, and attracts kayakers, windsurfers, birders, beachcombers and other visitors who enjoy the spectacular bay views.

Bayshore Waterfront Park contains the largest intact estuarine marshes in Sandy Hook Bay and includes coastal wetland, deciduous maritime shrublands, and two tidal creeks, Compton’s Creek and Pews Creek, which drain small upland watersheds. The plant community in these estuaries is highly influenced by the level of salinity in different areas. Smooth cordgrass adapted to higher salt concentrations dominates the low salt marsh, which receives regular inundation of tidal water. Saltmeadow cordgrass adapted to lower salinity dominates the high salt marsh, which receives an occasional inundation. 

Meandering tidal creeks like these pulse with the tides in and out of the estuary, carrying nutrients and multitudes of marine organisms that interact with the grasses. Channels dug in the mid-20th century to expose mosquito populations to fish predators have increased the efficiency of the flow, but they have also reduced shallow pooled areas, called pans, that support species like sea lavender and glasswort and provide feeding areas for many bird species. Some undisturbed meandering channels can still be detected, and as the old linear channels gradually fill in, the meanders and pools are beginning to return. 

American Oystercatchers

Estuaries such as these at Bayshore Waterfront Park are some of the most productive ecosystems on earth. With each tide, life is flushed in and out of these rich landscapes. Many notable species such as northern harrier, great blue and yellow-crowned night heron, American oystercatcher, black skimmer, and osprey feed and nest in this landscape. The marsh is filled with fiddler crabs, ribbed mussels, pulmonate snails, and dozens of other species that support the marine ecology of Sandy Hook Bay and beyond.

We hope you'll add Bayshore Waterfront Park to your list of places to visit soon. You'll love relaxing on the shore or taking photos of the gorgeous New York City skyline. Be sure to visit our website to learn about upcoming drop-in programs happening this September. 

This post comes from The Monmouth County Park System: The First Fifty Years, written by Clifford W. Zink and published and funded by the Friends of the Monmouth County Park System in 2010. 

Check out the book in its entirety by clicking here.