OCHS’s Victorian Era Holiday Open House On Saturday, December 3, 2022, the Ocean County Historical Society, 26 Hadley Ave., Toms River will be hosting a Victorian Era Holiday Open House from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Bring your camera to have pictures taken with a Victorian style Santa from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm. Take a tour of our holiday decorated Victorian Era house and museum and enjoy a model train exhibit. Admission is free, but donations are welcomed. Refreshments will be available at no charge. For additional information please call Jeff at 609-339-9134.  

Sunday, December 4th, 2022, at 2:00 pm - "The Lights Go Out in the Electric City: South Lakewood Park, An Exclusive Enclave for Socialites and Scientists, Reduced to Burning Embers and Forgotten by History," by Robert DeSando Please join the Ocean County Historical Society at 26 Hadley Avenue, Toms River, NJ for the following program: The subject of this talk is a forgotten "city" in New Jersey known alternately as South Lakewood Park and Electric City. During the late 19th Century, Lakewood NJ was a winter resort for the rich and famous, including John Rockefeller and Jay Gould. It had grand hotels that entertained the elite of New York and Philadelphia society. Led by a visionary scientist and inventor with a knack for getting entangled in scandals, investors from New York and Philadelphia proposed to build a lavish rival resort in the pines three miles away, on the border of Lakewood, Jackson, and Toms River. Their goal was two-fold: creation of a posh playground for the wealthy and a gathering place for inventors, scientists and engineers who were experts in power generation and electricity. Work was well underway. In the 1890s, a luxury hotel, The Casino was built, a 150-foot arc light [...]

The Ocean County Library will host Jamie Fiore Higgins, who will discuss and sign copies of her book, Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs.  Financial Times named Jamie one of its Top 25 Most Influential Women of 2022. In Bully Market, Jamie combines her sobering account of harassment and discrimination in corporate America with practical steps for improving workplace cultures and promoting an environment of inclusion and growth. The product of a working-class family, Jamie Fiore Higgins compiled an 18-year career in the New York headquarters of one of America’s largest finance companies, becoming a Managing Director and the highest-ranking woman in her department. In her dramatic account, she describes a workplace atmosphere fraught with abuse, which eventually affected her health, morale, and marriage before she worked up the courage to walk away and find ways to promote work positivity and equality. Books will be available for purchase by cash, check, credit card, and Apple Pay. Bully Market is also available for borrowing in hardcover, audiobook and eBook formats at the Ocean County Library.

Join the OCHS, at 26 Hadley Ave., Toms River, NJ as Arthur C. Liese presents the story of Bill Cranmer, an expert carpenter, home builder on LBI, and classic New Jersey Museum quality decoy carver. Mr. Cranmer was a well read, scholarly gentleman. Most importantly, he was a man of character, pride, and integrity. Arthur C. Liese is the President and Managing Director of the Sporting Gallery and Book Shop, Inc. Founded in 1933 in New York City, it is the oldest gallery of this unique specialty in this country. He is the leading expert on 20th Century American Sporting Art during the Golden Era of Sport (1927-1941). He is an appraiser and well published author and lecturer on this subject. To register for this free program, send your name, zip code, email address, and the date of the program (January 22, 2023) to oceancountyhistory.zoom@gmail.com.

Location – Ocean County Historical Society – 26 Hadley Ave., Toms River, NJ Sunday, February 5th at 2PM, “New Jersey's Lost Piney Culture,” by William J. Lewis Deep within the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the Piney people have built a vibrant culture and industry from working the natural landscape around them. Foraging skills learned from the local Lenapes were passed down through generations of Piney families who gathered many of the same wild floral products that became staples of the Philadelphia and New York dried flower markets. Important figures such as John Richardson have sought to lift the Pineys from rural poverty by recording and marketing their craftsmanship. As the state government fought between preserving the Pine Barrens and developing the region, Piney culture was frequently threatened and stigmatized. Author and advocate William J. Lewis charts the history of the Pineys, what being a Piney means today and their legacy among the beauty of the Pine Barrens. William J. Lewis is a lifetime resident of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, as were multiple generations of his family before him. He shares his Piney adventures on social media networks under “Piney Tribe.” He preaches exploration without exploitation and [...]