Dick LaBonté Anchor & Palette Gallery

First Clubhouse

An excerpt from "100 Years at the Head of the Bay" this portion written by Henry M Rose II: In the fall of 1888 a handful of residents of Bay Head agreed that it would be productive to start a sailing club "to promote yachting and rowing and to foster athletic sports upon the water, and to promote the general prosperity of Bay Head." Funds were raised to build the first clubhouse by selling bonds to the members. By the spring of 1889 Wcykoff M. Applegate had built the first clubhouse for $375, of which he contributed $25 himself. The purpose of the first clubhouse was simple and basic: to provide a place where members could change their wet clothing after a sail and respond to the call of nature... It was erected on pilings at the ends of the marsh at the north end of Barnegat Bay. To its west was the Morton Johnson boat works on the banks of the West Lake Avenue waterway that ran from the Bay to Meadow Street. To the east, Capt. George Loveland used the shore to store boats, and a year or two later he buit a dock where he rented catboats during the summer. In LaBonte's painting you can see the life saving station in the distance, the train as it traveled north from Seaside, and a bustle of boating activity at the new club house.

Image size: 6x11.

A small print of this is available in gallery stores only. It is an offset print and sells for $35. Click here for a list of galleries where this print can be purchased.


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