Bayshore Heritage Byway

The East Point Light House (1849) is surrounded by the wetlands of the Heislerville Wildlife Management Area at the confluence of the National Wild and Scenic Maurice River and Delaware Bay. This iconic two story building, with white limed bricked walls and red roof, houses a 48’ high beacon.

Since Native American times, oysters have been a regional staple and important harvest from the Delaware Bayshore. Oyster species are unique to their region; NJ Delaware Bay oysters are a prized delicacy.

The Delaware Estuary is the second largest estuary on the east coast of NJ. It is an important fishery, entrance to the port of Wilmington and Philadelphia, and internationally recognized critical habitat for a vast number of species.

The beachfront from Fortescue to the Cape May Canal, NJ is lined with what are referred to as “shorebird beaches.” Each May thousands of shorebirds make a stop-over in Delaware Bay on their northbound journey to Arctic nesting grounds. This phenomenon occurs in conjunction with the horseshoe crab spawn, whose eggs fuel the birds’ massive journey from Tierra del Feugo to the Arctic.

Market Street Historic District is represented by many different period styles of architecture as seen in these two detached homes.

The Salem County Historic Society Headquarters is one of many 1700 and 1800 buildings found along the streets of Salem City Historic District.

A typical 1700s kitchen includes an open hearth and many tools that you would not find in a modern-day home.

The Finn’s Point National Cemetery was first established as a military cemetery during the Civil War and contains the graves of 2,436 Confederate soldiers. It is still in use today.

The Battery Harker’s watch towers collectively make an earthen mound that give park visitors a great view of the river and park. Built in 1903 the towers were used to aim 10” guns towards the Delaware River.

The Guard House sits next to a moat and earthen hill paralleling each other and the batteries that once had mounted guns. The Guard House used as the Park Office, is connected to the concrete battery by a treelined street.

The Hancock House’s furnishings give insight into colonial life at a time when the US struggled for independence from British rule.

The Hancock House is an excellent example of brick patterning used by the Quaker settlers in the Salem County area. This west gable end has a distinctive herringbone pattern and the owner’s initials.

The front façade of the Hancock House (1734) is an example of Flemish Bond using alternation of lengthwise bricks called stretchers and glazed end bricks called headers. Quakers built these homes in the tradition of their English homeland. The homes were statements of permanence and prestige.

A short trail allows access to the Bay and bayfront at the Bayside/Caviar Tract Preservation Site.

Today a Bayshore view is all that remains of the bustling industry for processing caviar. This site was named Caviar in the 1800s. It had a processing plant and its own railroad spur for shipping the delicacy to New York City.

The vast wetlands of PSEG’s wetland restoration site were created to mitigate the loss of fish at the nuclear generating stations. Its endless view enables one to contemplate what was once a thriving Bayshore community called Caviar that shipped its sturgeon roe to markets until overfishing caused the collapse of fishery in the early 1900s.

John DuBois Maritime Museum, a former Presbyterian Church Hall constructed in 1852, displays a varied collection of artifacts relating to the area’s maritime past and present.

A monument commemorates the site where a group of American townsmen burned tea on December 22, 1774 in protest of British taxation. It is one of nine sites in the US where American Revolutionaries protested by burning tea.

The Gibbon House, maintained by the Cumberland County Historical Society as an example of an early patterned-brick building, is open to the public as a museum.

The Nail House, once the administrative office for the Cumberland Nail & Iron Works, was restored for use by the Center for Historic American Building Arts. It is one of two buildings surviving from the 19th century industrial complex.

Bridgeton’s City Park typifies the natural and historic intrinsic qualities highlighted by the Bayshore Heritage Byway.

Cohanzick Zoo, open since 1934, boasts that it is NJ’s oldest city zoo.

The International Shorebird Recovery Team collects their net on Fortescue Beach after capturing, banding, and releasing shorebirds as part of efforts to restore their numbers.

Kayakers enjoying a paddle at the mouth of Fortescue Creek on Delaware Bay, after using the public boat launch. Many come to enjoy the public access to the Delaware Bay offered at Fortescue.

Striped bass fishermen line the beach at Fortescue. Fortescue was once proclaimed the weakfish capitol of the world until in the 1980s when the fishery crashed.

Shipping sheds were part of a thriving complex of businesses that provided for the needs of the oyster industry during its heyday in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

PSEG supplies boardwalks as part of their commitment to provide public access to the massive complex of restored marshes that skirts the coastline.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s vessels like the AJ Meerwald were especially designed to harvest the Delaware Bay oyster beds.

The Causeway CR 670 bridge crossing of the Maurice River marks the Southern-most boundary of the designation of the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Scenic & Recreational River.

A Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and its Tributaries, Inc. volunteer bands chicks in one of over 40 nesting platforms erected and maintained by the organization to help recover osprey populations to their historic numbers.

NJ State Biologist inspects juvenile eaglet after banding. The eagle recovery program is a success story attesting to people’s will to bring back our Nation’s Symbol from the brink of extinction.

East Point Lighthouse was renovated and reopened in September 2017. The earthen berm on the Bayshore side of the lighthouse is indicative of its struggle to survive rising water and sinking ground.

The Maurice River Historical Society maintains the East Point Lighthouse. In recent years the organization has added period-appropriate furnishings to its rooms, this is the “Keeper’s Table” in the dining area.

The East Point Lighthouse (1849) is bordered by the tidal marshes of the Heislerville Wildlife Management area.

Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area has been restored as a demonstration site for wildlife habitat management techniques incorporating the irrigation ponds from its former use as a golf course.

Many of the 4 miles of flat terrain paths at Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area are paved, offering handicapped access and bicycle and walking paths from which visitors can observe wildlife.

Cox Hall Creek Wildlife Management Area provides interpretative signage to encourage use of native species.

The Cold Spring Grange Hall, built in 1912, is a frame structure with early twentieth-century Colonial Revival detailing listed on the National Register of Historic Places and located adjacent to the parking lot.

The Cold Spring Village is a collection of 27 historic buildings highlighting a rural South Jersey village during the early to mid-19th century.

The Cold Spring Visitor Welcome Center introduces tourists to the Village’s array of programing which highlights the architecture, lifestyles, arts, history, and culture found in a rural South Jersey village during the early to mid-19th century.

The Cape May – Lewes Ferry is operated by the Delaware River and Bay Authority. It not only offers a practical service but gives visitors an experience of a tradition when many ferries crossed the Delaware River and Bay. It also avails wildlife enthusiasts with some pelagic wildlife watching opportunities.

The Cape Henlopen Ferry boat is but one of the vessels that runs between Cape May, NJ and Lewes, DE connecting the Bayshore Heritage Byway in NJ with the Delaware Bayshore Byway in DE.

The Cape May – Lewes Ferry is operated by the Delaware River and Bay Authority. View approaching Terminal from Cape May Canal.

The Whilldin-Miller house (1860), situated in the West Cape May Historic District. is a wonderful example of Italianate architecture that has earned its own place on the National Register of Historic Places.

The museum and nature center offer a variety of historical and natural interpretative programs. The Lighthouse allows access to a spectacular view of the Cape.

Visitors can read about the WWII bunker on the beachfront, while enjoying beach views and breezes. This high sand dune is also a great vantage point for wildlife watching - dolphins and avian species are favorites.

One of Cape May Point State Park viewing platforms is “The Cape May Hawk Watch,” built in partnership between NJ Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory and the Park. Cape May is sometimes referred to as the Raptor Capitol of the World.