The Township of Ocean Historical Museum will host a virtual presentation by Sean McHugh, instructor of GIS in the Department of History and Anthropology, on May 12 at 7 p.m. This program is free, but advanced registration is required. McHugh will discuss the Woolley site’s inhabitants and the historic context associated with 17th-to early 19th-century affluent Quaker farmers within the central New Jersey region.
His talk will focus on the findings of the most recent archeological dig at the site of the original Woolley dwelling constructed on a site near Poplar Brook during the first decade of the 18th century. The dig yielded important new information about the Woolley family’s earliest occupation of the property, as well as details related to the Native Americans who made camp in the area over the course of thousands of years.
Additional analysis of the artifacts recovered by the prior site investigation firm from the Eden Woolley Farmstead site in 1999-2000 supports the circa 1750 constructing date and its subsequent add-on of the west wing of the house, constructed in 1768. Artifacts uncovered at both sites suggest the family would have been considered “middle class” by today’s standards. The property, known as the Popular Swamp Tract, was owned by the Woolley family from 1697 to 1892 until Eden Woolley’s death.
The Township of Ocean Historical Museum, founded in 1984, is a member-supported, 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey. Its headquarters, the Eden Woolley House, is one of the few 18th century structures still in existence in the Township. The museum offers exhibits on the history of coastal Monmouth County and a full calendar of events.
