Tuckerton Seaport
We were recently invited to Tuckerton Seaport in Tuckerton, NJ to check out their family-friendly atmosphere, including a few fun spring & summer festivals.
If you’ve been reading for any amount of time, chances are you know I’m a Midwestern transplant to the East Coast. So my summers growing up weren’t spent near the ocean beaches.
Now that we’re living in Philadelphia, we can’t help but be drawn to “the shore” as much as possible. It’s just a hop, skip and a jump away – and there’s just something about that first breath of sea air you get on the drive down. There’s nothing like it.
So in the several years we’ve been living here, we’ve explored a few different shore points and are still learning a lot of the history behind these New Jersey towns.
This was our first trip to Tuckerton, but I know it won’t be our last.
We visited last weekend for their beloved Bluegrass & BBQ Festival and we’re so glad we made the drive. The bands were lively and provided the perfect backdrop for kicking up your heels… or just sitting back, relaxing and chowing down on some good eats, which were plentiful.
Perhaps our favorite part of the morning, though, was Todd’s Musical Petting Zoo. For our two music-loving kids, this was the perfect way for them to pick up and try so many instruments they’d never heard or seen before, along with a few favorites that are more familiar. This was Todd’s first year at the festival and I do hope they’ll have him back next year. It was the perfect addition to keep little (and not-so-little!) hands busy and engaged. The entire family had a great time tapping out a new tune or two.
He had the neatest collection of instruments—many hand-crafted out of some pretty unusual materials—and the kids continue to talk about the different things they saw and played with, even a week later.
There were also tables set up where the kids could become marine biologists for the day, exploring water samples for tiny wildlife, which they loved!
Once we were able to tour more of the Seaport itself, we were able to get a taste of the history of this little seaside town.
Their collection of surfboards was impressive. There was a whole room filled with surfboards of all kinds, with examples of the very earliest kinds.
There was also a great collection for the train-enthusiast (though I somehow managed to not get one photo of that collection!) and the little historic details scattered throughout the Seaport museum were fascinating. Our walk up to the top of the lighthouse was windy, but wonderfully exciting.
Tuckerton Seaport has really gotten it right, offering activities and attractions for families of all ages – and I appreciated that they offered plenty for young ones to interact with, so that we (as adults) could fully relax and adopt the beachy, relaxed vibe of the day and not interrupt it with worries of keeping little fingers from touching every.last.thing in the museum.
Next visit, we’ll definitely make a stop at the mini golf area and spend more time feeding the animals, also on the grounds.
And we may, or may not, be dressed as pirates. Arrrgh.
Be sure to check out the Privateers and Pirates Festival on June 8 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pirate history, treasure scavenger hunt, costume contest and pirate craft activities. Along with a live band and food vendors.
And to help support Tuckerton’s educational programming, you can donate (or bid on items) at their annual summer auction.
According to their website, The Seaport, which first opened in 2000, is committed to furthering the public knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Barnegat Bay and surrounding environment through exhibition, artist demonstration, educational programming, research and documentation.
Tuckerton is just one of the towns along the Jersey Shore that was hit especially hard by Hurricane Sandy last year. Tuckerton Seaport’s 40-acre site and building experienced significant flooding and wind damage during the storm. They currently have four buildings open to the public and are committed to fully reopening as soon as possible to continue serving the community.
A HUGE thank you to Joey Fortman of Real Mom Media and Stephanie Glover of A Grande Life for setting up this blogger event and introducing us to the treasure that is Tuckerton Seaport. We were thrilled to be a part of it and are looking forward to our next visit!
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