This story is being republished under a special NJ News Commons content-sharing agreement. Link to story: nj.com/cumberland/2024/09/historic-nj-lighthouse-forced-to-close-after-deadline-passes.html

New Jersey’s second-oldest lighthouse has been closed after a lease agreement between a historical society and the state Department of Environmental Protection expired on Friday.

Over the weekend, volunteers used trucks and their personal vehicles to help haul furniture from the East Point Lighthouse at the Delaware Bay’s shoreline in Cumberland County, Nancy Patterson, president of the Maurice River Historical Society, said.

“It was a tough day,” Patterson said, calling the lack of a new lease agreement with the DEP “clear-cut discrimination.”

The furnishing are being held in three storage units, Patterson said. Fundraising will hopefully cover costs to store the society’s belongings, she added.

“We’re confident that we’ll win this in the end,” Patterson told NJ Advance Media on Monday after a weekend spent overseeing the vacating of the lighthouse.

This is the second time in three years that the society has been left hoping it can negotiate with DEP to return to the property and reopen the museum to educate the public on the lighthouse’s history and significance to New Jersey’s coast, Patterson said.

The society managed the lighthouse for about 50 years, restoring the building and beacon that been dormant for about 40 years.

The latest lease agreement between the society and the DEP, which dates back to 1996, expired Friday after previously being renewed. The historical society had previously vacated the building in 2021 after a previous lease agreement expired.

DEP officials on Monday said the historical society and the agency negotiated new terms for over a year. Included in the deal’s aspects were $2,500 yearly investments into the building.

The society has two weeks to fully vacate the lighthouse, officials said.

“Following the conclusion of that two-week period, DEP will reestablish public access to the building by maintaining similar hours to those offered by the Historical Society,” agency officials said in a statement to NJ Advance Media.

The society will have a chance to continue being actively involved in preserving the building as a Friends Group, officials said.

Tuesday marks the lighthouse’s 175th birthday. The society was preparing to welcome hundreds of people and local officials to ceremoniously celebrate the occasion, as it does yearly.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd Dist., who was among those that previously helped mediate a new lease between the DEP and the society, last week said the lighthouse is a prized part of New Jersey history.

“I have reached out to (the DEP) again and requested that the state extend the current license while we continue to work towards resolution on a long-term lease,” Van Drew said in a statement. “I will not stop fighting for the lighthouse until it is saved and they have a fair agreement.”

State Sen. Michael Testa, R-1st Dist., who also took part in prior mediation efforts, on Monday said it was “deeply troubling” the DEP had not reached an agreement with the society prior to the end of the lease, crediting the society with saving the building from potential collapse.

The historical society saved the building from demolition in the 1970s and led a $650,000 restoration effort that was completed in 2017, helping secure funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust Fund and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“The Maurice River Historical Society has poured decades of blood, sweat and tears into preserving and restoring the historic lighthouse,” Testa said in a statement. “It’s time for the DEP to recognize their efforts and establish a long-term deal with the Maurice River Historical Society to preserve the operation of this iconic landmark in Cumberland County.”

The lighthouse is at the base of the Heislerville Wildlife Management Area, a protected area managed by the DEP deep within South Jersey. It’s about 68 miles from Philadelphia and 48 miles from Atlantic City. Millville is the closest major municipality.

Reaching the lighthouse by car requires a drive down a winding road through marshlands. There is a small museum at the lighthouse and the grounds have been the site of several events, most notably the annual Butterfly Festival.

Records date the lighthouse to the mid-1800s. It was almost destroyed in fire set by an arsonist in 1971.

State officials have focused in recent years on strengthening barriers near the lighthouse because of shoreline erosion.