Stone Harbor Yacht Club and Country Club in vintage postcards – Historical Society of Riverton, NJ

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It’s August and you see on Facebook how much fun your friends are having on vacation in the Jersey Shore. Before Facebook, people turned to their hometown newspaper pages to check the status of their friends.


A favorite vacation spot by local residents in the early 1900s was Stone Harbor, a seaside resort which, like Riverton, would also boast a yacht club and country club.

The Philadelphia Investigator, August 14, 1949, p41-42. See the full article here.

Some Riverton sailors have been drawn to Stone Harbor to compete in regattas and by all accounts they have had their share of success.

It is a story of Stone Harbor Yacht Club and Country Club illustrated in old postcards.

All the pleasures of the countryside and the seaside combined
by Harlan B. Radford, Jr.

Greetings from Stone Harbor Scan – All the country and seaside fun combined

To celebrate and recognize the Stone Harbor Yacht Club’s first anniversary in 1912, the South Jersey Realty Company issued a very special and colorful postcard expressing “Greetings from Stone Harbor”.

He proudly announces two new facilities: the Stone Harbor Golf Clubhouse and the Stone Harbor Yacht Club and artfully but subtly tempts the viewer by describing several recreational opportunities available at Stone Harbor.

A fish hawk nest atop a tall mast and flagpole trimmed with the American flag and the yacht club’s unique red and blue burgee frame the layout. Seven vignettes in the rope that surround it boast many activities on offer at Stone Harbor, including golfing, fishing, car racing on the beach, a yacht and motorboat racing, sunbathing on the beach. beach and racing sailboats. A Wright Flyer biplane flies over the yacht club. The Stone Harbor entrepreneurs viewed the inclusion of these two facilities as essential to the growth of their business and they were right!

Many vacationers ashore today and indeed some residents of Stone Harbor are probably unaware that during 1908-1909 developers placed stilts and bulkheads to create more land for housing and other expansions and dredged the natural basin to enlarge and deepen Snug Harbor.

The Philadelphia Investigator, August 19, 1910, p11

As a result, boating and fishing activities have increased significantly. In 1909, a group of boating enthusiasts formed the Stone Harbor Yacht Club (SHYC) and incorporated it in January 1910 to spark interest in sailing and power boating. Situated on the bay at the point of convergence of the Snug Harbor basin and the Grand Canal, it became the focal point of the nascent seaside resort.

The Philadelphia Investigator, July 03, 1910, p11 The “great fight” referred to was probably July 4, 1910, Johnson vs. Jeffries “The fight of the century”.

By early 1910 preparations were already underway to erect a handsome clubhouse on Snug Harbor Yacht Basin in the spring by the John Larsen Contracting Company.

It officially opened on July 4, 1910, and its success coincided with other improvements to the resort, including Stone Harbor Water Co., a new boardwalk, power plant, and a new hotel.

According to August 14, 1910, Philadelphia Investigator, many boaters said the location, waterfront and race course was “… the best on the Jersey Shore”, and its bungalow-style lodge would have been “… the most artistic of all nautical clubs along the coast … “

The Philadelphia Investigator, July 28, 1918, p18

Despite these early accolades, the SHYC encountered financial difficulties during the First World War due to “… a large number of its men in service and those engaged in war work”, and, burdened with heavy debts, the club has closed its doors. doors in 1918 for several years.

A search of periodicals yielded no reports of regattas, dances or events at SHYC for the years 1919-1927 and only one speedboat race in 1928.

Mail-Post, Camden, NJ, July 28, 1929, p17

In 1929, on the threshold of the Great Depression, a new group of investors intervened, bought the property, reorganized and renovated the club house.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 21, 1929, p62

They renamed it “The Yacht Club of Stone Harbor” (YCSH), the name used today, and opened with a regatta and dance on August 3, 1929. Dancing in the Grand Ballroom and fine dining at the restaurant were the popular mainstays of the club.

The following fifteen vintage postcards illustrate some milestones in the early history of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club.

Flag raising at the Stone Harbor Yacht Club on Remembrance Day, 1910

A crowd gathered for the flag raising ceremony at the Stone Harbor Yacht Club on Memorial Day, 1910.

A beautiful sightseeing yacht… Memorial Day 1910

A beautiful yacht visiting at the flag raising and the Stone Harbor Yacht Club’s first annual meeting on Memorial Day, 1910, Stone Harbor, NJ A referral source indicated that this yacht was owned by John Gilmore.

New Stone Harbor Yacht Club at $ 20,000

A colorful artist rendering of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club project.

Second annual gathering of members and friends of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club… Memorial Day 1911

Second annual gathering of members and friends of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club at Stone Harbor, Memorial Day, 1911. Officers are grouped to the left. Postmarked July 17, 1914.

The sender writes, “Dear Father, this is a pretty big place. The canal at our back door is very pretty and there is always a strong, cool breeze. Your affec. daughter, Pearl ”.

A view of the 85 St.

A view of the eighty-fifth street yacht basin. Postmarked September 4, 1913. Later renamed South Basin, it is the smallest in a chain of seven magnificent man-made pools along the Great Channel at Stone Harbor.

Commodore James Thompson’s Albatross, SHYC flagship

Commodore James Thompson’s ‘Albatross’, flagship of the Stone Harbor Yacht Club, located on Great Channel, Stone Harbor, NJ

SHYC and Pool with Sand Burr and Vanish Racing Boats Tour, Gala Week, July 1-5, 1911

Stone Harbor Yacht Club and basin with visiting racing boats during gala week, July 1-5, 1911. The two central launches are the famous “Sand Burr” and the “Vanish”.

SHYC, Stone Harbor, New Jersey

Stone Harbor Yacht Club, Stone Harbor, NJ captures both the front door and the overhanging carriage way to allow vehicles to enter the clubhouse. Most of the other postcard images show the clubhouse with the water in front of the more scenic Snug Harbor vantage point. This view was part of a very rare folio, or keepsake file, consisting of several early black and white views of Stone Harbor.

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A postcard stamped on August 31, 1914 bears the following handwritten message: “This is a peach from a place. Pick our lot today, tell Dad I’m staying with the Riters and having a great time. Paul. ”Two of the images are examples of rare actual photo postcards or RPPCs.

The Philadelphia Investigator, 04 June 1911, p10

Stone Harbor Country Club was located on the mainland just minutes from the town of Stone Harbor. These last four postcards dating from the years 1912-15 show the Country Club which boasted of having a 9 hole 45 acre golf course.

Stone Harbor Country Club located on the mainland

Here is a front view of the Stone Harbor Country Club alongside wood shingle, with a large open porch.

At the top of the large pole immediately to the right of the clubhouse is a falcon’s nest. Such pole-mounted nests like this one were rather common and visible in parts of the South Jersey coastline and the Coastal Waterway.

Play golf on the Country Club course

People love to golf at the Country Club. The advent of the new streetcar line between Stone Harbor and Cape May Court House made the Country Club particularly convenient according to the legend on the back of this very old map.

The Country Club, Stone Harbor, NJ

In this view of the Country Club, we see several individuals relaxing and sitting on the porch and in the shade on the porch. Again, there is this post with the falcon’s nest.

The caption on the back of this postcard promotes all of the various sporting activities that were then available, including golf, tennis and even trap shooting.

Stone Harbor Country Cape May Courthouse

This 1918 full-color stamped card depicts a very special occasion with a throng of well-dressed people and an abundance of American flags, possibly taken during the official opening of the Country Club or the much celebrated gala week activities that took place in early July 1911.

The Yacht Club and Country Club were both featured in the early development and continued success of the community now called “The Seashore At Its Best”, namely Stone Harbor!

We invite anyone with information, photos, memories, etc. on the exploits of Riverton sailors aged 50 and over to contact us.

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