By DON STINE
The light is at the end of the tunnel for restoration to the historic Eden Woolley house in Ocean Township and next week the township’s local historical museum will host its first exhibit there.
“It’s 99 percent done but there’s still a lot of little stuff to do,” said Howard “Doc” Richmond, a trustee with the Township of Ocean Historical Museum.
“The heat’s on, the lights are on, and this is the first time we are able to have an exhibit in the house,” he said.
The special exhibit will be called “The Story of the Eden Woolley House” and take place on Sat., Dec. 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sun., Dec. 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $3 for adults and children are free.
Richmond said the museum, which is responsible for the almost 300-year-old home, is still looking for funds to put in things like alarms systems and display cases in place.
“There will be a lot of artifacts and photographs about the house, its move, and its restoration,” Richmond said of the exhibit.
“One of the original joints under the oldest part of the house, which is actually a tree, has been saved as have old brick walls and other materials. The exhibit will be all about the house itself, its history, and what happened after we got hold of it,” he said.
A grand opening for the new museum headquarters is scheduled for next year.
“I think when people come in for the first time they are going to be stunned. Others thought it was great when it was not finished in the past but you just can’t believe how beautiful it is now,” Richmond said.
Richmond said he is happy that the project is pretty much over.
“I am just as happy as I could possibly be and I am looking forward to getting my retirement back,” he said.
Richmond has been a leading force in restoring the house since it was moved from its original location in 2005. He is a retired school administrator.
“We really got serious about the house after it was moved,” he said.
Richmond said the restoration could never have been done without the many financial contributions and volunteers.
”We are all deeply indebted to them,” he said.
Richmond said about minimum 8,500 volunteer hours and more than $800,000, funded through grants, donations and fundraisers, has been spent on renovating the Eden Woolley house.
The building is an 18th century farmhouse once owned by Eden Woolley, the first elected committeeman of Ocean Township, which once incorporated land from Sandy Hook to the Shark River.
The house was moved from its former site at Route 35 and Deal Road several years ago to its current site at Joe Palaia Park, just west of the township’s new public library.
The original one-story section of the house was built in 1730 with another two-story addition built around 1830. Woolley was second person to own the house from 1835 to 1892.
“He held very large parcels of land along both sides of what is now Deal Road and also tracts west of the present-day Route 35. He was a gentleman farmer,” Richmond said.
The external features of the house’s Greek Revival architecture have been completely restored with the exception of shutters. Restoration work reinforced ceiling joists to the second floor. Plaster was restored while still retaining the original Dutch doors, the original fireplace and hearth, and the original wide-plank flooring
Some of the walls in the house are original “daub,” a mixture of mud, horse hair and hay. Wooden beams in the house were originally made using an adz with the original tree bark still seen on one side.
Richmond stressed that the museum will also be a regional historical facility which will also hold exhibits and meetings for other historical societies in Monmouth County needing such a space.
He said that an historical library will also be housed in the building that will contain material on many towns in Monmouth County.
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