What is Ocean County NJ's Oldest Home?

The oldest home in Ocean County is an amazing story. And here’s the great news. You can go and visit it, but here’s the catch. You can visit it, but you can’t see it. Wait. What?
How is that possible? Well, in a couple of minutes it will make perfect sense to you. But before we get there, let’s find out where this historic home is.

The oldest home in Ocean County is nestled in beautiful Tuckerton. As a matter of fact you’ve probably driven or walked by it already. So just how old is this historic building. Well, it was built in 1699. So about 320 years old. That's amazing.

So what's the deal with visiting it but not being able to see it? Well, it turns out that over the years, structures were built around it, so, while the original building exists, it is surrounded by more recent construction. And by recent, we're talking early 1800's according to nj.com.

The building is known as The Andrews Bartlett Homestead, and it was constructed by Mordecae Andrews just before the turn of the 17th century, which is unbelievable when you think of it.

Just to put that in perspective, if someone was born the year this original house was constructed, they would have been in their mid 70's the day the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The additional construction which surrounds the original building was the work of Nathan Bartlett in 1824, and both builders must have really known what they were doing. The structure still stands all these years later, with the help of a structural stabilization in 2018, which you can read about at the Tuckerton Seaport website.