This is a small area at the end of my hallway at the front of the house which I decorated with some railroad and nautical things.
There are some things in the house that are here to stay because we have nowhere else to put them, so I have to work my stuff around those items. This little cast iron stove is one of those items (also it's way too heavy to move) Our house was the annex to a hotel, and it was built in 1902. The West Jersey Railroad came over the bay and the train station was right in front of the hotel and our house, which were known as 'The West Jersey Cottages'. Gus Wittkamp was the owner of the Cottages and he was also the railway station manager. Because of that, we've collected seashore railroad related items over the years.
In the photo above in the coal bucket is a 1940s Bates blanket with anchors in it, which was in the house when we bought it. We also found the old oar in the attic of the house. Since the hotel was right on the bay, they used to rent out boats for fishing. Below is a photo of Bertha Wittkamp - Gus' daughter and the person that we bought our house from - she's holding one of the old oars. Photo is from about 1917.
Below is a postcard from the Teens. At the far left is the train station building, next is the hotel with the flag on the top and after that is our house. In the 1940s the railway was closed, and the staion building torn down sometime after that. Around 1944-45 the hotel was moved up the road a few blocks and it is now a restaurant.
The cast iron stove came from the West Jersey railway and it would have been used in a train car. The lights on the left in the photo below were also used for signalling trains.
On the top of the stove are just little nautical knick-knacks and more old lamps. My Dad recently bought me the old nautical American flags at a flea market in Ocean City.
.jpg)
.jpg)
