The Friends of OCNJ Historic Homes Garden Tour Growing Even Better in 2026!
by Nancy Notaro
Friends of OCNJ History & Culture Board Member
FRIENDS OF OCNJ HISTORY & CULTURE is about celebrating our old homes and historic homes in Ocean City. On Wednesday July 8, 2026, we had third annual Historic Homes Garden Tour.
Each year we have been able to change the format to share the spotlight with an historic building in our town. In 2024, we met on the grounds of the Fourth Street Life-Saving Station to play croquet, offer a scavenger hunt, and a tour of the museum before the garden tour. In 2025, we met at the Eighth Street historic Tabernacle Baptist Church where a homemade chicken salad luncheon was offered, prior to the garden tour.
This year, we met where Ocean City all began, at the OC Tabernacle Church in the center of the historic district. Our program began with piano music by a fellow old-home lover, Pastor John Gaskill.
Then we had a showing of a major motion picture The Gardener. The Tabernacle Auditorium was a relaxing place to sit back and contemplate this fable of an imaginary gardener in our life, how we should look for the signs around us to cultivate hope, grow compassion, and truly blossom. My favorite quote from the movie is "Maybe the life you've planned is not the life you were meant to live."
Unfortunately, not only are historic homes being torn down, but when they are, we also lose their gardens, mature trees, and yards…. Sadly, two gardens on our original 2024 tour that won [awards] for Best Garden…have since been lost to development.
After the movie was a short presentation by Tom Sherf, Executive Director of the Tabernacle, on how Ocean City got started as a summer camp meeting ground 147 years ago and how the association is still providing Sunday speakers every week throughout the summer.
People came in 1879 and stayed around the auditorium in platform tents, then they built cottages. The grounds were not only a way to escape the heat of the city, but to refresh the spirit also. Those cottage gardens are some of the eight places on the Garden Tour. Unfortunately, not only are historic homes being torn down, but when they are, we also lose their gardens, mature trees, and yards in which we’ve played croquet and enjoyed nature. Sadly, two gardens on our original 2024 tour that won first place for Best Garden on their respective Green Route and Purple Route have since been lost to development. Not only have their charming old homes been torn down, but so have their gardens and trees where animals and birds enjoyed their habitats.
On a more positive note, welcoming gardener graciously hosted about 170 people who came through the eight gardens of our tour on Wednesday. Many gardens had a patriotic theme to them this year, including flowers in the palette of red, white, and blue. The railway garden at 1114 Central Avenue is always a hit! The trains run throughout the summer at 5 pm on Tuesdays and Fridays; if you missed your chance to attend the tour, you can still see them. Just look for the large inflatable Uncle Sam watching the trains.
The mission of Friends of OCNJ History & Culture is to encourage homeowners to keep their cottages and celebrate their open space by creating beautiful gardens. Come join us on the Scarborough Inn porch July 16, 2026, to rock and talk at our next Preservation Porch Party.
