NJ Pine Barrens Maritime-Culture-Landscape 1 1 2024

Mays Landing History
Mays Landing was the center of shipbuilding in Atlantic County.
George May, the founder of Mays Landing, was a blacksmith and
shipbuilder. In the mid-18th century, he had opened a store
supplying vessels putting into Great Egg Harbor.
Other Mays Landing shipwrights were Samuel Gaskill, James and
John Clark and Nicholas Lane.
It was then that Mays Landing reached the height of its shipbuilding.
From 1830 to 1880, more than two hundred vessels were built
along the Great Egg Harbor River with lumber from native forests
and iron from Weymouth foundries. Half of them were produced at
Mays Landing.
But as time passed, wood shipbuilding began to disappear due to
the lack of suitable timber. Iron was then substituted for hull
construction. By 1890, there were only twelve shipyards in South
Jersey employing about five hundred men, where once a great
industry had flourished along its riverbanks.
The schooner "License" was built for Capt. John Pennington and
carried sugar up the Great Egg Harbor River where it was then
stored near Babcock’s Creek at the foot of a hill. This favored
storage spot later became known as "Sugar Hill".
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