The LBI Causeway Shack

LBI Causeway Shack 2010

The “LBI Shack” is located on eastbound Route 72 right after the causeway bridge which connects Long Beach Island (LBI) with the mainland. The shack has become an unofficial welcome to LBI and has inspired both awe and cynicism.  Many individuals connect the shack with nostalgia and summer memories of LBI, while others see it as a dilapidated building that has been over commercialized. While it is true that in almost every gift shop on LBI, you will find paintings, prints, magnets, postcards, photographs, and key chains representing the shack, I fall into the group which sees the shack as part of pleasant childhood memories and I will be very sad when the shack eventually collapses and no longer greets me as I enter the island.

History: The history of the shack is somewhat of a mystery. Most sources state that the shack was built in the 1920s as a duck hunter’s cottage. The following quote from Six Miles at Sea: A Pictorial History of Long Beach Island provides a description of why this would be an excellent location for duck hunting:

            To the ducks and geese, it made little difference. While the wetlands of both bays were as yet untouched by man for anything more than the mowing of salt hay, they were  superb halfway feeding point for all waterfowl during the spring and fall migrations. Many of the hardiest of them, especially brant and broadbill, stayed right through the winter regardless of snow and ice. In windy weather they would fly all over the bay to feed, and wherever they landed they carpeted the shallows in large assemblages called rafts.

Lloyd, John. ¨Six Miles at Sea: A Pictorial History of Long Beach Island. Down the

Shore Publishing: Harvey Cedars N.J. , 1990.

 

In the early 20^th century, LBI and the surrounding areas was the place to be for gunning, “the pursuit of feathered game, usually waterfowl and shore birds. “ It is uncertain when the shack stopped being used for gunning. For a period of time the shack was used as a personal residence and some members of the LBI community can remember wild parties at the location during the 1970s before it was abandoned in the 1980s.

The future of the shack is a mystery as well.  Individuals have been attempting to restore the shack for the past decade with new beams and nails, while others simply want to see it “die” gracefully.

My Memories: I have been a regular visitor to LBI since by birth.  My clearest and fondest memories of the shack do not relate to gunning or fishing, but to teasing my younger sister. Ashley is six years my junior and throughout our childhood we were very good at tormenting one another. Before the days of portable TVs and DVD players the two hour ride to LBI was excruciatingly long for two little girls under the age of ten. To keep my sister in line during car rides I would often tell her that if she was bad I would make her live in the shack and that she would not be able to go on vacation with us. Every time we passed the shack I would make sure to point it out to her and I remember her eyes growing wide with fear and awe.

Do you know the shack?

If so, do you have any stories about your personal meaning of the shack?