New Jersey
Experiences|Museums

Have A Frighteningly Good Time At New Jersey’s New Friday The 13th Museum

New Jersey's rich cinematic history includes iconic filming locations for movies like Friday the 13th, with tours and museums dedicated to the film.

Published Oct 25, 2019

Written by 

Kristen

New Jersey has a rich cinematic history, starting right at the dawn of the industry. The Garden State was once the film capital of the world, back when Hollywood was just a sleepy farm town filled with orange groves. Fort Lee and West Orange were at the epicenter, with Edison's Black Maria studio for production and the striking Palisades Cliffs making for fantastic scenery. Over the years, many movies have been filmed in New Jersey, including Goodfellas (Marlboro, Fort Lee, Palisades Interstate Parkway), The Godfather Part III (Atlantic City), When Harry Met Sally (East Rutherford), and War of the Worlds (Bayonne, Howell, Newark, and Elizabeth). One film shot here has had quite a lasting impact...

Friday The 13th. The chilling tale of Jason Voorhees inspired numerous spooky sequels and spinoffs.

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Darren Foreman/Flickr

The 1980 slasher flick centers around a vengeful serial killer who targets teen counselors at Camp Crystal Lake.

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The film's Camp Crystal Lake is actually New Jersey's Camp NoBeBoSco.

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Crystal Lake Tours/Facebook

A private boy scout camp, it is closed to the public except on limited tour dates for the safety of the campers. Tours are provided through the non-profit Crystal Lake Tours. Tours are rated very highly but participants need to enter a ticket lottery - tickets are in strong demand.

But the camp isn't the only filming location in the Garden State! You can explore others on a Friday The 13th Trolley Tour.

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Blairstown Museum/Facebook

Put on by the Blairstown Museum, these tours stop at a variety of locations in Blairstown, Hope, and Hardwick. You may recognize Roy's Hall and the Blairstown Diner, as well as much of Main Street in Blairstown.

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The Blairstown Museum is so big on Friday The 13th, they also offer Jason Fest and Friday The 13th themed weddings.

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Image: Blairstown Museum

But there's more! For some time, they had a Friday the 13th exhibit...

The exhibit grew into its own Friday the 13th museum!

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Chuck Mound/Google

Located right across from the Blairstown Museum, the Friday the 13 Museum offers a collection of Friday the 13th film costumes and props, signed memorabilia, and souvenirs. It is expected to grow even larger over time.

The new museum will be open every Friday and Saturday.

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Marty Coleman/Google

Tickets will be just $3.

After your visit, we suggest heading to the Blairstown Museum.

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Alexi Donovan/Google

It offers both permanent and rotating collections that bring to life the town's fascinating history.

It's a perfect day trip during Halloween season, any given Friday the 13th, and all year long! Are you interested in visiting? What's your favorite Jason film?

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Experiences|Museums

There’s a Taylor Swift Exhibit At This Small Jersey Shore Museum

Published Aug 15, 2024

Written by 

Raymond Goldfield

It seems impossible to escape Taylor Swift these days - whether you like her music or not, the superstar songstress is everywhere, crisscrossing the globe and being front and center at every KC Chiefs game. But did you know that the world's most famous woman actually has some surprising New Jersey roots? No, she might not have been born here - but she and her family spent much of her childhood living in Stone Harbor. Yes, that Stone Harbor - one of the shore's most peaceful and most charming towns just got an infusion of superstardom thanks to the opening of a temporary Taylor Swift Exhibit at the Stone Harbor Museum, one of the state's smallest museums. That means it might suddenly be a lot more crowded - but don't delay, because this unique exhibit is only open until the end of September!

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A few years back, the Stone Harbor Museum moved from an old house to a more accessible location on Main Street.

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GardeningMom42/TripAdvisor

This tiny museum is dedicated to the history of this charming shore town and its place on the Jersey Shore ecosystem - complete with plenty of sea artifacts.

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Richard Pucciarelli/Google Local

Additionally, many of the exhibits here tie back to the history of the town and its role in the development of the shore.

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GardeningMom42/TripAdvisor

It's a pretty sleepy town - so why are there lines out the door these days?

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Teri Fischer/Google Local

It's all due to one exhibit - devoted to Taylor Swift's New Jersey childhood. The iconic superstar spent twelve years growing up here while her father worked as a firefighter for the local company.

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Shanna Williams/Google Local

In addition to rare photos, the exhibit contains quotes from Swift about how Stone Harbor influenced her life.

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Shanna Williams/Google Local

Swifties (of all ages) have wasted no time rushing to visit the exhibit and learn about the town that helped make the world's most famous singer who she is.

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Teri Fischer/Google Local

Have you visited the Taylor Swift exhibit at the Stone Harbor Museum? What's your favorite Swift era? (I'm an old-head and I'll always be partial to those first country albums) If you want to visit for yourself, check out the Stone Harbor Museum website and Stone Harbor Museum Facebook page for more details. While you're in Stone Harbor, make sure to visit Springer's - this old-school ice cream parlor has been open for many decades, so it's possible a certain blonde-haired girl had a cone here in summer's past. And if you're looking for a hotel stay to make you feel like a celebrity, check out The Reeds at Shelter Haven, an acclaimed luxury resort only feet from the museum.

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Experiences|Museums

The Completely Free Museum Hiding In A New Jersey Historic District Is A Must-Visit

Published Jul 17, 2024

Written by 

Raymond Goldfield

There are few things I love more than a visit to a good museum, and they're often a fascinating look back into the history of humanity or the creatures that lived before us - and they're often very low-priced or even free to enter! But one free museum in New Jersey is bridging the gap and giving us a look into a unique part of human history that often gets overlooked. The Alan Ewing Carman Museum of Prehistory, part of the Cumberland County Historical Society's network of small museums, is a museum dedicated to early man, focusing on the Native Americans who lived here before recorded history - hunting, gathering, crafting simple tools, and creating the building blocks of human civilization. This is the kind of place that looks small, but is well worth exploring for a fascinating look into the past.

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Located in a tiny shed, the Museum of Prehistory is easy to miss - but history buffs won't want to drive on by.

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Alan Ewing Carman Museum of Prehistory/Google Local

This one-room museum specializes in artifacts belonging to the earliest native Americans, who developed many of the basic tools that formed the foundations of human civilization.

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Alan Ewing Carman Museum of Prehistory/Google Local

One of the most impressive exhibits in the museum is its massive collection of found arrowheads.

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Martin Kelley/Google Local

There are also some impressive fossils of the animals the Native Americans hunted and coexisted with preserved here.

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Martin Kelley/Google Local

What's this? It's a Bannerstone. What's a Bannerstone? We don't know! This is one of the most mysterious artifacts on display here.

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Cumberland County Historical Society/Facebook

The museum is staffed by a skilled team of volunteer archaeologists who examine the ancient tools and figure out where they came from and what they were used for.

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Cumberland County Historical Society/Facebook

The museum is only minutes away from the Nicholas Gibbon House, one of the oldest houses in New Jersey and a fascinating historical site in its own right.

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Wayne Sabota/Google Local

Have you visited the Alan Ewing Carman Museum of Prehistory? What's your favorite free museum in New Jersey? Let us know in the comments section! You can find out more about this whole network of museums by following the Cumberland County Historical Society Facebook page. While you're in South Jersey, take a quick trip east to Millville, where you'll find some of the most fascinating art history in New Jersey. That's also where you'll find the Fairfield Inn & Suites By Marriott Millville/Vineland, which is a reasonably priced and well-reviewed hotel with an Art Deco design.

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