Guide to Visiting the Tuckerton Seaport Museum with Kids

The Tuckerton Seaport Museum bills itself as a showcase for New Jersey's coastal culture, and my family and I had a great time visiting it this summer. The Jersey Shore institution offers boat rides, creek tours, a nature trail, a lighthouse, an old fishing village, and crafting. 

When I first looked at the website before visiting, I thought it would be for older children, but my kids ages 2, 6, and 8, were all happy with the visit because it offers activities that will appeal to a variety of ages.

Read on for everything you need to know before visiting the Tuckerton Seaport Museum, and check out our roundup of 70 Things To Do at the Jersey Shore with Kids for more inspo while you're in the area. 

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Exploring the Tuckerton Seaport Museum

There is a lot to do at the Tuckerton Seaport Museum, and my kids were just thrilled to be running around and exploring old buildings along a boardwalk. If you wanted to do everything offered by the facility, I think you could be looking at spending at least 2 hours if not more walking around, plus the creek tour is 50 minutes long. These were the highlights for my family from our visit.

Lighthouse, Museum, and Gift Shop

While walking around the museum you will learn that the lighthouse is actually a replica of the one that was built on Tucker’s Island in 1848 and fell into the sea in 1927. You should definitely take a trip up to the lookout from the lighthouse, which still lights up! You can take the elevator up to the top floor of the museum, but you do have to walk the last flight of stairs up to the lookout. 

The museum was interesting for my 8-year-old and I imagine would be even more so for older children. My 2- and 6-year-old were content running around while my son and I read some plaques. The bottom floor has a gift shop for purchasing souvenirs. If you walk out of the museum and turn left there were little games the kids enjoyed such as a putt-putt and corn hole. 

Ferry Dock

Directly in front of the lighthouse is the ferry dock where you can board the Pohatcong II, a thirty-foot pontoon boat, for creek tours and specialty tours, and catch the ferry to Long Beach Island. Children under 12 must wear a life preserver (which they provide) while on the boat. Children under 2 are not allowed onboard.  

I did not go on a Creek Tour, so I cannot speak to it directly, but the description sounds similar to the tour we did take. Ours was a 2-hour educational tour they were offering where guides mostly talked about the environment of the creek and bay and research going on in the bay. We saw a lot of birds on the boat ride including osprey, an eagle, egrets, and cormorants. 

RELATED: Guide to Museums and Art for New Jersey Kids

Explore the art of decoy-making during a trip to Parker's Decoy shop at the Tuckerton Seaport Museum.

Parker’s Decoy

My kids really enjoyed the decoy shop. Out front there is a tin bucket with decoys floating in it that my 2-year-old was overjoyed to play with, and inside is a recreation of a shop that was owned by a famous decoy carver. For those who don’t know, a decoy is a model duck that floats on the water (you can see them floating in the seaport if you look over the boardwalk) to attract other ducks for hunters.

We learned while visiting the seaport that decoys are one of the oldest forms of American folk art! Behind the decoy shop is an old blacksmith shop that has demonstrations.

Kelly’s Oyster House

This building is a replicate of an oyster house that existed from 1860 to 1920 that shipped large amounts of oysters from Little Egg Harbor to Philadelphia and New York. The exhibit inside is very informative about the shellfish industry and oyster research on the bay, and my kids were particularly fond of this building because it had different kinds of shells they could play in.

Craft House

Between the shop and the oyster house was a building with bathrooms and a room with a variety of crafts with examples and materials for the kids to dig into. We ducked in for an air conditioning break and the kids went to town pasting together a turtle, making a pirate hook hand, a bird puppet, and a paper pirate ship. We even took a few home to work on. 

Nature Trail

The museum's outdoor grounds include a short, quarter-mile walk in the pine barrens, a unique ecosystem not found anywhere in the world outside of N.J. This would be a great place to use your binoculars to look for birds or just use your ears and listen for the different bird calls. 

Miniature Golf 

Kids young and old will enjoy playing a few holes of educational golf, where each hole offers a fun fact about New Jersey.

RELATED: Jersey Shore Travel Guide for Families

The grounds of the Tuckerton Seaport Museum include a lovely boardwalk, lighthouse, museum, and old-time shops. 

Insider Tips for Visiting the Tuckerton Seaport Museum

What to Bring: I would bring binoculars for bird watching, especially if you are going to do one of the boat rides (although the tour we did lent us binoculars). Also, we were there in mid-summer, and out on the boat there were a LOT of biting flies. They even bit me through my long-sleeved shirt. I don’t know what you can do about flies, but keep that in mind. 

Busy Times: The Tuckerton Seaport Museum is a popular spot for field trips, so I imagine weekdays during the school year could be busy. Weekends during the summer are probably pretty busy as well. We were there on a weekday during the summer and it was gloriously empty.

Managing Kids: Be careful with young kids walking on the boardwalk around the village because children could very easily fall into the water. There was almost no shade walking around the village, so bring sunscreen, hats, and water. And if you get hot you can duck into any of the buildings that are part of the museum and most were even air-conditioned. 

I let my kids play on the playground, which by the looks of it was once incredible but now is falling apart, but watch your kids on it in and also be aware that there could be ticks in the grassy areas and nature trail. You do not need to go into the grassy area or do the nature walk of course and if you stick to the boardwalk where most things are I do not imagine ticks would be an issue. 

Annual Events at the Tuckerton Seaport Museum

The Tuckerton Seaport Museum's seasonal boat tours include Mother’s and Father’s Day tours, Legends and Lore Tours throughout October, and holiday boat tours throughout December. They also offer workshops and classes like a youth carving workshops and basket making classes. Also, check their Facebook page to see the lineup for their free summer concert series! 

Activities for Preschoolers and Toddlers

Preschoolers and toddlers will enjoy most of what the museum has to offer. Children over 2 years of age are welcome on the Creek Tours. Young kids will enjoy the playground, walking around the boardwalk, the nature trail and exploring the buildings. It says on the website they have a goat and sheep which we did not see when we were there, but we could have missed it.

Our 2-year-old especially loved climbing up the lighthouse and looking out over the grounds, the make-and-take crafts offered, and when we were there, they had a giant chest full of pirate booty (plastic coins and gems) that we could not tear her away from! 

Just as a warning, we did a different nature tour offered that day (not the shorter Creek Tour) on the pontoon boat. The tour was several hours long and even though it said it was for people of all ages, it really only had one activity aimed toward younger children. My 8-year-old loved that tour! It was filled with information for both naturalists and history lovers and we saw lots of cool birds out on the water.

Both my 2- and 6-year-old, however, were bored literally to tears by the end of the two hours on the boat and driving me crazy (and probably most of the other passengers). My guess is the 50-minute Creek Tour would be okay for preschoolers, but be aware the novelty of being on a boat wears off and they might start getting fidgety after 30 minutes like mine did. 

Tuckerton Seaport Museum: Know Before You Go

• Getting to the museum and parking: It is an easy 1.5-hour drive to the Tuckerton Seaport Museum from Philadelphia, but keep in mind shore traffic could be an issue around the weekends. We found plenty of parking in the parking lot. A fun option to consider is they offer a round-trip ferry that runs between the museum and Beach Haven and you can even bring your bikes on it!
• Food: There are not a ton of food options within walking distance of the seaport museum, but there are a few. On Thursdays you can take advantage of the Breakfast on the Bay (buy tickets in advance on the website) where you can pick one of four breakfast options and eat on the boat! While eating you will experience an immersive tour about the art, history, and environment in the lower Barnegat Bay region. The Union Market and Gallery was easily accessible from the seaport and where we had lunch. I really enjoyed the food there and you can sit outside on the large deck that had a nice atmosphere. Also, right within walking distance we also saw a Stewart’s of Tuckerton, which would surely be a hit with the kids. If you are willing to hop in the car and take a short drive there are a few more options like a Wawa, an Asian Wok, a diner and couple of pubs. And finally, bringing a picnic lunch and enjoying the seaport views as you munch would be an excellent option.
• Strollers: You will have no problem pushing a stroller around the boardwalk as you visit the different sites of interest in the seaport museum. I do not think it would be easy to take the stroller into the little shops along the boardwalk as they were often quite small, so you would have to be okay with parking it outside as you go inside the different stops. And I imagine you cannot bring the stroller onto the boat if you choose to do the Creek Tour.
• Potties: There is a bathroom in the main museum where the lighthouse is and an additional bathroom along the boardwalk. There was not a bathroom on the boat if you do a boat tour. 
• Hours and Admission: The seaport museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm, the last admission is 4pm and admission is $5 per person. Children under 1 are free. The last admission of the day is at 4pm.
• Creek Tours: Creek tours are offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at varying times throughout the day, so check the website to see what times they are offered on the day you are going. 

Photos by author