For most of its history, the farm on Sandy Hook Bay was home to generations of two prominent Port Monmouth families, the Seabrooks and the Wilsons.

Concerned Middletown residents convinced Township officials to purchase the site in 1967 and save the Bayshore landmark from destruction.

In 1998, Middletown Township transferred the property to the County of Monmouth and it became part of the surrounding Bayshore Waterfront Park, which preserves a thriving coastal landscape of salt marsh, dunes, mile of beach and scenic views across the water.

In attempting to create interest in the building, in the 1960s part-time caretaker Gertrude Neidlinger fabricated a story that the house was a tavern during the Revolutionary War where British troops were spied on by patriots.

[5] The Spy House Museum, which conducted candlelit ghost tours, was creatively alleged to be "haunted" by its part-time curator, Gertrude Neidlinger.