The oldest hotel in Spring Lake is The Ocean House. Built by Margaret Divine with wood from the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, it was the first hotel in Spring Lake not funded by the Spring Lake Land Improvement Company. Mrs. Divine catered to well-heeled guests, and her son Richard worked as the superintendent for the land company. The hotel enjoys a unique location between the beach and the lake. After James Hunter, the president of the land company fled to South America over financial crimes, Margaret, took over the Lake House hotel, which was another relic of the Centennial, the Department of Public Comfort Building.
Mrs. P. L. Wheeler took over the Ocean House in the “Gay 90s” and called it The Baltimore. After the 1900 fire wiped out most of the hotels and put others in poor financial condition, the property was purchased and renovated by Mayor and furniture store owner, Oliver H. Brown. The 1901 Asbury Park Press noted, “Perhaps the most successful rehabilitation is the old Ocean House, on the sea-front, which Mr. Brown has changed to the Colonial. It now exhibits a massive column front and the air of luxuriousness that pervades the establishment is heightened by the costly furnishings of an adept in the business.”
Mayor Brown hired a new innkeeper which may explain the name change to the Colonial.
Josephine M. Vanderhoof was the featured innkeeper. She was unmarried. She had been managing a hotel in Lakewood each winter and purchased a place in South Carolina she also called the Colonial. She managed Spring Lake’s Colonial for 20 years until Harry Taylor bought it, and she still helped him as assistant manager before she died in 1928 at age 67. Harry and then his son, Hal and his wife Dot would keep the Colonial name until 1979.
Digging into Josephine's past revealed the marketing behind the Colonial name. From the post-Civil War era through the first half of the twentieth century, innkeepers were an integral part of the attraction to hotels. Guest lists were prominent in newspapers. Guests heavily weighed the hospitality and the reputation of the innkeeper. Securing loyal returning guests was critical, particularly for older properties. Despite Brown’s renovations, and the new bright stucco exterior, the hotel was over 30 years old. It was Josephine’s unsurpassed pedigree that would attract the right guests.
Miss Vanderhoof’s great-grandfather was a Revolutionary War Vet who served under both Washington and Nathaniel Greene, and was wounded in battle. He was revered as a preacher and lived to age 98.
He was also descended from Peregrine White of the Plymouth Colony, the first English baby in America. His mother Susanna was pregnant during the Mayflower voyage and gave birth to Peregrine in late November 1620 while the ship was anchored at Cape Cod, now Provincetown Harbor. These deep roots were a good reason to call the hotel the Colonial, given the stories the innkeeper could tell.
Dorothy Taylor sold the Colonial in 1979 after keeping it in the family for over 50 years. Nancy and Dennis Koloostian returned the house to its original name after purchasing it in 1998. Nancy was an active member of the Historical Society, kept an 1890s house Overend Villa, on Tuttle Avenue, and was President of the Inns and Bed and Breakfasts of Spring Lake. Dennis served on the Spring Lake Borough Council. The hotel has been in the family for the last 25 years.
Colleen and Jared Kaloostian, the current second-generation innkeepers of the Ocean House, continue a tradition of pride in the history of the building as they celebrate the hotel’s 145th year.
Brochure from the 1960s Colonial