Lacey Township
The first European settlers came to what is now known as Lacey Township in the 1600s, building homes along Barnegat Bay. After John Eastwood built his sawmill on Cedar Creek in 1740, development was steady.
The first Universalist service in the U.S. was held in 1770 at Thomas Potter's meeting house in Lanoka Harbor. It was conducted by the Rev. John Murray, whose ship, Hand-In-Hand, had grounded at Cranberry Inlet.
The township, incorporated in 1871, was named for John Lacey, who built an iron works at Bamber in 1809. The ore from the forge was shipped out along Lacey Road.
The ore industry and the lumber industry, another big part of the area's early economy, both declined by the later 1800s after the resources they depended on became depleted. Shipbuilding and other maritime trades flourished from the Revolutionary War until the early 1900s. The tourist trade rose in the early 1900s, according to the Ocean County Library Community Profile of the township.
There were several large hotels at that time: Forked River House, Parker House, Greyhound Inn and Riverside Hotel. The Riverside, now known as Captain's Inn, is the only one still standing. The population of the township was estimated to have grown to more than 23,700 by 1997.