Bahrs Landing Is Still Standing in 2024 | Highlands, New Jersey

Bahrs Landing restaurant, Highlands, New Jersey

Bahrs Landing Has Made It Through Much Adversity For Over 100 Years

Bahr’s Landing Restaurant and Marina is a legendary place situated on Sandy Hook Bay in Highlands, New Jersey.

Bahrs Landing is still open after more than 100 years!

They survived all the terrible storms of the last two decades, including Superstorm Sandy. They survived Covid.

Superstorm Sandy

Bahrs Landing sustained considerable damage in October 2012 from Hurricane “Superstorm” Sandy, which destroyed many other businesses in the area.

It is open year-round, and the owners were determined to re-open quickly:

100th Anniversary

How did it all start? On the Bahrs Landing website, it states:

Founder John ”Jack” Bahrs, the grandson of a tall ship captain, and his wife Florence had their beginning in the Dutch Neck section of Newark, where they owned and operated a small neck tie manufacturing business. The family was interested in Highlands, and after a robbery and their silk supply and finished neckties, they cemented their resolve to move to Highlands.

The story continues:

They purchased a small boat rental business on Cedar Street that they operated in the summer and went back to work in Newark for the off-season. In 1917, they purchased the beached houseboat at this location, moved the rental boats over, and started cooking up chowder. The rest is history! Jack, Florence, and their four children, John(Bud), Al, Ken, and Ruth, worked hard together selling bait, renting rowboats, and cooking up dinners for fishing parties that would come down on the train Friday night and pay $2.50 for room and board. The two-story houseboat had a potbelly stove and operated just seasonally. The houseboat structure remains as the interior of the main dining room and reception area.

They celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2017! This was a photo I took for Instagram at the time.