Wind And Sea Festival Will Be Sept. 20 In Bayshore Waterfront Park

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — From kayaking to sandcastle building, the Monmouth County Park System will host its Wind & Sea Festival Sept. 20 in Port Monmouth.

Held from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. September 20 at Bayshore Waterfront Park in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown. Visitors are invited to try fishing, crabbing, kite flying, seining, shell painting and more.

Festivalgoers can also see sand sculptor John Gowdy at work, get their face painted and go on a selfie scavenger hunt. The Wind Wolves Traveling Kite Show will be there as well as representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, the New Jersey Kayaking Club and local environmental groups Save Coastal Wildlife and WATERSPIRIT.

The event also includes tours of the historic Seabrook-Wilson House (it's also known as "The Spy House" and is said to be haunted by the spirit of a boy who drowned there in colonial times), a children’s story time and craft and food vendors.

Most activities are free but some may have a fee. Admission and parking are free. Parking is available at the Belford Ferry Terminal located at 10 Harbor Way, Belford. A shuttle bus will transport visitors to and from the ferry terminal to Bayshore Waterfront Park.

Related: Middletown Is Home To One Of NJ's Spookiest Haunted Houses

The Seabrook-Wilson House is one of the last surviving homes of the Colonial period in Middletown.

During the Revolutionary War it functioned as a tavern that was popular among the British troops occupying Monmouth County at the time. After the British seized control of New York City, Central Jersey (where the famous Battle of Princeton was held, which America lost) and Monmouth County quickly fell to the British. In the 1770s, there were said to be "redcoats" all over this area, and the English used Sandy Hook as a key naval base to bring in supplies and guns.

The nickname Spy House comes from the lore that the local tavern owner at the time used to get the British soldiers drunk, who would then spill military secrets that he would pass on to Colonial American troops. The tavern also used to keep an eye on which British ships were sailing in and out of Sandy Hook.

The Seabrook House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and is currently owned by the Monmouth County Parks System. It is open during the week for tours.

"There's one story of a couple, a man and a woman, who came in for a tour of the house," said Middletown state Sen. Gerry Scharfenberger. "They were met with a docent (guide) fully dressed in colonial period garb who gave them the most extensive tour of the house, I mean really showing them all the rooms. This person knew so many impressive facts about the time period.

"Well, the next day the man realized he had left his wallet behind and he returned to the Seabrook-Wilson House. When he got there, the guide on duty told him it was impossible, the house had been closed to tours yesterday and nobody had been on the property."

And Scharfenberger has more: "There were so many incidents of vandalism and weird stuff going on at the Seabrook-Wilson House that the Middletown Police Department at one point had to station a police officer outside the building. He was there all night, standing outside, and swore that nobody went into the house. Except the next morning, people went inside and found all types of furniture moved, a hammer had been shoved into the dry wall."

Other Internet sites tell stories of a woman in white who is said to be the widow of a dead American Continental soldier. There are also stories of her son, who she raised from an infant in the Seabrook-Wilson House, but when he was a young boy went to play in the ocean across the street and tragically drowned. He now appears as a ghostly boy peering down from windows.

Truth or fiction? We'll let you decide.