Tuckerton, Mystic Island, Fish Factory

Tuckerton, Mystic Island, and the Fish Factory — 1962

The 1962 aerial of this area is one of the most fascinating in the collection. Three distinct landscapes appear in a single view: the ancient Tuckerton fish factory — known locally as the "stinkhouse" — on the bay's edge, where menhaden were processed for oil and fertilizer through the mid-20th century; the early grid of Mystic Island, a planned residential community being carved from salt marsh and meadow beginning in the late 1950s (the freshly dredged canals and fill-land lots are strikingly visible against the ancient wetland); and Great Bay Boulevard threading south through the marshes toward Little Egg Inlet. This 1962 aerial captures a landscape at the exact moment of transformation — the last glimpse of an ancient bay economy alongside the first footprints of suburban development.