Due to the deepwater harbor and the availability of timber, shipbuilding thrived along the Great Egg Harbor Bay from 1860 to 1890. Three-masted schooners such as the Emma Cottingham and the 21 Friends, as well as sloops and barges, dotted the bayfront. Van Sant’s at the foot of New Jersey Avenue was the last of the large shipyards. Boats were launched at the ends of Somers Avenue, George Street, and Delaware Avenue, and horses pulled boats from Sooy’s Boatworks at Pennsylvania and Shore Road down Delaware Avenue to the bay.