Mays Landing

Mays Landing became the center of shipbuilding in Atlantic County. George May, the founder of Mays Landing, was a blacksmith and shipbuilder. In the mid-18th century, he had opened a store supplying vessels putting into Great Egg Harbor. Other Mays Landing shipwrights were Samuel Gaskill, James and John Clark and Nicholas Lane.It was then that Mays Landing reached the height of its shipbuilding. From 1830 to 1880, more than two hundred vessels were built along the Great Egg Harbor River with lumber from native forests and iron from Weymouth foundries. Half of them were produced at Mays Landing.But as time passed, wood shipbuilding began to disappear due to the lack of suitable timber. Iron was then substituted for hull construction. By 1890, there were only twelve shipyards in South Jersey employing about five hundred men, where once a great industry had flourished along its riverbanks. The era of the great sailing ships in American commerce had passed.