Jenkinson's Aquarium Live Cam

Jenkinson's Aquarium provides an elegant surrounding where your guests can mingle amongst our alligators, seals, penguins, sharks and exotic fish. The Aquarium can accommodate up to 300 people for a cocktail reception and up to 140 people for a sit-down affair. Jenkinson's has developed a catering menu that will meet your every need or you may choose from a list of approved outside caterers.

Jenkinson's Aquarium offers exhibits on a variety of aquatic themes. You can expect to find: Local Salt Water Fish; Artificial Reefs; Coral Reefs (Coral Reef Fish, Live Corals, Anemones and Gorgonians); awesome looking Sharks from both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; Harbor Seals; African Black-footed Penguins; American Alligators; Touch Tanks; Parrots; Local Fresh Water Fish; Marine Fossils; and a scaled down model of the H.M.S. Bounty that was used in the movie, "Mutiny on the Bounty".

Jenkinson's Aquarium welcomes school groups Monday through Friday from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM - Arrangements can be made for local groups to arrive as early as 9:00 AM. It is best to book reservations well in advance. Programs scheduled to occur from September to March 15 are up to 1 1/2 hours long, while those occurring after March 15 through August are limited to 1 hour. The Aquarium offers a wide variety of programs for all ages. You may elect a guided tour or a focus program.Call for options and availability.

You qualify for outreach programs if you have previously had a group tour at the Aquarium in that academic year. These are adapted from some of the above focus programs: Shark Secrets; Penguin Pointers; Outrageous Reptiles; Habitat Habits; and Fins, Scales and Fishy Tales. You may also design your own outreach program by contacting the Aquarium. Due to concerns of stress on the live animals involved in the programs, outreach programs will be limited to an audience of 70 students. The outreach programs will be given only during the months of October, November, December, January and February. The Aquarium will travel distances of up to 25 miles. The fee charged for outreach programs ranges from $150 to $200, depending upon travel time and distance.

Jenkinson's was established in 1927 by Charles H. Jenkinson. Jenkinson also operated candy, popcorn, and soda fountain businesses at the north and south pavilions in Ocean Grove and Asbury Park, New Jersey. The Pavilion in Ocean Grove was owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association; with his long business experience with these pavilions, it followed that Jenkinson wanted to own and operate his own pavilion. From 1927 through 1938 Jenkinson continued to operate the businesses in Ocean Grove as well as his own pavilion in Point Pleasant Beach.

Jenkinson's Pavilion remained an open-air design for the first two years. The east side of the boardwalk included a candy stand, a soda fountain, and a small kitchen which served chowder and sandwiches. The swimming pool, bath houses, and a novelty store were located on the west side of the boardwalk. In 1929, the pavilion was enlarged fifty feet on the north side and thirty feet on the east side. The dance hall and a separate soda fountain from the candy stand were built; this was the beginning of the dancing at Jenkinson's Pavilion. To accommodate the growing business, the property to the north side and thirty feet on the west side of the boardwalk were purchased by Jenkinson. This property was used as a miniature golf course and a parking lot. In 1931 the beach front adjacent to this piece of property was purchased; eventually the remaining street area was purchased.

In 1934 Jenkinson rented the beach front north of the already- purchased property. They also operated the old inlet pavilion, the bath houses, and the novelty store. In 1937, Charles H. Jenkinson died. His son, Orlo Jenkinson Sr., continued to run the business. That same year, Jenkinson's began broadcasting from the dance hall on a national radio hookup, featuring the Orchestra of Sammy Kaye. Other well known band leaders who played at Jenkinson's Pavilion were Tommy Tucker, Johnny Long, and Happy Felton.

In 1938, an additional thirty-eight feet were added to the pavilion structure on the north side and an additional twenty feet were added on the east side. During that same year, the dance hall in the pavilion was enlarged by over two thousand square feet. Also, during that year, the Jenkinson Holding Company was formed to purchase the remaining 1,950 feet of the beach front to the north of the pavilion. This boundry was the middle of Broadway.

In 1949, the Jenkinson Holding Company aquired the inlet property which consisted of approximately five hundred feet of beach front, the large block of land west of the boardwalk, bounded on the south by Broadway, and on the west by Ocean Avenue, and on the north by the south jetty of the Manasquan Inlet. The north boundry of this parcel encompassed the majority of the rock jetty.