Yacht to See It! Renovated Stone Harbor Yacht Club is Stunning
The newly renovated Yacht Club of Stone Harbor.
This is a View to a Thrill.
The Yacht Club of Stone Harbor celebrates its 90th anniversary in dramatic style this summer. An unprecedented renovation brings breathtaking bay views from two new decks, a palatial member dining area, bar, kitchen, plush navy-blue carpet, men’s and women’s restrooms, and a history cabinet. An elevator from the first floor escorts guests up to what’s called the High Tide area.
These are only some of the highlights for this storied structure, a landmark synonymous with Stone Harbor itself and one well-equipped for the future. The membership waiting list might grow as word of this top-shelf project spreads.
“Nearly every room in this building was touched,” general manager Peter Miner says of a process that unfolded from October until May and was unfurled to members on Memorial Day weekend. “When we opened it up [some 450 people attended the kickoff weekend at this private facility], many of the members were speechless. It blew a lot of people’s minds.
“The message we send to them is we put our members first. The sunsets and the lightning storms and the snowstorms are things people are really going to want to see from the deck. I think this is absolutely the best view in all of Cape May County.”
It can’t be overstated. The water views run seemingly forever and the decks provide an elegant place from which to witness them.
This project grew from the sentiment of giving members a high-level enclave when events like weddings and banquets occupied the bottom floor. There are no weddings or outside events in July and August, but regardless of what’s happening in that part of the building during any season, the second floor has become an excellent gathering spot. Perhaps a club within a club.
Miner, previously a contractor, appreciates the sense of detail that was applied.
“I can envision what this was going to look like, but the finishing touches have me wowed,” he says. “The wallpaper, the lighting, the ceiling, etc., it’s tremendous.”
Stephen Mottola, the club’s 2015 commodore, led its efforts to upgrade the buildings and grounds. High Tide instantly became a coveted area of the establishment.
“We wanted to capture the bay views like never before,” he says, “and we did not want Stone Harbor to look like a copy of other clubs. In the upstairs, we decided to do a hybrid of the Hamptons and Nantucket. It has a feel for both.
“If the downstairs is used for a community event or a wedding, our members have a more glamorous space upstairs. We have six handicap-accessible bathrooms now, where we used to have one. There is a locker area for our employees, we have uniforms for staff. Everybody is uniformed out the same way. Overall, we just made a much more cohesive dining, drinking and sailing club.”
Mottola also is happy for one thing the renovation did not entail: an assessment. He says a cash reserve paid for the entire project.
One of the club’s appeals is longevity and a thread through generations. Mottola celebrates his 25th anniversary here and likens the community to friends one makes in college. There is an anticipation of renewal each year after some months apart. In this case, many of the reunions occur in the summer. Mottola recalls being persuaded to join the club by a family with a 4-year-old son in 1994. In June, he was scheduled to attend the wedding of that young man, now 29.
“It gives you a sense of watching your family grow,” he says. “In the time you spend with people at the club, you develop relationships for life. We communicate with other people. We text all year and when we get together, it is truly a place that you feel is your own.”
And then there’s longevity with a capital “L.”
Mottola’s sailing partner, Bob McNeill, is part of the oldest family at the club. His grandparents, Dr. Robert and Jane McNeill, were founding members. This connection has passed down through five generations, covering all 90 years of the club. Bob McNeill’s wife, Ellen, went there as a child before meeting him. Even way before.
“When was the first time I was here? I don’t remember,” she laughs. “I think I was an infant. We had youth activities, we sailed and we spent every day in the club racing or playing. There was a sense of being around people that was just wonderful. For my husband and I, the goal was to own our own home in Stone Harbor, so that we could be at the yacht club all summer long.”
That goal was realized in 1978 and the McNeills became deeply immersed in this facility. Ellen would serve as its first female board member and now as the coordinator for the annual yearbook of 170 pages. McNeill excerpted a quote from Jim Slane, a member from the 1930s, in this year’s edition.
“He said, ‘Here you will find a warm welcome, good fellowship, happiness long to be cherished and a host of pleasant memories,’ ” she says. “That was said a very long time ago. It’s just as true today.”
The club is known for many things. Throughout the summer, families enjoy a wide range of sailing, power boating and other sport activities, as well as social and community-service events. Its Youth Activities Program provides seven weeks of instruction for the children of the members.
In late June, it scheduled an event that was literally out of this world. NASA astronaut Nick Hague planned a FaceTime greeting from the International Space Station, where he is engaged on a mission. He participated in the celebration honoring his wife, Catie, being promoted to full Air Force colonel. The couple have family connections at the club: members Charles Devlin and Clare Keenan.
FaceTime? Perhaps no technological element best portrays the bridge between past and present.
The history of this facility is extensive. In 1911, the Stone Harbor Yacht Club was built for Stone Harbor Realty Company by John Larsen, grandfather of recently deceased Fleet Historian Jane Scott. The club failed during the Depression. But in 1929, Jane’s father, Clarence O. Letzkus, along with a small group of men, reorganized it as the Yacht Club of Stone Harbor by selling proprietary memberships. The 1911 building is used to this day by members and their guests. An exhibit including club history can be seen at the Stone Harbor Museum. Now you will see an exhibit on the club’s history installed at the club.
The Yacht Club preserves part of its past and is well-positioned for the future. A renovation for the ages has spawned a new one.
