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==Early history== The area that is currently Mystic Island was once called "Hickory Island", and was serviced by the [[Tuckerton Railroad]] and one two-lane street named "Shore Road", which was later renamed "Radio Road" after the Tuckerton Wireless Tower. The Tuckerton Wireless Tower ({{Coord|39.5585|N|74.3706|W|type:landmark_region:US-NJ|name=Tuckerton Wireless Tower}}) was built in 1912 by the German "Hochfrequenzmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie" company (The High Frequency Machine Corporation for Wireless Telegraphy, often referred to as HOMAG) when the present-day Mystic Island was called Hickory Island.<ref name=Giffordtown>{{cite web |title=Tuckerton Wireless |url=http://www.lehsd.k12.nj.us/virtualcom/Giffordtown/Wireless/tuckerton_wireless.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070730103446/http://www.lehsd.k12.nj.us/virtualcom/Giffordtown/Wireless/tuckerton_wireless.htm |archive-date=2007-07-30}}</ref> The tower was used to communicate with an identical radio telegraph station in [[Eilvese transmitter|Eilvese]], Germany starting on Jun 19, 1914,{{citation needed|date=May 2024|reason=previous image ref has no text.}} less than two weeks before the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.<ref>{{cite web |title=28 June 1914 – The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand |website=www.gwpda.org |url=http://www.gwpda.org/1914/ferddead.html}}</ref> The station continued to communicate with Eilvese until America entered World War I on [[s:Woodrow Wilson declares war on Germany|April 6, 1917]].<ref name=ettc.net>{{cite web |title=Historic Monument - Telegraph Tower, Tuckerton |website=Art & Architecture of New Jersey |url=http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=808 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927130728/http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=808 |archive-date=2007-09-27}}</ref> It is rumored that it was used to send the message to order the attack by a German [[U-boat]] on the [[RMS Lusitania]]. After President Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality,<ref>{{cite web |title=19 August, 1914 – President Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality |website=www.gwpda.org |url=http://www.gwpda.org/1914/wilsonneut.html}}</ref> the President ordered the US Navy to take over the station on Sep 9, 1914 to assure the neutrality of messages sent to and from the station;<ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Order 2042—Taking Over High-Power Radio Station for Use of the Government |date=September 5, 1914 |website=The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/275294}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Howeth, Linwood S. |date=1963 |chapter=Chapter XIX, Operations and Organization of United States Naval Radio Service During Neutrality Period |title=History of communications-electronics in the United States Navy |page=227 |via=HathiTrust |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112064674325;view=1up;seq=259}}</ref> however, the station continued to be operated by German nationals employed by HOMAG and continued to communicate only with the Eilvese radio station.<ref>{{cite book |author=Howeth, Linwood S. |date=1963 |chapter=Chapter XIX, Operations and Organization of United States Naval Radio Service During Neutrality Period |title=History of communications-electronics in the United States Navy |page=229 |via=HathiTrust |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112064674325;view=1up;seq=261}}</ref> When America entered the war, all U.S. radio stations were seized and shut down by Executive Order.<ref>{{cite web |title=Executive Order 2605A—Taking Over Necessary and Closing Unnecessary Radio Stations |date=April 30, 1917 |website=The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/275439}}</ref> The Tuckerton Radio Station was assigned to the US Navy, which used it primarily to back-up the communications of the US Navy's main transatlantic radio station in [[New Brunswick, New Jersey]].<ref>{{cite book |title=History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy |author=Linwood S. Howeth |year=1963 |pages=227–235 |chapter=CHAPTER XIX: Operations and Organization of United States Naval Radio Service During Neutrality Period |url=http://www.radiorepairguy.com/web/1963hw19.htm#19sec3 |via=www.radiorepairguy.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928205011/http://www.radiorepairguy.com/web/1963hw19.htm#19sec3 |archive-date=2007-09-28}}</ref>{{verify source|date=May 2024}} The remaining German personnel at Tuckerton became war prisoners and were replaced by Navy personnel when the U.S. entered the war.<ref name=ettc.net/> After the war, the Tuckerton Wireless Station was included in German war reparations paid to America. Shortly afterwards, it was sold to [[RCA]], which operated it until 1948 as a backup to their Radio Central facility in [[Rocky Point, New York]]. In 1921, RCA installed two massive [[Alexanderson alternator]]s, which were removed in 1948. For transatlantic communications, the radio station operated under the [[call sign]]s WCI and WGG. For coastal communications, after World War I, the station operated under the callsign WSC. The 680-foot (820?<ref name=tuckmain/>) (865?) steel tower,<ref name=oceancountylibrary>{{cite web |title=History |website=Tuckerton Community Profile |url=http://www.oceancountylibrary.org/Branches/T/tcomprofile.htm |access-date=April 2, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928064255/http://www.oceancountylibrary.org/Branches/T/tcomprofile.htm |archive-date=2007-09-28 |quote=Just prior to World War I, the German government built the Tuckerton Wireless, a 680 feet tall tower with the capability of communicating directly with Europe. The tower was operated by German nationals until the entrance of the United States into the war. Local folklore maintains that the message "Get the Lucy" was broadcast from the tower, which resulted in the famous sinking of the Lusitania. The tower was dismantled in 1950.}}</ref> anchored by three large concrete blocks, was taken down on December 27, 1955,<ref name=Giffordtown/><ref name=tuckmain>{{cite web |title=Tuckerton Wireless, 1912 - 1955 |website= |url=http://mcnally.cc/tuckmain.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207111626/http://mcnally.cc/tuckmain.htm |archive-date=2012-02-07}}</ref> or 1950.<ref name=oceancountylibrary/> The three huge anchor blocks still exist today, in a backyard on North Ensign Drive,<ref name=Giffordtown/><ref name=tuckmain/><ref name=stuofdoom>{{cite web |title=Mystic Island's Concrete Tower Blocks |date=November 2004 |website=www.stuofdoom.com |url=http://www.stuofdoom.com/blocks.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929204116/http://www.stuofdoom.com/blocks.html |archive-date=2007-09-29}}</ref> in the middle of South Ensign Drive,<ref name=Giffordtown/><ref name=tuckmain/> and Staysail Drive.<ref name=Giffordtown/><ref name=tuckmain/><ref name=stuofdoom/> Many smaller anchor blocks providing foundations for smaller towers that supported the [[umbrella antenna]] are still visible in the lagoons. Remains of the tower can be seen at the Giffordtown Museum.<ref name=tuckmain/><ref>{{cite web |title=Giffordtown Schoolhouse Museum |publisher=Tuckerton Historical Society |url=http://www.tuckertonlehhs.org/schoolhouse.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102201809/http://www.tuckertonlehhs.org/schoolhouse.php |archive-date=2007-01-02}}</ref> ===Development=== [[File:Mystic1960s.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A postcard from the 1960s of W Playhouse Drive looking north, between Ship Drive and N Captains Drive]] After the demise of the tower, [[RCA]] sold the Hickory Island property at a sum of $55,000 to Lagoon Parks, Inc., a land development company of the 1950s and 60s, whose corporate partners are now deceased. The development was named "Mystic Islands", plural, encompassing seven small islands where the waterways were filled in to produce buildable land. Construction began slowly in 1959. The lagoons were dredged up until the early 1970s, when it was stopped by the [[New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection]] with the passage of CAFRA I and CAFRA II. Several unfinished lagoons can still be seen along the west end of Calabreeze Way and on the Osborn Island section. Mystic Islands only encompasses all areas south of Calabreeze Way; locals commonly refer to surrounding neighborhoods and streets as part of the community. The first sections to be completed were the Radio Road terminus, while the Twin Lakes Boulevard section was constructed well into the 1970s. The island currently known as "Osborn Island" was dubbed by its developers as "Oceanview", which was only accessible via a bridge on Radio Road. Up until the early 1990s, all homes part of the original were addressed by a confusing lot-and-block numbering system, which were eventually replaced with more conventional house numbers. Street signs were originally on wooden posts, with the names written vertically. They were slowly replaced with more conventional street signs, one on the corner of Twin Lakes Boulevard and Mountain Lake Drive still existed well into the late 2000s. Street signs in the Oceanview section were replaced by custom signs created by the Osborn Island Resident's Association. Some of the original bases of the Tuckerton Wireless tower were never removed. One is located in the backyard of a home on North Ensign Drive, while two stand on the middle of both Staysail Drive and South Ensign Drive, in which [[roundabouts]] were built around the blocks. Some smaller bases are also found in surrounding lagoons and marshes. ====Home designs==== [[File:Mysticislandroad.jpg|thumb|200px|Radio Road near Playhouse drive, near the former site of the Tuckerton Wireless Tower.]] The original home designs were basic bungalows, with 2 or 3 bedrooms and one bathroom, and a carport at the left side. The homes were intended to be sold as recreational or year round homes, as standard equipment included a furnace and Johns Manville R-7 Insulation. Over time, several more models were added, nearly a dozen during its boom period. Home designs included slab homes, raised homes, two-story, flat tops, raised roofs, etc. Two- and three-bedroom homes were also available. Model homes were located on Radio Road across from the Shops of Mystic Isle strip mall; the homes were later torn down to make way for the model homes for the Westwood development, all of which still stand and currently serve as commercial properties. The homes were made in a warehouse on the intersection of Radio Road and Playhouse Drive, near the site of the Tuckerton Wireless tower. Buyers ordered the design by catalog, and the homes were delivered a week later. The model homes were located on Radio Road, across from the present-day "Shoppes of Mystic Isle" shopping center. After the dredging of the lagoons was stopped, construction began on the non-waterfront section north of Calabreeze Way. The area east of Radio Road was named "Pulaski Village" and consisted of small, narrow homes, while the much larger section west of Radio Road, named "Westwood", contained suburban-style ranches and split-level homes. While these areas are not officially called "Mystic Islands", some homes of the original bungalow designs were constructed in these outlying areas, while at the same time, the larger, suburban homes were also offered on the original waterfront lots. However, tough economic times halted the development of the Westwood subdivision. In the early-1990s, development resumed in this unfinished area, when the empty lots were filled in with mid-size suburban homes built by several different developers. Homes on Oneida Lake Drive and Greenwood Lake Drive are part of the Noble Homes community titled "Fairwinds", while most homes from Mountain Lake Drive and north were dubbed "Drewes Landing".<ref>{{cite web |last=Davis |first=Tom |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AC&p_theme=ac&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAEAB6379DC5D3A&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=BUILDING BOOM - BLESSING OR CURSE? / SMOE IN LEHT FEAR NEW HOMES WILL MEAN INCREASED SCHOOL TAXES |work=[[The Press of Atlantic City]] |date=March 29, 1995 |access-date=July 21, 2016}}</ref> However, Drewes Landing was plagued with failed loans and [[racketeering]], and in August 1995, one of the developers and investors, 35-year-old Joseph G. Paggi Jr. killed himself after he failed to pay back loans for the development.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AC&p_theme=ac&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAEACD398153FEB&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=LOCAL DEVELOPER'S DEATH SPAWNS MILLIONS IN CLAIMS (PAGGI) |work=[[The Press of Atlantic City]] |last=Arney |first=Pat |date=March 17, 1997 |access-date=July 21, 2016}}</ref>
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