Our founder John Bahrs, the son of a tall ship captain, and his wife Florence, had their beginning in Newark where they owned and operated a small neck tie manufacturing business. One year they had a robbery and their entire supply of silk was wiped out, causing the business to fold. They sold what equipment they had left and headed for a new endeavor. This brought them to Highlands where they purchased a beached houseboat being used as sport fisherman's motel as well as a rowboat rental business. The houseboat structure still remains. On the day after the Bahrs' signed the contracts (1917), a severe Nor' Easter arrived and wiped out all of the rowboats. Consequently, they started serving meals to the fisherman staying aboard the boathouse motel.
