Our History

The Boathouse Bar and Grill has been in operation since 1998 and is owned by Tim and Matt Harmon. The original Boathouse was located at 1401 Highway 71 in Belmar and moved to its current location at 1309 Main Street in Belmar, in November 2000. There have been several restaurants in this location prior to the Boathouse, including "Jerry O's", "The Rescue" and the "Wooden Nickel".

The back bar area was originally opened in 1933, the year of prohibition, as Feredys and then became John's office bar until it became THE RESCUE TAVERN in the late 70's through the early 90's. It was then sold and became Jerry O's and The Wooden Nickel. 

The upper dining room was a house that was purchased by The Rescue and incorporated into their operation. In the late 80's, The Rescue bought the gas station next door and all three buildings were put together. This is the building the main bar, game room and bathrooms are located. The courtyard was added in 1993 when it became "Jerry O's". No other major changes occurred until 2000, when The Boathouse gutted the main area.

Major renovations to The Boathouse began in 2002, including the new dining room, waitress station, pond, kitchen, men's room, women's room and front door area. The new dining room was completed in October 2002 and the old dining room became the game room. Several other renovations have occurred since then including new French doors leading out to the patio, the upstairs offices and the V.I.P./meeting room.

The boathouse is constantly updating the look and feel of the building and the inside areas for your eating and entertainment pleasure. We strive to keep things fresh and up to date with the times. For example we have gone from 20 to 30 televisions so every corner, every viewing angle is covered. Most of the TV's are now flat screens and we have 3 jumbo screens.

Come in and check out what we've done!