The 1799 home of the physician who lobbied for the Absecon Lighthouse and effectively founded Atlantic City now operates as a B&B — Room 2 bears the name of his wife Caroline, who staff say never left.
57 N Shore Rd, Absecon, NJ 08201
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
B&B room rates; check website for seasonal pricing. Private baths and gas fireplaces in all rooms and suites.
Access
Limited Access
Historic 1799 and 1848 structure with stairs. No elevator.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1799 · Home of Dr. Jonathan Pitney — Father of Atlantic City · Absecon Lighthouse Advocacy History · Camden and Atlantic Railroad Connection · 1848 Expansion
Jonathan Pitney was born in 1797 in New Jersey and completed a medical education before settling in Absecon around 1819. He established himself as the community physician — by most accounts a well-liked and effective practitioner — but his ambitions for the region went beyond medicine. Pitney recognized that the barrier island geography at the south end of the county was both beautiful and inaccessible, and that accessibility was the thing that could change it.
Pitney lobbied Congress for years for a lighthouse at Absecon Inlet, where the shoals had claimed vessels with regularity. His advocacy is credited with the appropriation that funded construction beginning in 1854, the same year the Powhatan disaster gave the cause new urgency. He also spent years promoting the case for a railroad connection, eventually helping attract the Camden and Atlantic Railroad to run service through Absecon to the island. The first excursion train arrived in 1854. What followed was Atlantic City.
Pitney has been called the 'Father of Atlantic City' in the regional historical literature, a title that acknowledges both his railroad work and his role in defining the resort concept before any resort existed. He lived in this house on North Shore Road until his death in 1869.
The house dates to 1799 in its core structure, with a major expansion in 1848. A 2015 restoration updated the interiors while preserving the period character of the rooms and suites. Eight rooms and six suites with private baths and gas fireplaces operate today.
Sources
The paranormal reputation of the Pitney House centers on Room 2 — named Caroline's Room for Dr. Pitney's wife — where owner Ed Fitzgerald has said, in press coverage, that the doctor 'insisted his wife live in the house forever' and that she remains. The most striking reported event came during a pre-Halloween gathering organized by an earlier owner, Vonnie Clark: more than fifty guests present heard bells ring inside the house, despite Clark's confirmation that no bells existed in the building.
Guests staying in Caroline's Room have reported seeing two men walk through the space and disappear through the wall. The figures are described as wearing period-appropriate clothing and paying no apparent attention to the living occupants of the room. A separate category of reports involves the sound of fife or flute music and bells — music described as coming from within the house with no identifiable instrument or source.
The building's speaker system — which runs through the house — has been reported to activate and emit sounds that staff and owners attribute to Jonathan Pitney, described as communicating through the intercom. The Press of Atlantic City sent a journalist to spend the night and document the claims; the resulting article noted a pervasive sense of presence in the building without specific visible phenomena during that particular stay.
Notable Entities
Eight period-appointed rooms and six suites, all with private baths and gas fireplaces, in a house built in 1799 and expanded in 1848 — the home of the physician who lobbied Congress for the Absecon Lighthouse and promoted the railroad development that made Atlantic City possible. Room 2, named for Dr. Pitney's wife Caroline, draws the most reported paranormal activity.
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