The biggest challenge, of course, was how to transport the trolley to the remote spec of land. Ingenuity prevailed again. For $300, Ed Sr. had the trolley shipped on a flatbed truck.
It took several years for Ed Sr., a bus driver and his wife worked for the phone company, and his Scandinavian friends to secure the trolley and build a cottage around it. The Sjonells lived in a two-family home in Elizabeth, and the trolley was their rustic weekend home
Eventually, the trolley structure boasted a kitchen and two bedrooms, all fashioned inside the original passenger car; the living room and front porch were built as add-ons.
Ed Jr says they made the trek to Point Pleasant just about every weekend. “We’d drive down Route 34,” says Sjonell. “Every third or fourth trip, we’d get a flat tire.” The family would stop off at an ice house on their way to the Shore. “We’d get a hunk of ice for a quarter and put it in the icebox on the back porch,” he recalls. “We had a pump for water. We had an outhouse. You could say it was very rustic.”
Days were spent fishing, crabbing and swimming in the nearby Manasquan River. “We’d go fishing all the time,” says Sjonell. “We caught eels in the bay, and my father would fry them.” Weekends were a special time. Life was carefree; the trolley home sat on what was then a sandy, dead-end street.
Soon enough, Sjonell, Kathy and their three children took over the trolley house, and the fun times continued with a new generation enjoying the house. (The family’s full-time residence is in Scotch Plains, where Sjonell retired as a guidance counselor.) “It stayed basically the same for the next 60 years,” says Kathy. “We only decided to expand when our six grandchildren began to appear.” In 2002, the couple decided to tear down the tiny house while leaving the trolley intact, a project easier said than done.
Eventually, they stumbled upon David Feldman of Feldman & Feldman Architects in Wall Township. “He shared our love of the old car,” says Kathy. When Feldman sketched a two-story home that resembled a trolley car pulling into a station, the Sjonells knew they had found their architect. “That was it,” adds Sjonell. “Feldman was the man.” Adds Kathy, “He maintained the integrity.”
and this beauty of a home and trolley car, will be the family weekend get-a-way, long after that sailor is forgotten. Some of our actions can have long lasting effects, but very few, and usually, only if our families treasure them. So, if you want to be remembered for centuries to come, you must build or create something that will last, AND be treasured.
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