Individuals who cannot navigate the stairs at the Lakewood Historical Museum, Pine Park, now have a solution.

Lakewood officials authorized the installation of a chairlift system from the basement to the 1st floor, and a second lift that goes from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor. Two independent chairlifts wrap around the wall continuously and both go up or down.

Both chairlifts, from Accessible Homes LLC, have a remote operating system that brings the lift to the user if it is at the other end. The Ocean County Society of Model Railroaders (OCSMR) have installed a remote at the top of the first floor and at the basement where the train club is located. Each remote is installed inside a box to bring the lift to the user.

Ted Bertiger, president of the OCSMR, said, “This is a huge benefit to our club that has members with advancing age. I would guess that 20 percent of the train club members have immediately benefitted with the lift system.”

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About the Lakewood Historical Museum: The Lakewood Historical Museum, Pine Park, Lakewood, N.J., is housed in Kuser Hall, a two-story, 16,000 square-foot former classroom building. Through the volunteer efforts of members in the Historical Society and the Heritage Commission, the first floor of Kuser Hall has been transformed into a showcase, featuring galleries of Lakewood memorabilia and artifacts. Funds are needed to restore the second floor of Kuser Hall, and to acquire and build an elevator.

Kuser Hall is the last remaining building of five that made up the Newman School, an exclusive preparatory boarding school for boys, which closed in 1942 as young men left for the war. The building, which the township acquired in 1964 through Green Acres Funding, was the math and science center of the school.

Photos: Ted Bertiger