There is a 167-acre plot of land along the Kettle Creek known as "Air Port Tract". This land was purchased by the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust Fund as part of a larger acquisition in cooperation with Brick Township and Save the Barnegat Bay in December of 1998. The airport tract is comprised of a stand of upland pine/oak forest, small pockets of freshwater wetlands, these two habitats are similar to that of the Pine Barrens and support many of the same species of plants, and all of this is adjacent to the Barnegat Bay tucked away in a corner of Brick town. While walking on the property, you can easily forget you are in Brick, due to the peaceful nature of the property.

Remnants of the old Cranberry bogs such as the old dike and bog can still be seen, although the cranberries, which once flourished here, have been replaced by Spartina marsh. The old farmhouse, barn, and other structures, which stood on the property for more than a century, have been dismantled and all that remains are the memories of one family in Brick who owned the property from the beginning of the 19th century up until the late 20th century; their story follows:

William Browers originally from Long Island NY settled on the 100-acre piece of land stretching from Cherry Quay to Shore Acres in the early 1800's. Three generations of the Browers lived on the property (William Brower, John Brower, and Elvie Brower). Elvie Brower was married to Ida Holtz; together they had nine children (Edward, Stella, Earnest, Yuna, Janie, Elvin, Gill, Marian, and Charlotte). Elvie Brower sold the property in the late 1980's early 1990's to Joe Pal, who eventually sold the property to Ocean County to be used as open space.

In the 1800's the land in and around Brick NJ was much different than it is today. According to Mr. Doug Jones, and his Cousin Eddy Brower, who are the descendents of the Browers, the area was sparsely populated and was comprised of several farming communities and an iron forge located at Laurelton. They spoke of times they spent hunting rabbits on the property, and helping to 'harvest ice' from the Barnegat bay; which they stored in the 'icehouse' and it would last all summer long. They also spoke of traveling on the barrier island, near present day Mantoloking, down to Lavallette in horse drawn carts being pulled through the sand, "there was no Route 35 in those days" says Eddy.

The Browers lived off the land; they farmed such crops as salt hay, cabbage, corn, and cranberry, they raised cattle, milk cows, and hunted ducks and rabbits. A farmhouse, a barn, as well as other structures such as the icehouse, could be found on the property while the Brower clan lived and worked the property. The barn was built from large timbers, which the Browers would collect from shipwrecks along the ocean side of the barrier islands and bring back to their property.

Oysters were rarely found in Barnegat Bay in large quantities. The northern portions of the bay had muck like bottom, and there were few areas, which had sandy bottoms to support oysters. The Browers would row out to the beds of oysters they knew of near Green Island at night so that no one knew were they could be found. The oyster beds off of Green Island were a treasured secret for Doug & Eddie's grandfather.

In 1925 the Point Pleasant Canal was built which changed the area from a stable freshwater area to an area with salt-water tides and currents, or as Doug & Eddie's grandfather said, "Ruined by the developers in point pleasant". Due to the intrusion of salt water in this portion of the bay, the cranberry bogs the Browers tended to were inundated and ceased to produce any more fruit, also many of the Atlantic white cedars Chamaecyparis thyoides which lined this portion of Barnegat Bay had been killed.

In the 1930's development began and the area changed from small farming communities to more structured "sub-divisions" and the many "hamlets" with names like Cherry Quay, Shore Acres, Adamston, and Osborneville, to name a few, which made up the demographic of the area began to be replaced and eventually incorporated into one larger township, these sections of Brick still exist today.

All of these "sections" of what is now Brick Town had their own post offices at the time, however in the 1950's it was decided that the area needed one central post office. Of course all of the separate sections had thoughts as to the name of the town; it was decided that the name on post office be Brick Township which was derived from "Bricksburg", however due to a United States Postal Service stipulation the word township could not appear in the name of a post office, so it was shortened to "Bricktown" and eventually to "Brick" and this is how The Township of Brick NJ got its name, as a postal designation.

As a child the Elvie Brower's grandson Doug Jones remembers watching the Ospreys Pandion haliaetus, or as Doug and his family like to call the "fish hawks", nest on the property. In March of 2007, the Parkday Organization along with Mr. Jones and some friends constructed and hoisted a 15-foot Osprey tower in the marsh. The Osprey tower will house many generations of Osprey and provide them a wonderful home, much like the land had done for the Browers for all those years. On May 2, 2007 a juvinile osprey was spotted on the nesting plaform, by Doug. There will probably not be a nest this year as it is late in the season, hopefully this is a sign that the juvinile spotted this year will make this nesting site it's home in the future.