Lightning strikes historic Shore hotel

A historic Jersey Shore hotel sustained minor damage Monday morning after lightning associated with a strong storm struck the building’s peak, officials say.

A bolt struck the peak of a cone-shaped area on The Grenville Hotel & Restaurant roof along Route 35 in Bay Head shortly after 7 a.m.

Firefighters with the Bay Head and Mantoloking fire departments responded along with the Point Pleasant First Aid and Emergency Squad.

Although the roof area sustained some damage, there were was no active fire or injuries, according to a post on the Barnegat Bay Island, NJ Facebook page.

The northern Ocean County hotel, dubbed by the establishment “the Grand Victorian Lady of the Jersey Shore,” was built in 1890 and renovated in the late 1980s and after a new owner purchased the property in 2004, according to its website.

Lightning is also being investigated as the possible cause of a fire that broke out around the same time in the Ortley Beach section of Toms River, police say.