How cute is this cottage? Paul Goldfinger photo August, 2018.
KEVIN CHAMBERS (OG historian):
A moving history:
This cottage was first built on the North End by the OGCMA and used as a tool shed in the early 1870’s.
It was then moved to Main Ave and used as a ticket booth for the Circle Bus Line than ran in O.G. and then moved to the back of the lot facing Heck Ave where it stands today.
It is one of about ten cottages built in the style of a tent that have survived in the Grove.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor of Blogfinger.net and Sale organizer. 6/27/26
Jean Bredin and Joy Adase were among a group of Heck Avenue neighbors who once again enjoyed a successful Town-Wide Yard Sale at the west end of Heckland. These Hecksters are shown in the video below. They were going to cancel because of a 95% predicted rain forecast.
But actually there was no rain until later into the afternoon, so they reconsidered. 26 sales were scattered about town.
Mine was the only display that was not a yard sale. Instead I ran a gallery showing of limited edition black and white photographs by me, Paul Goldfinger.
I enjoyed my event because photo fans stopped on my porch to talk image-making and to converse about a wide variety of topics.
Paul Goldfinger presented his own version of “Art on the Porch..”
Here’s a video by Jean Bredin, a Blogfinger reporter and photographer:
And here’s a link from the Town-Wide Sale in 2022:
Some years ago, every Choir Festival Day, the vocalists arrived early for rehearsals. Many had a ritual of setting up picnics in Firemen’s Park. It was a sort of tradition, and we, across the street, enjoyed it too. Sometimes they did a bit of rehearsing or reviewing the music.
Then, it abruptly it stopped. We guessed that the CMA decided to feed them.
This park has wonderful trees, many of which were donated by the neighbors. We also donated the boards for the benches.
The picnic above was set beneath a stately Shademaster locust tree which we planted about ten years ago with the help of the Neptune DPW. It grows 2-feet each year. It reaches 50- 75 feet tall. It’s too bad that they don’t prune those trees.
This park attracts so many dog walkers–it is a subculture in the Grove, and many of them are newcomers who have bought homes or are renting to escape the troubles in the Big Apple. Someday there will be a dog park in town.
This image looks like a family affair, and in recent years there has been an influx of young families, and that is terrific. The park is used for Wiffle ball games, catch with Dad, kids, 2 mitts, and a hardball, little kids learning how to skateboard along the cement paths, tree climbers, strollers, beach goers, bench sitters, and bikers taking the shortest distance between 2 points, and, yes picnics. Moms with toddlers love to enter the park.
I wish more musicians would come to the park as well as some cultural events such as story telling, poetry reading, and art shows.
And maybe some firemen might take down that disgraceful, ugly, locked iron fence with dangerous shrubs surrounding the bell. File this post under “Ocean Grove life-styles”
The movie Picnic starred William Holden and Kim Novak. It is from 1955 and is set in a little Kansas town over the Labor Day holiday.
