Ocean Grove tents. June, 2013. Paul Goldfinger photo © Click to read the sign.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
In Morris Daniels’ book The Story of Ocean Grove, 1869-1919, he said, “Being primarily a camp ground, tents were the abode of the people. By the end of 1871, The CMA (‘The Association’) owned 201 tents, but these were not sufficient to meet the demand.”
By 1879, it was decided to rearrange the tents around and near the Auditorium. Then there were about 700 tents. The tents were divided into “blocks” which were given names such as Auditorium Circle, Bethany, and Bethesda. The tents were very popular, and if Rev. Stokes were around today, he would not be surprised by the competitive popularity of the tents in Ocean Grove.
In the photo above, the sign indicates to watch for pedestrians over the next 600 feet. In 1871, carriage drivers had to pay similar heed.
I bet that the pitter-patter of raindrops on the canvas roofs caught the attention of the tenters. It must have been a very reassuring sound to those religious pilgrims of the 19th century in Ocean Grove, and surely they thought of them as gifts from heaven.
Here is Tony Bennett regarding those gifts. He is at Carnegie Hall live on June 9, 1962 with the Ralph Sharon Orchestra—it can’t get better than that.
Here is a link “The Summer Tents” from August 2013