Ocean Grove, NJ.   Fletcher Lake, by Paul Goldfinger ©   Posted on November 1, 2012. Click all photos to enlarge.

Ocean Grove , the morning after Sandy hit on the evening of Oct. 29. 2012. By Bob Bowné; special to Blogfinger ©

Volunteers arrive at the OG boards to help. Oct. 30, 2012. Blogfinger.net photo.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net

The huge storm of October 29, 2012, has been such an iconic event for the Jersey Shore that photographs of  Superstorm Sandy in Ocean Grove/Neptune  and its aftermath will become a genre of its own, as occurred with Bob Bowné’s now famous image of the surf  thundering into shore, demolishing the OG Fishing Pier.    (here is a BF link regarding Bob’s photo:   Bob Bowné iconic Sandy photo Oct. 29, 2012. )

You can use our search box  (top right) to see some of our Sandy photographs of OG which have been published on Blogfinger.

Sandy was a turning point for our town—a momentous event which continues to influence how Ocean Grove has been evolving recently. This town has become more popular as city-folk and North Jersey people have heard about us.  Now, they seek protection from the virus, and the town continues to change dramatically with many second-homers replacing year-round residents.

The storm showed us our physical vulnerability. Luckily, we were not hit nearly as hard as other places at the Shore.

Sandy  revealed the potential of OG to come together as a community and it showed how much this town means to people all over the world.  As some of you may recall, the day after Sandy hit, Blogfinger received 25,000 hits. Ocean Grove is a very special place.

Volunteers from all over, including New England, arrived and went to work. The Camp Meeting set up facilities for them, and in the Community Room they offered Wi-Fi access and information about assistance for victims.

Ordinary citizens drove into town and found ways to help at the beach front.

Neptune Township failed to help at the Ocean Avenue-boardwalk-beach.  They did not show over a technicality, ie that they have no jurisdiction over those privately owned locations.

Unfortunately, the Camp Meeting Association, which welcomed the help, financial and physical from the residential community in town has now become more self centered and oblivious to those who actually live here.  Evidently they learned nothing of the potential “community ” of Ocean Grove which could have evolved out of Sandy. Their idea of “community” is those outsiders who are religious tourists.

Other towns along the Jersey Shore have also been changing since Sandy, but this town, with its definition as a historic residential community should have grabbed that momentum and run with it.  But no, as we see with the North End situation, we are still failing to define ourselves as a special small town community with everyone caring about the town’s future.  Factions continue to divide the Grove.

STUART MATTHEWMAN.  From the original movie soundtrack of the film  Twin Falls, Idaho–“Amapola”