Fireman’s Park, Ocean Grove. May 20, 2021. Blogfinger photo
Neptune Township “takes care” of this park. What school of topiary art did their gardeners go to? It’s bad enough that those shrubberies contain dangerous needles and they are flowerless and ugly, but cockeyed?
Not only are these shrubs crooked and pitiful, but they surround a gruesome black fence that is locked with a heavy chain. But if someone wanted to do harm to the bell, they could easily jump over.
Asbury Park Fireman’s Memorial. No fence,dangerous shrubbery or barbed wire required. This beautiful monument has been there for nearly 70 years—no fences required. Blogfinger photo. May 2021.
And speaking of shrubbery, here is a scene from Monty Python’s “Spamalot” It’s called “The Knights Who say “Ni.”
Well, the 1905 Stokes Statue did in fact have a fence for about a year until it was replaced with a hedge. This was merely a pipe affair of a single horizontal piece with several supporting uprights. There were picket fences erected at the Tabernacle to prevent people from sticking their heads through the open tilted windows. A fence is currently being installed around the restored fountain in Founders Park, but this is merely an indication of where one should not go as was the case when the fountain was originally installed. The bell had a vandalism problem at one point that hopefully no longer exists. By the way, the bell weighs 2,462 lbs. and has a nominal pitch of E.
David: Surely you are not advocating that all monuments in Ocean Grove be surrounded by dangerous shrubberies, fences and locks? Oh, and also barbed wire.
We have lovely monuments in town that do not require fences for protection. For example there is Stoke’s statue and the World War I and II memorials at the head of Broadway.
And don’t forget, Baby Jesus was stolen a few years back, despite the fence around the bell.
If graffiti artists can climb supposedly insurmountable overpasses on Jersey highways, then they surely can carry a can of paint over the OG bell fence if they want to.
And, in general, graffiti in the Grove in 2021 is about as rare as a Days ice cream cone in December.
Ocean Grove was originally a sandy wasteland that supported only scrub pine and the like. The lawns one sees today were made possible only by importing soil from other places. Still, not all varieties of trees and shrubs flourish in OG and care must be taken in their selection. In 1973, the bell had to be sandblasted and the stone base cleaned to remove all the graffiti. Fortunately, that problem seems to have gone away perhaps due to the fence.