President Lincoln poses for a photo with Paul Goldfinger (Blogfinger.net) on the boards of Ocean Grove. 1864.
Pres. Abraham Lincoln visited Ocean Grove once when he agreed to an interview with Blogfinger. We met him on the new boardwalk . He walked around and said, “Goldfinger, the world will little note nor long remember that God-awful hat that you wore today. But just remember that four score and seven years ago this nation was founded……Hey Blogfinger, how many years is that ?”
He said, “You know, some day Mary and I will come back here to stay in a tent. But I won’t go on the beach if you allow Grant to smoke those horrid stogies. I hear he visits his sister by the lake, but, you know, that’s not really his sister, Ha ha ha. He likes to drink, you know. Hey Finger, you know what I’m saying? I’ll come back if you can get Springsteen to play in the Auditorium. I hope you get a hat like mine—very distinguished.”
Lincoln stayed for awhile longer, asking if the HPC is still annoying people in town.
He said, “In Washington we can take a drink once in a while. What’s wrong with you people?” Then he rode back to D.C. on the NJ Transit train where they gave him a senior fare, a dirty martini and a hot pastrami sandwich on rye, with a pickle.
When he got back to DC he went to a reunion of Hessians who remained here after the Revolutionary War. In this rare recording you can hear Lincoln singing along to that 19th century ditty called “Gimmie a Beer.”
What many people may not know, is that Mary Todd Lincoln had stayed in Long Branch in the summer of the President’s first year in office.
Not only did John Wilkes Booth’s two brothers have homes in Long Branch, but John also, while staying in Long Branch, met several Copperheads in a local hotel, possibly to plan his future deed to murder Lincoln.
We used to go to those re-enactments when they had them.
They were amazing. Glad you got a picture with Lincoln.
And, you’re right, he probably wanted a beer!
very clever