Civil War reenactment on the OG beach. Paul Goldfinger. photograph © Several years ago.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net
The Historical Society in OG needs to do more to recreate living history showing the lives of secular OG citizens through the years. It has not only been religious. There is life beyond the CMA summer playbook in OG.
Here are a few examples of secular life in town:
We once had a Walt Whitman poetry festival in Auditorium Park, presented by Kevin Chambers and the HSOG. And we had Civil War reenactments at the beach and at Founders Park. And every 4th of July the Allentown Band travelled to the Auditorium to celebrate Sousa who spent so much time in the Grove.
There were many times when famous singers and musicians performed here, and 6 Presidents have visited OG. Ocean Grove has been in a number of movies–we could show them. And many of our houses have histories that could be featured such as the song and dance stage star who lived here in our home. before we did.
There are two history books available which largely are about our secular history such as the many hotels, big fires, architectural curiosities, famous residents, boat wrecks, tax controversies, music history, zoning fights, etc.
So histories of that sort could be revisited to heighten awareness for our residential community. Kim Brittingham did a series of videos for the HSOG which could be brought back.
We try to locate old photographs to illustrate how people lived back-when such as our piece about a fictional young man who leaves town to be a missionary. Here is a a link called “Fred’s Last Summer.”
And then we at Blogfinger try to talk about the characteristics that make this town special and so attractive to visitors and residents. An example is our “porch culture.” We chose that name to underline a cultural phenomenon which ties into our history where so many of our homes have porches that are used all the time in season:
I suspect people began to tire of the Allentown Band despite its quality. The several concerts I attended had declining attendance. August 13th will be Victorian Day with some people dressed for the occasion in the afternoon. I will be wearing what men usually wore in the 1870s. People dressed up for photos and there is a misconception about the actual dress at the time.