We recently posted a photography article about rooftops, featuring a print by a professional New York photographer. So we offered a prize if someone would send us a photograph of Ocean Grove rooftops. But no one participated. So that left an entry by Blogfinger photographer Jean Bredin (lovely photo Jean) and one by me. We can’t win a prize, but here are our entries:
Rooftops of Tent Village in Ocean Grove. By Jean Bredin, Blogfinger.net staff.
North End rooftops in the Grove. By Paul Goldfinger, Editor.
THE NYLONS (with an a cappella version of “Up on the Roof”)
Prior to the invention of the modern asphalt shingle, roofs in OG were made of wood shingles. These were particularly vulnerable to burning embers from fires in the community. As early as 1875, “fireproof and waterproof” paint was being offered by dealers. What exactly this was is a question as is whether it came in colors.
While there was a history of experimentation with asphalt shingles from the early 19th century, what is considered the modern form appeared in 1903. At first, these were often available only in “soft red and green.” By the 1910s and 1920s, insurance companies promoted the abandonment of wooden shingles.
David H. Fox