This stone planter looks like it goes back perhaps 150 years in the Grove. Paul Goldfinger photograph 4/11/2024. Click to see the carvings. It is at the corner of Mt. Hermon Way and New Jersey Ave.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net.
If you are walking by this planter, you might miss it. But if you notice it, you can see some curious carvings. There are angels with decorative vegetation all around. Along the periphery of the property, seen in the photo, are some original slate edgings. Slate was also used for sidewalks, and some can still be found around town.
Here is a link discussing the use of slate in the Grove:
You can be an amateur archeologist if you walk around Ocean Grove, and this is a walking town. You may identify old authentic remnants of the earliest days which go back to 1869, and besides, tents, cottages and other structures were started early.
When the Founding Fathers bought up the land to create Ocean Grove, there were only a handful of people living here, so any history identified around town stems from the CMA’s project. Or maybe some early Indians were here living off seafood. Shell mounds were found on Sanibel Island in Florida.
Of course the Victorian buildings are of great historical interest, but check the gardens and landscaping and you may discover something like this aged beauty above.
Recently two iron urns near the Auditorium were found to be deteriorating. They are owned by the Camp Meeting Association, but the Historical Society has embarked on fund raising to restore them. They were recently shipped off to Alabama to the company which restored the Founders Park Fitzgerald fountain. They are expected to return in about 6 months. The Coaster this week has some photos.
This fund raising project is reminiscent of the successful efforts to bring back the fountain. Rumor has it that a fence will be erected around the fountain. It would be terrible if a child happened to touch something over there. Maybe the fence will be brought to the park by the same people who erected that monstrosity around the Firemen’s bell in the west end park named after them.
AVRIL LAVIGNE. Beatles song. “Imagine” from the album Instant Karma: