The Camp Meeting Association bought this land from William Osborn, the founder of Ocean Grove, in 1870. Over the years there were at least 12 buyers/ leasers. The language of property exchanges are a bit confusing, but the land was undeveloped for awhile until the first home was built.
The first structure that we know of was built at 118 Main Avenue by Captain Lewis Rainear who obtained the property from the CMA in 1880, and then in 1894 he and his wife embarked on a major renovation to create the house as we know it. The turret and wrap-around porches were added then.
The Captain belonged to the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the New Jersey Volunteers. He was wounded in Mississippi and eventually wound up imprisoned at Andersonville in Georgia.
When he returned to Ocean Grove, he was hired by the CMA as Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds. From then until the 1960’s there were about 12 owners/leasers. In 1956 the house was converted to the Ocean Grove Memorial Home by William Walton.
There was a couple who worked with the Waltons, and they lived upstairs for 30 years.
In 2025, the OGMH owners sold to Albert Wilcox of Ocean Grove and he decided to create the changes which we see developing now as revealed in our recent two pieces.
We have not seen the HPC documents But this is our third installment on this subject. It’s headline news in town, but it’s currently hush-hush as to the future uses. We will return tomorrow with new information about approvals for now and future.
Paul Goldfinger MD. Blogfinger.net
GRACELAND. Paul Simon
Leave a Reply