F.W. Beers map dated 1873, 4 years after OG founding. From the Blogfinger.net  archives. Click to enlarge. Scanned from the original map.

By Paul Goldfinger, MD.   Editor, Blogfinger.net

This F.W. Beer’s map segment is dated 1873.  It is from an atlas of Monmouth County and it covers parts of  Ocean and Shrewsbury Townships. The scale is 160 rods to the inch.  How many of you are interested in the history and geography of this area?  Let’s all send in comments based on your observations of this map or related bits of history that you know..  Please keep it brief, and we can form a sort of mosaic of information to go with the map.

Here is a useful tool:  Click on the image, and the map gets a bit bigger.  But then, run your cursor over the map and you will see a plus sign.  Put that over an area of interest and click again. —P.G.

HISTORICAL COMMITTEE FINDINGS:   (send your observations by commenting below or email to blogfinger@verizon.net and we will add your opinion to the list below.)

1.  Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger:     In 1873, Ocean Grove was part of Ocean Township.  Note that there is no Avon, Bradley Beach, Spring Lake or Neptune.  Deal Lake is called Boyleston Great Pond, and there is no Allenhurst.  Instead, north of Boyleston Pond, there is the Allen House owned by A. Allen.

2. Lee Morgan:     Paul, Just to the south of Greens Pond, around where Deal or Long Branch would be today, is a reference to US Grant.   Did he live or vacation at that spot??Lee 

3.   BeZee:      Well, look at Wesley Lake! Washed by the ocean, fed by a freshwater stream that ran all the way out to Whitesville, (later called Wesley Brook). People actually used to drink the water. Nice while it lasted. But the ocean outlet was plugged by the CMA early on to provide a reliable source of aquatic recreation. Then the area surrounding the brook became populated by a “careless population” that used it to dispose of all sorts of crap (literally). Which created a “disgusting” situation that the town fathers thought to address by means of a “catch basin” at the head of the Lake. Not sure that ever happened. But a constant source of complaints in the OG Annual Reports 1900-1910 or so. So when there are complaints about the condition of the Lake now, just know that it used to be worse…

4.  Paul @Blogfinger:  Lee. I know that a number of US Presidents did visit Long Branch.  They have the 7 Presidents Park there today, and one of those 7 who visited there was Grant.    Grant also visited Ocean Grove. He parked his horse outside the gates and walked over to drink tea at a woman’s house on Wesley Lake. She supposedly was his sister.

5. NJ Commenter:      To Lee Morgan: US Grant owned a cottage at 995 Ocean Ave in the Elberon section of Long Branch.   It was the summer White House from 1869 to 1876. The cottage was demolished in 1963;  it stood on the property now adjacent to the Stella Maris Retreat House. There are several photos available online with President and Mrs. Grant relaxing on their porch with family and friends.

6. Focused:   The only significant interesting thing about this map is the center of Ocean Grove where a huge pile of earth that has never been dealt with still divides a number of east and west running streets in the Grove. So those streets ended up having different names depending on which side of this pile of earth you lived on.

7. Paul @Blogfinger:     Notice the unnamed north-south roadway to the immediate west of OG. Undoubtedly that became Rt. 71 later. The houses out there belonged to pre-existing families having nothing to do with the Camp Meeting, including names like White, Bennet, Youman. The Bennet name is all over that area. Some of those families probably sold land to the OGCMA as they bought up quite a few small properties  in 1869 to stitch together the town of Ocean Grove.

Note the lumber yard and the toll house (maybe where the cookies were first baked.),

Also, at the north end of Asbury Park is a lake (probably Sunset Lake) with a road running west to Wegmans featuring Mallomars on sale every September—not shown on this map.

8  Wisher: It is interesting how Whitesville disappeared, when it was so prominent on the map. Every time I drive down Neptune Avenue and pass that forest area to the right next to Shop Rite, I wonder what artifacts might be there. I think the town may have stretched from The Shop Rite area to the circle/roundabout on 35.

Please keep the history comments coming in. The music will post below

BLOSSOM DEARIE:

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