Fletcher Lake. c. 1999. No condos at the south end. Paul Goldfinger photo
40 years ago, the citizens of Ocean Grove fought off a proposed condominium on the South End of Fletcher Lake. It has been done before and can be done again!
Note that citizens formed a group to fight this thing. That citizen opposition was loud and insistent, and it plus the rejection of the idea by the Fire Department ultimately finished off the plan.
This 2 part video is shared by someone who is familiar with this precedent setting event.
Wake up and smell the sweet aroma of history in Ocean Grove. Thanks to the friend of OG who sent this to us.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger on Martin Luther King’s birthday—-Re-posted 2022. It was first presented on Blogfinger in July, 2014.
It was Saturday night, July 18, 1925, at 8:15 p.m., when vocalist Paul Robeson and his accompanist Lawrence Brown strode onto the stage of the Great Auditorium to present a concert of “Soul Stirring Negro Spirituals” (1) to an integrated audience of three thousand people. Mr. Robeson, an imposing black man, was twenty seven years old. He was already famous as a screen and stage actor as well as a singer. He was a true Renaissance man who would become one of the most popular performing artists of the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Robeson, who was born (1898) and raised in New Jersey, was an All-American football player and Phi Beta Kappa at Rutgers University and an honors graduate of the Columbia University Law School. As a college student, Robeson was friends with the Day family who owned Day’s Ice Cream “Gardens” in Asbury Park and Ocean Grove. He had a summer job as a singing waiter at Day’s. (3) When he came to Ocean Grove for his 1925 concert, he had just completed a triumphant run at The Provincetown Theater in New York, where he performed the lead role in Eugene O’Neill’s “All God’s Children Got Wings.”
He had friends at the Algonquin Round Table in New York City, and it was there, with the encouragement of his colleagues, that he decided to do a concert tour with an entire program of “Negro” spirituals and secular songs also known as “slave or plantation music.”
This would be the first time that this music would be performed in concert, and he would appear with his close friend Lawrence Brown, also an African-American, who was a gifted composer, pianist and singer. The two would work together for thirty years. The first stop on the tour was The Greenwich Village Theater in New York City, and then, three months later, he appeared in Ocean Grove.
The concert was reviewed by the Asbury Park Press, which said, “Robeson showed an intelligent appreciation of his task and a splendid voice.” They called him “a talented son of this state” and they described “great applause” in the Auditorium. Among the songs which he and Lawrence Brown sang were “Go Down Moses,” “Weepin’ Mary” and “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.”
The following month he performed his concert in Spring Lake. They would tour for five years, all over the world, with this program. Later, Robeson would become the third most popular radio artist in the USA in the 20’s and 30’s. In the 1940’s he was the highest paid concert performer in the country and he was also successful as a recording artist. He would sing in the first production of “Showboat” and he would play Othello on Broadway and in England. He would star in eleven movies.
But his visit to OG that night was not only about music; it was also about recognition of African-American culture and the elevation of that folk music to high art. In addition, Robeson always was about hope for African-Americans, and performing that music was his way to offer pride and encouragement to his people. In 2004, when Barack Obama gave his “Audacity of Hope” speech at the Democratic convention, the first example he cited was, “…the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs.”
Robeson would accomplish much in his life, but his greatest contribution would be his tireless and life-long advocacy for civil rights. In 1925, Martin Luther King wasn’t born yet, and the “civil rights movement” would not begin until the 1950’s. Imagine how much courage was required for a black man to step forward publicly on behalf of racial justice at a time when lynchings were still occurring in this country. In 1921 a race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma resulted in the deaths of 20 whites and 60 blacks. In 1922, an anti-lynching bill was defeated by filibuster in the US Senate. In 1925, the year of the concert, there were 17 reported lynchings in the US. Jim Crow laws could be found in many states, but Paul Robeson pressed for racial justice wherever he went and for his entire life.
Robeson had been “eagerly” (1) looking forward to his concert in The Great Auditorium. It is likely that he was aware that many “extraordinary African Americans” (2) had appeared there in the past, including the famous Marian Anderson (1921), Booker T Washington (1908), the singing evangelist Amanda Berry Smith (late 1800’s) and many renowned black preachers. The Ocean Grove Historical Society has documented the African-American History Trail in our town. (2)
In 1998, the Ocean Grove Historical Society celebrated the 100th anniversary of Robeson’s birth by a day-long commemoration featuring lectures, dance, a book signing and an exhibition. The centerpiece of the program was a re-creation of the 1925 concert in the Auditorium. They brought the noted African-American bass Kevin Maynor, who used the original program and reproduced the concert from 73 years earlier. This remarkable event was made possible by a committee of Ocean Grovers led by Rhoda Newman (chairman), Kevin Chambers, Phillip May, Jr., and others.
Paul Robeson’s contributions have been recognized many times in the form of tributes at Carnegie Hall and NJPAC, plus many articles, books, exhibits and documentaries. He is a part of Ocean Grove’s musical heritage which includes Enrico Caruso, Duke Ellington, John Phillip Sousa, and Pearl Bailey (2). Paul Robeson died in 1976 at age 77. Five thousand people attended the funeral in Harlem.
Paul Robeson sings “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” from The Complete EMI Sessions 1928-1939, remastered 2008.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
1. Asbury Park Press Archives (Asbury Park Library)
2. Ocean Grove Historical Society Archives (Ms. Rhoda Newman)
3. Mr. Kevin Chambers, Ocean Grove Historian
4. Ocean Grove Times Archives (Neptune Township Library: Mrs. Marian R. Bauman, Director)
Current comments are welcome; Just write me at Blogfinger@verizon.net. 4/02/2026
Kevin Chambers still lives in the Grove and he sometimes has something to say for Blogfinger.net. He is a true hero of this town.
Ocean Grove South End. Re-post from Blogfinger 2013.
Paul:
I do not recall seeing a rendering of the OG Boardwalk from this perspective. It’s looking like the 30’s or 40’s. Didn’t even realize the South End Pavilion had a concession area.
A simple sign letting passerby’s know “hamburgers, frankfurters, and Orange-aid” can be had.
Looking close. (one click) reveals a bit of detail down the boards on and off the boardwalk. At first look I thought this was another beach town post card.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger Re-post from 2016.
The Story of Ocean Grove, 1869-1919 by Morris S Daniels. Published in 1919 by the Methodist Book Concern in New York City:
“In a little old dingy tent, one of ten erected on the sand drifts of what was later to be known in Ocean Grove as Thompson Park but now called Founders’ Park, there occurred on the night of July 31, 1869 an event of immense significance.
“What happened was not unusual of itself, and the surroundings were not such as to impress one that history was making within the confines of the poor little tent, illumined, as it was, by a few tallow candles; but ‘Great oaks from little acorns grow.'”
Morris Daniels tells us that about 12 people gathered in the tent which belonged to Mrs. Joseph Thornley. They all had arrived the day before and pitched their tents there. There were no chairs, so they all sat on rough pine boards.
Daniels says, “The night was dark, save for the stars which twinkled brightly from overhead, while the few candles within cast a weird shadow upon the scene.
“Some had come directly from their own tents while others had preferred to wander over the yielding sands to the edge of the dune overlooking the sea to watch the moon rise from her briny bed.
“But shortly after nine o’clock all had gathered in the little dimly lighted tent for Ocean Grove’s first religious service—–a prayer meeting.”
WARREN VACHE´ “Stardust”. (He performed in the Great Auditorium.)
By Rich Amole, Blogfinger history reporter/researcher.
Paul:
“The best type of snow is the one that doesn’t need to be shoveled. Above is a real cool Snow Globe with the Great Auditorium inside. Snow Globes were designed to be paper weights but ended up being more of a collectible item of places visited.
Originally of European origin, they crossed the Atlantic in the 1920’s with the first patented one in the late 1920’s in the USA. Some of these marvelous items have music boxes attached. I could venture a guess on when this one was manufactured, but perhaps a reader may fill us in or even own one.
By Paul and Eileen (House and Garden Editor) Blogfinger.net
Our featured Ocean Grove home is an 1875 Victorian which was acquired by the current owners in 1994. At that time, it had been neglected, but many of the original features inside remained, including furnishings, pine floors, wood mouldings and trim, decorative fretwork, and vintage objects. The home had been built for a wealthy family, and in this tour, we are taking a close look at the maid’s quarters on the second floor.
In the maid’s kitchen was an old Vulcan stove and a fridge from the 1950’s. The kitchen table, perhaps from the ’40’s was left by the prior owner as were all the little accessories. The maid accessed the kitchen from her bedroom, so that was convenient for midnight snacks.
Her bedroom and living room were bright and cheerful. Hanging on the living room wall is a pictorial of the house which had been featured in a Victorian style magazine.
The bathroom was shared with the family and it opened into the maid’s bedroom; perhaps an awkward situation, but then again, maybe the master of the house appreciated this arrangement. In the corner of the bathroom is a cabinet full of product memorabilia. The owner reached in and pulled out a pamphlet which tells how a woman could improve the shape of her “bust.”
Kitchen table. Maid’s bedroom visible off the kitchen
Maid’s bedroom
Maid’s living room
Bathroom. Shared with the family. Door leads to maid’s bedroom
LEON REDBONE WITH VINCE GIORDANO AND THE NIGHTHAWKS (From the HBO series: Boardwalk Empire just released Volume 2 soundtrack album) “Baby, Won’t You Please Home.”
Walt Whitman from about 1869. Photo from the Library of Congress.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
Walt Whitman (born 5/31/1819 in New York and died in Camden NJ 3/26/1892) was considered to be “America’s Poet” by Ezra Pound. He has had the most influence over American “free verse” along with Emily Dickinson. His most famous work is Leaves of Grass.
According to an expert source, Whitman loved the ocean:
“The sea, perhaps Whitman’s favorite metaphor, is mentioned over and over in all phases of his work, starting with the 1855 ‘Song of Myself’:
“You sea! I resign myself to you also / I am integral with you . . . I too am of one phase and of all phases.”
From a piece in the New Yorker: A quote from the writer and friend John Burroughs, “There is sea-salt in Whitman’s poetry, strongly realistic epithets and phrases, that had their birth upon the shore, and that perpetually recur to one as he saunters on the beach,” and that “No phase of nature seems to have impressed him so deeply as the sea, or recurs so often in his poems.” Burroughs even thought that his friend had “a look about him . . . of the gray, eternal sea that he so loved, near which he was born, and that had surely set its seal upon him.”
And here is another Whitman line, referring to the sea: “…proud music of the sea storm” (don’t know the source)
In late September, early October, 1883, Whitman checked into the Sheldon House in Ocean Grove with a colleague, naturalist John Borroughs, and they spent one or two weeks there. *
The Sheldon was one of Ocean Grove’s finest hotels with 300 rooms. It had views of Wesley Lake, the Ocean, and Founders’ Park.
The Sheldon House. Ocean Grove, NJ. Internet photo.
The landmark hotel was built in 1875 by Welcome Sheldon who turned it into the largest, most elegant, and best situated in the Grove. It was near the ocean at Central Ave. and Atlantic Ave.
From OG writer Perdita Buchan: By 1879, Ocean Grove had a newspaper, a post office, and two general stores, while the Sheldon House promised speaking tubes from bedroom to office, gas in all rooms, an elevator, and a “monster safe for the storage of valuables.”
While he was at the Sheldon House, Whitman began work on a new poem called “By Thine Own Lips, O Sea.” A copy of his earliest draft was written on Sheldon House stationery. Eventually the poem was completed and then published in Harpers Magazine in 1884 with the name of “With Husky-Haughty Lips, O Sea.”
Here is a reference card from the Whitman Archives:
The first draft of the poem is written on the back of this page. (below):
Sheldon stationery. From the Walt Whitman Archive
Whitman’s first draft written in Ocean Grove
This poem contained these lines:
“day and night I wander on the beach….
With undertone of muffled lion roar
And skreel of whistling wind,
and hiss of spray,
tale of elemental passion,
confided to me”
It was suspected that Whitman was a homosexual. But, those two men checking into the Sheldon did not create a furor because they were collaborating on a book, and Burroughs was well known as a confirmed heterosexual.
We * learned of Whitman’s visit from an anonymous Blogfinger fan who sent us the information from the Whitman Archives. Other papers of Whitman can be found in the Library of Congress, the University of North California, and Yale University.
In 1912 the new owner, impressed with the building’s location across from Founders Park, and with a great view of the FitzGerald Fountain (1907), changed the hotel’s name to the Fountain House.
So this does tell us the earliest name for Ocean Grove’s newly restored fountain. (2019)
In February, 1918, that grand hotel burned down to its brick foundation along with a number of other structures in the neighborhood including the Surf Avenue Hotel.
In the 1990’s, Kevin Chambers organized a Whitman Festival in Ocean Grove which became the largest and best known poetry festival in America. Unfortunately it was not renewed after 4 years.
GORDON TURK from a recording made in the Great Auditorium of Ocean Grove. “Sortie in Eb Major”
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net. This is a repost from 2017 updated in 2021.
Probably the biggest complaint about the Historic Preservation Commission relates to its inconsistencies. For example, a Grover couple owns a large Victorian home that they have tried to maintain with great attention to its historic attributes. It is actually a Victorian showplace. Up in back of their house there is a staircase ascending to an access at the second floor. They wanted to put a fairly small deck up there. It would be barely visible from the street and would improve the couple’s life-style. But the HPC refused the request on the grounds that such a structure was not historic.
Yet around the Grove there are all sorts of porches and decks that have been added. Just take a walk and you can see them. If you were a prospective home buyer here, you might look around and think that such decks are historic.
We had one on the second floor, in the rear, of our Centennial Home on Heck Avenue. If I tried to build that from scratch, it might (or might not) be approved. The HPC is unpredictable. Another person we know was given permission to put up a deck just like the rejected couple’s.
Double standards by the HPC (as with their parental group, the Township Committee) are toxic to good will and lifestyles in this town.
But if some of you are shocked, shocked that we might have double standards at the HPC, consider this:
And, speaking of astonishing double standards, consider the photo below:
The funny thing about this building is that locals and visitors find it to be amusing. So, thanks to the HPC, we have a giant conversation piece that is famous not for its Victorian architecture, but as a sort of joke; and the HPC has become the straight man for this humorous offering which does nothing for our town’s reputation and designation as an example of historic preservation. And rumor has it that the HPC allowed a historic roof top pool, something Rev. Stokes himself would have been shocked over.
One sport in town is to provide it with ironic nicknames. For example, one person in the Grove calls it “An Ode to Cement.” We call it the “Greek Temple.” Somebody else refers to it as “The Bank.” What do you call it?
2021 update: As many of you know, the North End Redevelopment Plan has been tied up in meetings with the HPC. The Township has failed to keep the citizens of Ocean Grove informed as to what’s going on, and the HPC is on mute.
As you know, the HPC only concerns itself with exterior design issues.
We have already seen preliminary drawings of the project, so for many of us, that project should not have been permitted in the first place, and I have no information as to what the HPC is fussing over, but we will probably be left with the same concerns: blocked views, blocked breezes, crowding, neighborhood congestion, environmental issues, and a significant change in the town’s character, appearance and mood.
It will be Asbury Park South. And the timing, now that the town is changing in a variety of ways, is unfortunate. This project will slither in silently under the door, while the rest of the town is concerning itself with COVID, many new citizens, many rentals including Airbnb and its problems, a striking sellers real estate market with great demands by buyers, a shortage of affordable rental housing, and rising prices for rentals and buys that have shut many out of the market. The town needs stores that provide services to those who live in town, and such down-home businesses will not be found at the new North End.
A lovely event was held on Saturday, September 22, 2018 on Ocean Avenue at Main and Heck. This single family house is doing just fine without being divided into condominiums. All that is required are owners who care about the town. Such owners could have been found for the Aurora. Blogfinger photo.
In August, Blogfinger questioned the decision by the Board of Adjustment to allow the single family zoned Aurora to be turned into a 4 condominium building.
In that article, we asked, “Why didn’t this Board insist on the single family zoning that was present when the owner bought the property? Do you think any promises were made to that owner, and who might have made those promises?” Zoning is supposed to protect the town and its citizens.
We know that the previous owner had trouble selling the property, presumably because of the single family zoning, but he bought it that way and lived with it that way, and this historically important building should have been left with its original zoning.
Some might argue that it is unfair to require that this old hotel be continued with single family zoning, because they say, “What can you do with such a big single family home?”
But you can visit any Jersey Shore town, including Ocean Grove, and find very large single family homes.
For example, on Ocean Avenue in OG are such buildings. Our photo shows a beautiful single family home which was happily occupied by 2 people before it was acquired by the current owners who left the zoning alone. You can see that it is often rented out for events, and none of its history has been compromised. It is located on Ocean Avenue, lovingly straddling Main Avenue and Heck Avenue, for all visitors and residents to enjoy.
Will you be able to say the same thing about the new Aurora?
It was April 20, 1900, when Mrs. Albert D. McCabe organized a whist card party at her Ocean Grove home to be attended by society women of Ocean Grove and Asbury Park as a fund raiser for the Monmouth Memorial Hospital of Long Branch. The women belonged to the hospital auxiliary.
But they ran into difficulty when the Camp Meeting Association learned of the event. It seems that the rules “forever prohibited” card playing and dancing in the Grove.
Mrs. McCabe was presented with an official letter from CMA Vice President A.E. Ballard and one from Chief of Police John Patterson. In it she was threatened with forfeiture of her land lease if she proceeded with the party.
According to the New York Times report, Mrs. McCabe returned to her house where the women had assembled and announced that “the preachers have prohibited the game.”
She suggested that the group go to Asbury Park where “Puritanism did not prevent card playing for charity.” So her group formed a line and marched to Asbury’s Winckler’s Hall.
The women were furious over the situation, but their defiance probably had a big impact on the men who viewed the situation as “a case which required heroic action”
—Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
This song dates back to 1929: First recorded by Ethel Waters. “Am I Blue?” Here she is:
Postcard. Courtesy of Rich Amole, Shawmont Hotel historian.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor. Blogfinger.net, Ocean Grove, NJ, USA. Re-post: 11/14/25
Notice that there were no lights on the OG Boardwalk in 1890. Edison invented the lightbulb in 1870. But, that summer in Ocean Grove, you could walk the boards at night, shuffle off to the beach, spread a blanket and count every star. And while you are at it, you could also count every firefly.
THE RIVIERAS
EDITOR’S NOTE: We have had some debate in the comments section about the pier in this postcard. We are told that the scene is from 1890, but that is not certain. We know from history that the North End pier came after the South End pier (constructed in 1891), so if this is the North End pier, where is the South End pier?
We also have a photo (below) from Rich Amole which shows both piers, and that image is dated 1904. It shows a large pavilion (? the Ross Pavilion) at the North End which isn’t visible in the postcard above. It seems like the North End pier was built between 1891 and 1904.
1904
Both piers were built in relationship to boardwalk pavilions: the Ross at the North End, and the Lillegard at the South End. The photo below shows the relationship of the north Pavilion to the north pier . It is looking south, and you can see the Embury Ave. pier in the distance.
Submitted by Ocean Grover Vincent Cannavo. Special to Blogfinger. Click to see more (or Seymour.)
Grover Vincent Cannavo found a number of Wesley Lake photographs on line which carry a copyright date of 1903, although the photos may have been taken earlier. In this image you are standing on the OG side of the Lake. We can see boats for hire as well as the A. Park amusements.
Vincent points out how different Asbury looked back then, although the OG side looks unchanged in other views. Notice how Lake Avenue was a walkway back then. No horse poop in sight.
That’s not surprising because the OG side managed to be a planned town, and the Victorian houses were somehow preserved even though there was no zoning, HPC or historical designations.
Thanks to Vincent for these images.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
ANDY FARBER AND HIS ORCHESTRA WITH JOHN HENDRICKSON AND TERRY DONGIAN
Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net Click once to enlarge.
2021 re-post (The original question posited in the headline is still valid.)
There are multiple factions in the small town of Ocean Grove (pop 3,700,) and these organized groups are largely isolated from each other. Woven into the fabric are homeowners and renters who live here but do not belong to any organizations, thus becoming, by default, a faction of their own.
According to social scientist Steve Valk, whose family has lived here for several generations, it would be important for these factions to find ways to appreciate and cooperate with each other. For example he cites the religious groups and the secular groups which ought to find common ground for the benefit of the town. One example of such cooperation is the recent interaction, since Sandy, between Ocean Grove United (OGU) and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (CMA); however we have recently seen how tenuous that relationship is when we recall the recent clash about Sunday sermons.
The CMA ran the town from 1869 to 1980 as a tax paying part of Neptune Twp.—-111 years.
Neptune Township treated OG as a sort of gated community. The CMA made the rules and imposed blue laws until the N.J. Supreme Court put a stop to that in 1980 when Neptune took over active governance in the Grove (although the Neptuners were technically the governing body almost since the town’s founding.) Since 1980, the CMA has continued its mission and it has largely kept out of the way of Neptune Township.
But we now see the CMA and the Township working together on the North End Redevelopment Project, but suspicious elements have been revealed, and that project does not seem to be designed primarily with the town’s best interest at heart. By 2021, the CMA, OGNED, and the Neptunites seem to be on the verge of going ahead with the NERP.
As for the Neptune Township governance, you have seen the results of our recent poll which shows that 80% of respondents mistrust the Neptune Township Committee. Interestingly, over the years, there were times when the citizens rose up against Neptune control resulting in law suits and even a failed referendum to allow the Grove to become a separate town which it did for one year in 1925.
The other organizations here also tend to have their own agendas and to be run like private clubs. Such groups include the Homeowners Association, the Historical Society, Ocean Grove United, and the Chamber of Commerce.
They don’t work together very much for the good of the town. They are busy with their own agendas. For example, the Chamber of Commerce runs big events to try and drum up business for the merchants. But what do they do for the benefit of those who live here? We asked them to take over sponsorship of the Town-wide Yard Sale, but they refused.
When we introduced a new idea for the town—the Blogfinger Film Festival—a benefit for the boardwalk—-only a few of the members would be sponsors for the program, and hardly any attended the event.
When we think of factions in town, we can see the visible ones, but how about the invisible ones such as families that have lived here for generations and are part of networks that act in concert with each other, with the CMA, and with the Township governance, especially where land use, zoning, and parking are concerned. Let’s call that “the OG network of special interests.”
For them the town of Ocean Grove seems like a gift that keeps on giving. This network never speaks publicly, shows its face, or identifies itself, but what it does and has done will impact all of us and will determine what the town will be in the future. Take a look at all the Grovers who are involved with OGNED and will gain financially from that North End project; to the detriment of those of us who live here and pay taxes.
We have seen the results of favoritism for those special interests in the Greek Temple and Mary’s Place. The North End Redevelopment Project is a good example to keep an eye on. Who will be the winners, and who will be the losers?
Because of indifference by the public, organizations, and special interests, Ocean Grove may become an at-risk town which could end up a failed historic place without focus and character, such as is seen in other shore towns—unless the public pays attention and the organizations here begin to work together for the overall benefit of the town and not just on their narrow pet projects, like the Homeowners Association which is currently circulating a simple-minded parking survey while ignoring the improprieties and illegalities around town regarding land use issues. The HOA has teamed up with the Neptune Committee ever since 2008 when it supported 165 residential units, mostly condos, at the North End.
In 2002, a professor* at Monmouth University published an academic paper about OG history, emphasizing the powerful way that the activist HOA of 25-30 years ago fought for the town and saved its life. Below is a quote** from that research about that era.
Contrast the conclusion below with the current HOA which now is failing Ocean Grove through impotence, inaction, and lack of focus towards the issues which currently threaten our town the most.
The Home Groaners need to step up and save the town once again, but this version appears to so far be hopeless in that regard.
** 2002: “The HOA has maintained or reconstructed the carefully planned infrastructure of the founders, and even as Ocean Grove is being reborn as a contemporary tourist site, the HOA has worked with the CMA to preserve its sacred foundations. Just like the CMA, the HOA has been outstanding in its ability to secure what it wants and what it believes the community needs. Property values have risen, the community is again a safe place, tourism has been revived, an enormous amount of social capital has been generated, and the Victorian charm of the town has been restored.”
By Karen Schmelzkopf* in the Journal of Historical Geography, 2002
