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Archive for the ‘Ocean Grove history’ Category

Ocean Grove’s Quaker Inn 1943. And a mystery in 2021.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove history, tagged on October 30, 2021| 2 Comments »

Current photo of the Quaker Inn. 2021.  By Lee Morgan of OG. Note that there is a new owner.

 

Paul Goldfinger  Editor. Blogfinger.net

It wasn’t long after the founding of Ocean Grove in 1869 that the town became famous as a tourist attraction, mostly because of its specialty—-religious tourism.  Along with that fame came the railroad and the building of hotels and rooming houses.

It is said that the Quaker Inn, located at #39 Main Avenue at the corner with Central, was built in 1875.

In the History of Ocean Grove dated 1939, by Gibbons, there were 84 hotels listed. The Quaker Inn Hotel was still listed at #39 Main Avenue.

Rich Amole, Blogfinger staff, took an interest in the Inn after finding the 1943 postcard below. Rich is the author of a meticulously researched history of the Shawmont Hotel.

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Submitted by Rich Amole, Blogfinger historian/reporter.
Submitted by Rich Amole, Blogfinger historian/reporter.  Click to enlarge.

 

Paul:

The attachment is a 1943 linen post card of the Quaker Inn.  This wonderful card advertises  40 rooms with running water and private bath availability.  Complete with a restaurant and soda fountain and two four digit phone numbers;  back then the Quaker still maintains it’s 136 years of history pleasing all who come to stay at the corner of Main & Central in Ocean Grove. 

Rich  Amole.      Source: Ebay

Editor’s Note:  It’s remarkable how this image from over 70 years ago looks like today’s Quaker Inn.

The image shown above appears in black and white in Ted Bell and Chris Flynn’s book  Ocean Grove in Vintage Postcards. They also have a photo  (below—with permission) of the restaurant and soda fountain which was a bright and cheerful place seen in the picture above from the outside  as the row of windows running along Central Avenue.

Ted and Chris report that the Quaker Inn ads said, “The Perfect Location for a Grove Vacation.”

 

soda

The caption for the above photo says, “Shown is a partial view of the restaurant and soda fountain at the Quaker Inn.  The Quaker style is reflected in the stagecoach wall hangings.”

History/mystery 2021:    Recently Ocean Grover  Lee Morgan found a page from the Ocean Grove Times dated August 27, 1915. It contains an interesting ad for the Ocean Grove Hotel.  That hotel was not mentioned in the 1939 hotel list, but you can see that the address is #39 Main Avenue.

Photo courtesy of Lee Morgan. The Ocean Grove Hotel c 1915

 

Courtesy of Lee Morgan of Ocean Grove.  A later photo. compare to above.

 

So, as Lee points out, The Quaker Inn is not the historic name for this hotel–It appears to have been the Ocean Grove Hotel.   Thanks to  Lee Morgan for pointing out this fact.

 

JULIE LONDON:

 

 

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Going to the movies on the boardwalk in Ocean Grove: July, 1966.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove history by Rich Amole, tagged on August 24, 2021| 3 Comments »

 

The Strand was built in 1911 at the North End. Originally it was called Scenario. From Wayne T. Bell's Images of America: Ocean Grove. (with permission)

The Strand was built in 1911 at the North End. Originally it was called Scenario. It was closed on Sundays.   From Wayne T. Bell’s Images of America: Ocean Grove. (with permission)

 

 

July 1966

July 1966. Submitted by Rich Amole

 

July 1966

July 1966. Submitted by Rich Amole, Blogfinger historian and reporter.

 

Paul:

In the 1960’s, at the North End of Ocean Grove, the Strand Theatre was the place to go to the movies.  The ads may have been simple hand outs that were distributed at the North End complex of entertainment and shops.

The depiction of the folks in line show that all are very well dressed— the ladies in high heels and skirts and the men in suits and hats.  I’m guessing that seats could be had for under a dollar.

Now can someone bring me a nice buttered popcorn and cold Coca Cola.  Forget that Tab stuff!

Rich                               Source: Ebay

ELVIS PRESLEY

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Postcards from Ocean Grove: Tall Sail Schooner off our shores in 1906.

Posted in Music: Jazz on Blogfinger, Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove history by Rich Amole, Postcards From Ocean Grove, tagged , on August 7, 2021|

 

Schooner

By Rich Amole, Blogfinger staff historian/researcher.

 

This  is a postcard image of a tall sail schooner with a bit of a breeze hitting its sails off the Grove’s beach—- 108 years ago in 1906.

Not much on text back then— just a simple “Greetings from Ocean Grove” which still holds up today, not so much for that schooner………..

 

COLEMAN HAWKINS    (tenor sax)   From a jazz planet far, far away–contemplates the passage of time with “What a Difference a Day Makes”

What a difference a day makes
There’s a rainbow before me
Skies above can’t be stormy
Since that moment of bliss, that thrilling kiss
It’s heaven when you find romance on your menu
What a difference a day makes
And the difference is you

 

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What’s With the Fishing Pier? Part I: A citizen’s guide to the 2nd oldest structure in the Grove.

Posted in Ocean Grove history, tagged , on May 11, 2021| 18 Comments »

1891 The South End fishing pier. Source: "Ocean Grove in Vintage Postcards" by Bell and Flynn

Source: “Ocean Grove in Vintage Postcards” by Bell and Flynn. With permission by Mr. W. Ted Bell of OG. Click image for full view

By Paul Goldfinger, MD.  Editor @Blogfinger   (Re-posted from May, 2013 on BF–Part 2 to follow)

The year is 1890.  Ocean Grove is 21 years old, and the Rev. Elwood Stokes has a public health concern–how to deal with sewage so as to avoid infectious diseases in the campground.  He writes about the subject in his annual reports, and that year he decides that their primitive sewer pipe system, where the mess is pumped into the ocean, needs to be improved.  So he extends the pipeline out about 500 feet from shore and he builds a wooden pier opposite Embury Avenue to provide protection for  the pipe.

A few years later, a better sewer system is devised, and the pier becomes a fishing pier with the Fishing Club receiving a multi-year lease and  taking up 97 feet at the end.    The 500 foot pier is destined to become a historic landmark in a historic Jersey Shore town.

Some years after that, when the North End is developed into a major recreational compound, a second pier, attached to the North End Hotel Pavilion, is built to attract strollers, fishermen  and boats.  Eventually it gets wiped out in a huge hurricane in 1938. During that viscious storm,  the south end of Ocean Grove winds up underwater after 5 days of heavy rain. The Embury Avenue pier is also badly damaged.

North End pier. From Bell and Flynn: Ocean Grove in Vintage Postcards

Source: Ocean Grove in Vintage Postcards by Bell and Flynn.

Big storms knock out the pier and boardwalk on multiple occasions over the years including 1922, 1927, 1938, 1953, and a huge nor’easter in December 1992.   The latter storm causes the Delaware River to back up and 4 counties along the shore to be clobbered.  There are 90 mph winds in Atlantic City.

My old friend Nick Maat, a member of the Fishing Club, from 14 Heck Avenue, witnesses the pier clubhouse being carried away by a massive wave while he stands on Ocean Avenue soaking wet and jaw agape. The Asbury Park Press interviews him, and Nick gets his 15 minutes of fame.  The pier is lost except for a small piece at the end where Ralph, the dummy fisherman, sits all by himself.  (If he only had a brain.)

A book is written about the pier, Ralph, and the storm of 1992  by Carol Egner of Ocean Grove. It is called The True Story of Ralph–the Ocean Grove Fisherman.

In 1994, the pier is rebuilt, financed by a  $144,000.00 small business loan obtained by the Fishing Club.

In 2000, a beach replenishment project causes the fishing pier to be landlocked after the water’s edge was moved eastward by 100 feet.  The pier is 338 feet at that point, and a  construction project adds another 144 feet to get the pier to its original 500 feet and over the water once again.  The $150,000 project is financed by Monmouth County, the State, the OGCMA, the Fishing Club, and Neptune Township.

Landlocked fishing pier. Asbury Park Press photo.

Landlocked fishing pier. c 2000.  Asbury Park Press photo.

In August, 2011,  Hurricane Irene causes damage to the pier. Some emergency repairs are done, but the pier is unsafe at its far end. The CMA fixes a few damaged parts of the  boardwalk.  FEMA declines to pay for repairs.

Then Sandy hits on October 29, 2012 and causes considerable destruction including the demolition of most of the pier. The clubhouse is swept out to sea in addition to all but a short section of the pier still attached to the boardwalk.

Finally, now, in 2013, a 165  foot piece of the pier will be repaired by the COGMA  to allow the public to walk out a short distance—-over the sand.  Engineers say that it is safe.

The OGCMA promises to rebuild the “non-fishing pier ” in its entirety, but that will come in the future.  Mr. William Bailey of the CMA says that the small initial section will give people hope regarding the rest of the project.  However, in a detailed press release dated April 30, the CMA did not mention the pier.

The  OG Fishing Club has a long lease, but its future has been put on hold for now.  The old-boys club (with a few old -girls)  is missing its hangout.  What’s to be done?   Maybe they should have their meetings at Old Navy.

One thing  is clear:  Both the pier and the club are woven into the fabric of Ocean Grove history, and respect must be paid.

In Part II, we will discuss the situation with officials of the  fishing club and the Camp Meeting Association.

NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND:  Fishin’ in the Dark    (something to look forward to)

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When history comes knocking on our door…

Posted in Ocean Grove history, tagged , on February 13, 2021| 4 Comments »

Julia West Howard

By Eileen and Paul Goldfinger   Re-post from 2011 on Blogfinger.net

It was June, 2008, and  there was a knock on our front door. A young woman named Cathy Midkiff  was standing on the porch.  She said that she was visiting Ocean Grove from Maryland and wanted to see the house that had  a special meaning for her.  We invited her in. She looked about curiously and then proceeded to tell us her story.

Cathy had recently inherited a piece of furniture—an armoire. It seems that a celebrity named Julia West Howard had lived in our house at 113 Mt. Hermon Way from 1938 until her death in 1947.  Cathy’s aunt, a friend of Ms. Howard, had acquired the armoire  from the Howard estate.

The aunt, Wilma Bodine of Bangs Avenue in Asbury Park, had owned a funeral home there and that’s where the armoire remained until Cathy acquired it.  The armoire is a carved walnut piece that was appraised as being from the 1930’s, so probably Julia had purchased it new to furnish her OG house.

Cathy left us copies of photographs and some news clippings.  We were intrigued, because the Asbury Park Press, in 1947, had printed a photo of the house, and the caption said, “Home of Famous Actress Sold—Julia West Howard, whose picture was emblazoned on billboards, posters, and in newspapers from Broadway to San Francisco more than 46 years ago, spent the last years of her retirement in this home at 113 Mt. Hermon Way, Ocean Grove, which has just been sold by the estate to William and Nellie Major.  Before her death, Miss Howard completely remodeled the property.”

The photos of Julia West Howard were wonderful—showing a stylish and coquettish woman with her hair up, as was the way in the early 20th century.

An obituary in the Ocean Grove Times, dated August 29, 1947, said that Julia West Howard had been born in Germany and resided in New York City before moving to OG  in 1938. She had been married to Frank Howard and was survived by her sister W.H. Osborne of Ocean Grove. Her funeral service was at the Bodine Funeral Home.

The photograph of the house showed striped awnings, coincidentally just like the ones we installed 5 years ago.  We also were able to verify the appearance of the columns, the gull wing roof and the balustrades. There were trees and shrubs around the dwelling.  If only the house could talk.

 

MUSIC: Imagining Julia West Howard   (Maude Maggart Sings Irving Berlin)

 

 

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One good urn deserves another

Posted in Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove photographs, Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, tagged , on January 20, 2021|

Vest pocket park with antique urn near Mt. Carmel Way in the OG mountains. Paul Goldfinger photo ©.

Vest pocket park with antique urn near Mt. Carmel Way in the OG mountains. November, 2014.   Paul Goldfinger photo ©.  Click to enlarge.

BEVERLY KENNEY:

Beverly Kenney

Beverly Kenney

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Jack Bredin reviews the history of land use law in Ocean Grove

Posted in Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove history by Blogfinger, tagged on December 2, 2020|

Ocean Grove was founded as a religious summer community. It was run by Methodist ministers, and Alfred Cookman was one of them. His story has been told on Blogfinger. Do a search.

 

Blogfinger posted a piece on May 5, 2019  (scroll up)  about the confusion in terminology for those who are unsure about the relationship of the Town of Ocean Grove to the Camp Meeting Association.  The unique story of the CMA in OG, with its history of running the town for over 100 years, making laws, and prevailing here in so many ways, up to the present, has to be unheard of across the country.  If anyone knows of some comparable place, please let us know.

That  post is called, “How to Refer to Our Town.”

If you look at the comments section of that article, you will see a statement by Grover 13 who thinks he/she knows the truth.  Jack Bredin was moved to try and explain the background of some of this, and his contribution below is very special–I’ve never seen anyone else take a shot at explaining that history.  .—–Paul Goldfinger,  Editor, Blogfinger.net

 

To Grover 13 from Jack Bredin, Researcher/reporter/historian  at Blogfinger.net:

“For over 100 years, from 1869-1980, the “Town” of Ocean Grove was first “illegally permitted” by Ocean Township in 1869 and then by Neptune Township from 1879-1980 to act as its own municipality. OG had their own police department, court, board of health, etc. The “Town” was operated pursuant to CMA rules and not State Law; and the OG residents could not vote for the OG “governing body” which was the CMA.  However, the OG residents did have the privilege to pay taxes to Neptune and vote for the Township Committee.

“And so the residents in fact had two (2) governing bodies, both acting outside State Law, but I don’t blame the CMA for doing what the Township permitted them to do. However, in 1980, the NJ Supreme Court said this all must stop.

“Ocean Grove was also founded by the CMA as a Camp Meeting Ground for people who belonged to the Methodist Church, but the CMA is not the Methodist Church in town; St. Paul’s is the Church.

“The CMA registered with the NJ Secretary of State as a corporation. When the Corporation “divided” the land into 2,000 parcels, one (1) share of voting stock should have been issued to each “Lot Owner.” As a result, OG residents could not vote for their OG municipal governing body or at a stock holders meeting.

“As NJ State Land Use Law, State Land Use Standards, and State Land Use Procedures evolved over the years throughout the State, land use law and procedures in OG remained unchanged, and they are now interpreted by the Neptune Township “Land Use Administrator” who has no authority to make any land use decisions.

“Is it any wonder why OG has so many land use problems?

“Paul Goldfinger is one of the few people in OG trying to make sense of it all, and Blogfinger is the only one reporting on it.”

 

BEATLES:   (Paul McCartney)

“The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to you door”

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OG tennis players: 1910 photograph.

Posted in Blogfinger guest photographer, Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove history, tagged on November 25, 2020|

Ocean Grove tennis court.  (note the net which she is holding. ? body language.). Broadway, August, 1910. On the back it says, “1 1/2 blocks from ocean, about #23 Bway.”  Note, no cars. ? Sunday. In 1910, there were 500,000 cars in America.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor at Blogfinger.net

Tennis was introduced in the US in 1876, seven years after OG was founded.  By 1881, tennis clubs were being built all over.

In the photo, it looks like the OG courts were hard sand, located parallel to Broadway.  The early OG history books make no mention of tennis.  Presumably playing tennis was forbidden on Sundays.  Will tennis keep this couple together–after all, that sport has something called “love?”

BARBARA COOK.  “Don’t Blame Me.”  From her album  Close As Pages in a Book—the music of Dorothy Fields.  Dorothy Fields  was a well known lyricist at a time when there were few women found at the Brill Building in New York.  Barbara Cook was a huge star on the Broadway stage.

“Can’t you see
When you do the things you do?
If I can’t conceal
The thrill that I’m feeling
Don’t blame me..”

Do you suppose she liked it when he rushed the net?  Did she prefer his backhand or his fore?

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Tenting in the Old Campground

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove Historical Society, Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove photographs, tagged , on November 6, 2020|

Summer tents in 21st century Ocean Grove. By Paul Goldfinger ©

Summer tents in 21st century Ocean Grove.  By Paul Goldfinger ©  Re-post 2018.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor   @Blogfinger

The founders of Ocean Grove had the first religious service at the current location of Founders’ Park.   They stayed over, erecting tents.  The custom of staying in tents each summer was enjoyed by early visitors to the town.  People could rent tents in the 1870’s, and families would often hire a grouping of tents.  Some people bought lots and placed tents on them for their own use or rentals.  There were many shaded areas within groves of trees where the tenters could congregate, and by 1870, there ware 700 tents.  It was probably fun for those city people to take the train to the Grove and stay in a tent.

But as OG historian Ted Bell points out in the second chapter of his book  (Images of America: Ocean Grove), “Tents gave way to cottages.”  The first cottage was built in 1870.

Early OG summer guests (1870's) enjoyed the shade from the many trees in town. From Ted Bell's book on OG from the Images in America series. Photo courtesy of the HSOG.

Early OG summer guests (1870’s) enjoyed the shade from the many trees in town. From Ted Bell’s book on OG ,  Images in America series. By permission of Ted Bell.

Tent life summer 2013. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

Tent life summer 2013. Guests  listen to a concert outside the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, NJ.  Tenters sit on their porches and hear the music for free.  It’s not exactly Tanglewood, but Sousa and Mozart live here too.  Paul Goldfinger photo ©

140 years ago, the town was quickly coming alive as a summer resort  in many ways including the construction of religious buildings, homes, hotels, boarding houses, beach pavilions, eateries and shops.  Some people who had bought lots with tents, converted the tents to cottages, and those architectural features can still be recognized today, and those cute OG cottages are much in demand.

Today, about 100 tents remain,  owned by the OGCMA, and those  tents are quaint tourist attractions which intrigue modern-day visitors and are still sought after for summer vacations. Ocean Grove wasn’t the only Campground in America—there were many.

From Wikipedia:   “In the aftermath of the American Civil War, such evangelical camp meetings gained wide recognition and a substantial increase in popularity as a result of the first holiness movement camp meeting in Vineland, New Jersey,  in 1867.  In the mid-Atlantic states, the Methodist Church led many of these camp meetings and established semi-permanent sites for summer seasons.”

Rev Osborne, the founder of Ocean Grove, received his orders at the Vineland meeting to seek out a site for a Campground on the Jersey Shore.    Founded in 1869, Ocean Grove has been called the “Queen of the Victorian Methodist Camp Meetings.”

JERRY DEER  “Country Fiddler”

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Ramifications, speculations and interrogations regarding the condominium/CMA lawsuit.

Posted in Ocean Grove controversies, Ocean Grove history, tagged on October 25, 2020| 8 Comments »

Source: Seasons General Store in OG.

Graphics source: Seasons General Store in OG.

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.  Jack Bredin, Blogfinger researcher.

Look south on BF to find our October 24, 2020  post about two condominium associations which sued the CMA.  (2/17/17)  And don’t miss the comments.

Today’s  BF re-post below about ground rents is also from 2017.  The subject of ground-rents goes back to the 19th century and is still a source of interest and consternation.

You will also find two letters to the editor–same 2017 vintage on this subject.

The law suit described above is about two OG condominium associations who are suing the Camp Meeting Association regarding ground rents.  But we haven’t seen the complaint and we don’t know what the complaint really is and what issues will be considered and explored during  the discovery phase if it goes to trial. 

Because of all the uncertainty, we have a wide open pathway for discussion, and won’t it be interesting to guess how many different spinoffs will be generated.

Fundamental assumptions will be questioned.   Let’s begin with a collection of questions and ideas.  Then send in your suggestions about where this suit will lead.  Click on comments below or send an email to Blogfinger@verizon.net.  If you ask to be anonymous, you will  be.  If you don’t share your email with us, we can’t talk to you individually. 

1. Recently the OGHOA hired a lawyer to look into the ground rent matter. We don’t exactly know what his instructions were, but he cost the HOA $7,000. HOA members: where is your loyalty?    You should demand that the identity of that lawyer be revealed and his report made public.   (See Kevin Chambers’ inquiry about this.)

https://blogfinger.net/2017/01/30/just-wondering-what-happened-to-the-legal-opinion-on-ground-rents/

2.   Will the court find that condo owners should be treated the same as other resident owners and be charged $10.50 per year ground rent?  Will the court find that condo owners can be treated on a case to case basis, whereas home owners in town are mostly treated as if they were all the same?  Will using home assessments to determine fees be OK for condo owners,  but not for regular  homeowners?

3.   Who really owns the land in Ocean Grove?  If the CMA owns the land, then how come we homeowners have to pay property taxes to Neptune Township?  Why doesn’t the CMA pay the taxes?  (This was questioned in court in the past, and the citizens lost that battle.)  If the CMA doesn’t own the land, then will the current homeowners own the land?   Will the CMA produce proof that they own the land?

4. If the CMA loses and has to return a ton of money, will it go bankrupt?

5. If the CMA loses, then they may not be able to make much money from condo’s in the future.  If that happens, will they still support the construction of up to 165 condos at the North End?  Will the North End Redevelopment Plan collapse before it begins?

6.  If the CMA cannot make much money from the approval of more condos in the Grove, will they become supporters of single family zoning in town and opponents to more condos?  

7.   Will the CMA be able to continue raising the leasehold fees whenever it wants to, without providing justification?  

8. The CMA is a secretive private organization. Will it have to open its books to the court?  Will its officers and trustees have to undergo depositions?

9.  Will the condo associations involved in the suit be able to continue paying high legal fees if this suit drags on?  Can the CMA afford a long legal process?

10.  Will other condominium associations join the suit?

Tell us your ideas.  Please read the rules above about commenting on Blogfinger.

MERLE HAGGARD WITH THE PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND:

 Editor’s note:   On Feb 22, 2017, Blogfinger posted two Letters to the Editor containing  discussions of the history of ground rents in Ocean Grove.   Here are links:

Ground rent letter to the editor #1 2017

Ground rent letter to the editor #2 2017

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“Farmer Stebbins at Ocean Grove” A poem published in 1885.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove history, tagged on October 24, 2020| 1 Comment »

Thanks to Lee Morgan of OG who sent us a poem entitled  “Farmer Stebbins at Ocean Grove.”  It is from a book by Will Carleton titled City Ballads published in 1885.  Lee says, “Your readers will be delighted and amused. Note the caracatures of the folks in the poem.”

 

Ocean Grove, June 30, 18—.

Dear Cousin John:

We got here safe—my worthy wife and me—And took a tent here in the woods contiguous to the sea; We’ve harvested such means of grace as growed within our reach— We’ve been to several meetings here, and heard the Bishop preach; And everything went easy like until we took a whim—My wife and I—one breezy day, to take an ocean swim.

We shouldn’t have ventured on’t, I think, if Sister Sunnyhopes hadn’t urged us over and again, and said she knew “the ropes,” And told how soothing it would be “in ocean rills to lave,”And “sport within the bounding surf,” and “ride the crested wave;” And so we went along with her—my timid wife and me— Two inland noodles, for our first acquaintance with the sea.

They put me in a work-day rig, as usually is done— A wampus and short overalls all sewed up into one. I had to pull and tug and shrink to make the thing go ’round (You are aware my peaceful weight will crowd three hundred pound). They took my wig and laid it up—to keep it dry, they said—And strapped a straw-stack of a hat on my devoted head.

They put my wife into a frock too short by full a third: ‘Twas somewhat in the Bloomer style—I told her ’twas absurd! You know she’s rather long and slim—somewhat my opposite— And clothes that was not made for her is likely not to fit; But as we was we vent’red in—my timid wife and me—And formed our first acquaintance with the inconsistent sea.

Miss Sunnyhopes she waded out a-looking nice and sweet (She’d had her dress made to the store, and trimmed from head to feet); And I went next, and grabbed their rope just as she told me to, And Wife came third, a-looking scared, scarce knowing what to do.Then Sister Sunnyhopes a smile of virgin sweetness gave, And said, “Now watch your chance, and jump—here comes a lovely wave!”

I must have jumped, I rather think, the wrong time of the moon; At any rate the “lovely wave” occurred to me too soon! It took me sudden, with a rude and unexpected shock; I’d rather meet the stoutest pair of horns in all my flock! And then to top the circus out, and make the scene more fine, I tried to kick this “lovely wave,” and let right go the line.

“TWO INLAND NOODLES, FOR OUR FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE SEA.”

On county fairs and ‘lection days, in walking through a crowd, I’m rather firm to jostle ‘gainst—perhaps it makes me proud; But if it does, that wave just preached how sureness never pays, And seemed to say, “How small is man, no odds how much he weighs!” It kicked and cuffed me all about, in spite of right or law, With all the qualities they give an average mother-in-law!

And then it set me on the bank, quite thankful for my life, And looking ’round I give a gaze to find my faithful wife; But she had kind o’ cut this wave with all the edge she had, And stood a-looking ’round for me, uncommon moist and sad; While Sister Sunnyhopes with smiles was looking sweet and gay, A-floating on her dainty back some several rods away!
Sister Sunnyhopes floating on her back.
She looked so newish pretty there—(she knowed it, too, the elf!)— The crowd was all admiring her, and so was I myself; And while I once more grasped the line, beside my wife of truth, My eyes would rove to Sister S.—her beauty and her youth;  When all at once a brindle wave, uncommon broad and deep, Came thrashing down on Wife and me, and flopped us in a heap!
Heels over head—all in a bunch—my wife across of me, And I on some misguided folks who happened there to be, My hat untied and floated off, and left my bald head bare— When I got out, if I’d have spoke, ‘twould warmed up all the air!  We drank ’bout two-thirds of the sea—my gasping wife and I—While Sister S. still floated soft, a-gazing at the sky!

“WE VOTED THAT WE’D HAD ENOUGH.”

We voted that we’d had enough, and got right out the way Before another wave arrived, and bid the sea good-day. We looked as like two drownded rats as ever such was called, With one of them a dumbed old fool and most completely bald.  But, like a woman true she says—my shivering wife to me— “We will not mind; there’s others here looks just as bad as we.”

Now, Sister Sunnyhopes, by’m-by, came back into our tent, As sleek or sleeker than before, and asked us “When we went?” Said I, “My dear good Sister S., please do not now pretend You did not see our voyage through, and mark its doleful end. If you would play the mermaid fair, why such I’d have you be; But we’re too old to take that part—my faithful wife and me;

“Some folks may be who ocean waves are fitted to command, But we’ve concluded we was built expressly for the land. And when I want amusement for an uncompleted day, I guess I’ll go and take it in some good old-fashioned way; And will not stand upon my head ‘fore all the folks that’s there, And wildly wave my dumbed old feet in all the neighboring air!”

MUSIC FROM THE SOUNDTRACK OF THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL:

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Ocean Pathway—-1917

Posted in Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove Postcards from the Past, tagged on October 11, 2020|

Ocean Grove, 1917 Submitted by Rich Amole, Blogfinger staff.

Ocean Grove, 1917
Submitted by Rich Amole, Blogfinger staff.

 

Hi Paul:

This post card image with a post mark of September 1917 appears to of been taken from the Great Auditorium roof.  Perhaps someone who may have been working  on a ladder on the roof or poking his head out some opening  thought it would be a nice photo.

At the time of this photograph, except for a few trees, there are no gardens to be seen along Ocean Pathway.  Even though the post mark is 1917 , the image may have been taken years before,  but what a difference 103 years makes, and special thanks to the folks who tend those gardens & planters all over the Grove.

Rich

(Rich Amole is the Blogfinger staff historian.)

 

Source” Ebay

JOHNNY AND JOE:

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Protect Ocean Grove in 2020. Stand vertical and do something.

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove beachfront, Ocean Grove controversies, Ocean Grove history, Ocean Grove lifestyles, Photography by Paul Goldfinger, Photography in America, Photography in New Jersey, Photography: Faces at the Shore, Photography: Jersey Shore Gallery, tagged on October 7, 2020|

Cleanup after Sandy. 2012. Paul Goldfinger portrait. © Blogfinger.net

Cleanup after Sandy. Ocean Grove middle beach.   2012. Paul Goldfinger portrait. © Blogfinger.net  Click to enlarge

PINK MARTINI

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