By Kathy Arlt, Contributing Writer @Blogfinger
It’s impossible for me, in 2011, to improve on the Ocean Grove Times account of the North End Hotel’s opening in 1911, so most of this post will be a reprint from that newspaper. But first, a photo of the north side of the completed hotel, with Wesley Lake in the foreground:
And here is the front-page headline that announced the opening:
Sadly (for all the foodies reading this), the Times didn’t record any specifics about the elaborate menu the 150 invited guests enjoyed, but it was reported that there were nine courses which “embraced about all that was needed to please the palates of the banquetters.” Vocal and instrumental “quartettes” entertained the diners, who were not subjected to “speechmaking.” I imagine the guests also examined the hotel’s rooms and facilities, which were described in detail.
At 10 p.m. the festivities were over, and the grand opening guests departed “with a feeling that they had spent a most pleasant evening enjoying to the full the hospitality of the North End Hotel Company, and wishing for that body unlimited prosperity in their new enterprise.”
The Times account ends by listing the first two guests to register at the hotel: Mrs. Matilda Applegate and Miss Dorothy Applegate. They didn’t travel far to experience the luxurious surroundings of the North End Hotel; they came from Asbury Park.
Next time: It Wasn’t Just a Hotel