MEMORIES ALONG THE JERSEY SHORE

May 18, 2009

 

 

ISLAND BEACH STATE PARK

 

We stopped to stretch out legs at this pretty beach park and nature reserve on our way up the coast from Haddonfield to Atlantic Highlands.  The park is located between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay.

 

NATURE IMITATES NATURE

 

The beach grass and the ferns on the birding trail have the same graceful lines.

 

TWIN LIGHTS

 

Cousin Mark took us over to the Twin Lights, a.k.a the Navesink Highlands Light Station.  We were the only ones there to enjoy the spectacular view.  As children, this was a popular destination.  Camille's mother made a point of bringing  the family here for a picnic on Ascension Day.  Built in 1862, the lighthouse served to guide shipping approaches to New York Harbor for fifty years.

 

SPECTACULAR VIEWS

 

Bob, Camille and Jim pose in front of the Atlantic Ocean, Sandy Hook and the New York skyline.

 

BOYS WILL BE BOYS

 

Bob and Jim slipped away from the light house towers where Camille and Mark were engaged with childhood memories and relived the favorite childhood pastime of exploring abandoned buildings.

 

KIDS ON THE CANNON

 

Jim and Camille re-create a favorite photo from their youth. We don't have a copy of one of those old 'kids on the cannon' photos.

 

64 HOLLYWOOD AVENUE

   

This is the house where Camille lived for seven years with her parents, five younger brothers, and various dogs, cats and parakeets.  The family moved here in 1963 and left in 1970.  The house was once a three story house but was reduced to two.  There were three staircases, three fireplaces, two sun porches and two balconies and enough rooms for a family of eight.  Camille's father purchased the house for $18,000.  Their neighbors lived in similar homes, albeit with all three floors intact and many of them had large families, too.  One family had fourteen children, another twelve and another ten.  We kids ran with the neighborhood kids to our endless delight and were able to create ball teams among us for baseball and football.

The homes were originally designed as summer cottages.

Excerpts From "The attractions of Long Branch, New Jersey (1909)"

"FIRST of all, Long Branch is a cottage resort, and it is the greatest of cottage resorts. From its earliest history it has been a favorite place for men to bring their families for the summer, In addition to Presidents, the distinguished men who have been cottagers here could be named by the hundreds. Among these may be mentioned George W. Childs, "the only American who ever declined the Presidency," Admiral Farragut,  William Cullen Bryant, James Gordon Bennett, Henry Ward Beecher, Prince de Joinville, General "Phil" Sheridan, W. H. Vanderbilt, John Hoey, Simon Sternberger, George M. Pullman, the Van Rensselaers, Winslows, Seligmans, Livingstons and Guggenheims." 

"WHEN back in the eighties President Garfield one summer lay for weeks on his death-bed, the most eminent physicians of the nation were called upon to decide what was the coolest and most healthful place in the country in order that the dying President might be taken there. After an investigation, the unanimous verdict was Long Branch. The place has developed astonishingly since then, but it retains all the characteristics which then made it the coolest and most healthful spot in America. From its high elevation it is now, as then, swept by cool ocean breezes in summer, and in winter the climate is tempered by the Gulf Stream."

 

THE RIDING STABLE NEXT DOOR

  

Camille spent many hours learning how to care for and ride horses at Sacco's next door.  There were apartments over the barn which looks as if it has been remodeled.  The feed and tack rooms were located outside in a separate building.

 

WE LOVE THE BEACH

Bob and Camille both grew up on the coast, she in Jersey and he in New Orleans and then Ghana.  We have lived together on several islands and always get asked whether or not we get 'rock fever.'   That answer is "no."  We actually breathe easier when we can see the ocean than when we feel locked in by land.  Click on photo for larger file.

 

MEMORY LANE, A.K.A OCEAN BLVD.

 

Just looking at these two buildings made Camille's gastric juices begin to flow.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Amazing Food ] [ DC Family and Friends ] [ Lancaster Illos ] [ NJ Relatives ] [ Jersey Shore ] [ Tumbling Run ] [ Shippensburg Mini-Reunion ]