The exit for my happy place is 100: Garden State Parkway at Rt 33 East: Corlies Ave/Ocean Grove/Bradley Bch – Neptune Township.
Ocean Grove, founded in 1869, by a group of Methodist clergymen, is still owned by the Camp Meeting Association. You can own your house but you can’t own the land – it is leased from the association (try explaining that to the bank when you apply for a mortgage). Until 1985 cars had to park outside the community gates from midnight Saturday until midnight Sunday. The beaches still don’t open until noon on Sunday. And… contrary to many images of the Jersey Shore, Ocean Grove is a dry community!
Before there were houses there were tents:
These are really wooden cabins with electricity and running water and canvas front rooms with covered porches. In 1870 there were 200 tents for every house but there are only 114 left. The canvas gets taken down each fall and put back up again each spring. All prospective tenters must be interviewed by the Camp Meeting Association and then placed on a waiting list. Remember: full season rentals only, no subletting, no pets, no barbeques.
Most of the houses were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s and are protected from change (NJ Register of Historic Places, National Register of Historic Places). Many have covered porches; many are painted beautiful colors (which can only be chosen from a designated list of historical colors).
The beaches are clean and flat:
Before Hurricane Sandy there was a fishing pier; now there’s only half.
Ralph, the stuffed resident fisherman appeared at the end of the pier around 1993. He has disappeared at times but has returned to the end of the shortened pier and is love by many, including my grandson.
According to one source, his name come from:
Rising Above the Long Pier of Hope
Tip: Rent one of the beautiful Victorian houses for a week or two to get the real feel of this wonderful community.
so…
