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By Jerry A. Woolley: Point Pleasant is a fascinating look at the New Jersey shore communities of Point Pleasant and Point Pleasant Beach during the heyday of the picture postcard. Rare and historical postcards illustrate the region's early grand hotels and majestic summer cottages that helped make Point Pleasant one of New Jersey's top seaside resorts. Explore neighborhoods and downtown shops, the Manasquan River, and, of course, the beach and boardwalk that made Point Pleasant Beach famous. -
By Andrew J. Anderson: Seaside Park, located on the Barnegat Barrier Island in Ocean County, New Jersey, was incorporated in 1898. Experience the rich history of Seaside Park through the enchanting images within this pictorial history to take you back in time to the Seaside Park of long ago. Many of Seaside Park’s over 200 images have never before been seen by the public. Stroll by the grand hotels representative of the late gilded age, once the main attraction for vacationers from Philadelphia and New York. Ride the long-forgotten Pennsylvania Railroad, which carried passengers and freight into Seaside Park from 1881 until the end of World War II. -
By Alfred T. Stokley: Incorporated in 1875, Berkeley Township was settled along the Barnegat Bay shoreline, dotted with homesteads and fishermen's shanties. The Central Railroad first brought summer tourists to the area for recreation in the late 19th century, and in the years to follow, many new attractions were established, including B.W. Sangor's lavish Royal Pines Hotel. Edward Crabbe established the village of Double Trouble in 1903 for lumber and cranberry production, and Sutton's Pavilion became Bayville's first fishing camp in 1905. Also in this era, George C. Crossly mined clay for terra-cotta products, using a narrow-gauge spur of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In 1928, Rudy Korman opened his restaurant and picnic grove, soon known as Korman's Corner. By the 1930s, Clover Cream Top Dairy was the largest in Bayville. In 1932, Dino the Dinosaur was built for a Sinclair Service Station and became a landmark. Historic Route 9 was used heavily through the middle of the 20th century, featuring roadside stands and tourist cabins. Berkeley Township showcases these landmarks and the rich recreational and commercial history of this Ocean County community. -
By Gene Donatiello & John Leavey: In 1850, the New Jersey Legislature created Ocean County and Brick Township, naming it for Joseph W. Brick, the industrious owner of Bergen Iron Works. At the beginning of the 20th century, Brick Township was a rural community. Up until the 1920s, postcards of the township were primarily architectural images. Brick Township contains updated images of familiar names and places: Emma Havens Young, for whom an elementary school has been named; the very popular Red Lion Tavern, later called the Red Lion Inn; the progression of four bridges crossing Barnegat Bay to the peninsula area of Brick Township; and Traders Cove Marina as it looked in the 1950s when it was called Pleasure Cove Marina. There are postcards from summer camps, such as Camp NEJECHO and Metedeconk Summer Camp, and from summer resorts, such as Breton Woods, Riviera Beach, and Normandy Beach. -
By Ellen V. Fayer, Stan Fayer, & Walter A. Brower: Chatsworth, a small village in the New Jersey Pinelands, was known as Shamong until 1901. The community traces its beginning to the early 1700s, when settlers mined and forged bog iron to make cannonballs for the American Revolution, and farming was the primary source of income. In the mid-1800s, Chatsworth was a popular stopping point for stagecoach travelers to the Jersey Shore. The arrival of the railroad removed the remoteness of the village and captured the attention of people throughout the country. Prince Mario Ruspoli de Poggio-Suasa, an attaché of the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C., built an elegant villa at the lake. Soon after, the exquisite Chatsworth Country Club was built and counted among its membership a sitting vice president of the United States. It was during this period that Chatsworth played a dominant role in the development of the cranberry industry and began attracting hunters and others seeking recreational opportunities in the Pinelands. The cultivated blueberry industry also had its beginnings in Chatsworth in the 1930s. -
By Captain Robert Bennett, Susan Leigh Bennett, & Commander Timothy R. Dring: In 1854, two horrendous shipwrecks took place off the New Jersey coast. The Powhattan and the New Era were both American-flag sailing packet ships carrying hopeful European immigrants to new lives in America. The ships ran aground on the offshore sandbars along the shoreline between Sandy Hook and Little Egg Inlet, claiming the lives of many passengers and crew. The staggering casualties finally prompted calls from the public and politicians for reforms to the system for rescues that the federal government had in place. The tragedies ultimately resulted in changes that prevented countless similar deaths. This unique and gripping account offers minute-by-minute details of the deadly wrecks, their causes and their final outcomes. -
By The New Jersey Turnpike Authority: The Garden State Parkway has transformed the lives of New Jersey residents since opening in 1954. Spanning 173 miles from Cape May to the New York State line, it has fostered tourism to the Jersey Shore and given commuters an easier way to get to work. Gov. Alfred E. Driscoll had envisioned the impact a new highway could have on the state, and a large team of planners, engineers, and contractors made it happen. In 1952, the legislature created the New Jersey Highway Authority to ensure the funding and completion of the $330-million parkway and to self-sufficiently operate the roadway through toll revenue. Garden State Parkway shows how this iconic roadway gained its place in history and continues to combine safe transportation in a parklike setting with the scenic beauty of New Jersey. -
By Captain Stephen J. Nagiewicz: An estimated three thousand shipwrecks lie off the coast of New Jersey - but these icy waters hold more mysteries than sunken hulls. Ancient arrowheads found on the shoreline of Sandy Hook reveal Native American settlement before the land was flooded by melting glaciers. In 1854, 240 passengers of the New Era clipper ship met their fate off Deal Beach. Nobody knows what happened to two hydrogen bombs the United States Air Force lost near Atlantic City in 1957. Lessons from such tragic wrecks and dangerous missteps urged the development of safer ships and the U.S. Coast Guard. Captain Stephen D. Nagiewicz uncovers curious tales of storms, heroism and oddities from New Jersey's maritime past. -
By Victoria O’Donnell & Christopher Ippolito: Jackson Township was named after the legendary "Old Hickory," Pres. Andrew Jackson. For many years, the township was largely recognized by its small villages. Each of these villages had similar features--a church, general store, tavern, mill, and iconic one-room schoolhouse--which nurtured the small community and formed the foundation of modern Jackson. Mills, small farms, and horse breeding in the 19th century transitioned to cranberry bogs and chicken farms in the first half of the 20th century. As transportation became more advanced after World War II, people began to travel outside of town for work, and the once-thriving villages of industry disappeared. Today, Jackson Township, covering 100.4 square miles, is the largest municipality in Ocean County and the third largest in the state of New Jersey. -
By Van R. Field & John J. Galluzzo: With its many inlets, points, and coves, the coast of New Jersey stood out as a haven for rumrunners brazenly thumbing their nose at the federal government during Prohibition. New Jersey was also recognized as the birthplace of the federal government's shore-based units of the United States Coast Guard, the organization charged at that time with stopping the flow of "demon rum" into America. With its vivid images, New Jersey Coast Guard Stations and Rumrunners revives the days when New Jersey's "coasties" stood toe-to-toe with the rumrunners of the 1920s and 1930s. -
By Richard J. Garlipp, Jr.: In the 18th and 19th centuries, covered bridges dotted the landscape of New Jersey, providing safe passage to travelers. Forty-five covered bridges once crossed waterways in all corners of the state. Perhaps the most extraordinary examples of these wooden bridges were found along the western border, crossing the Delaware River into neighboring Pennsylvania. These bridges were feats of construction and engineering but were ultimately unable to prevent the inevitable fate of almost all the covered bridges of the state, namely ice, floods, and fire as well as the development of new materials and technology. Today, only one covered bridge survives in New Jersey. The Green Sergeant's covered bridge in Hunterdon County was constructed over the Wickecheoke Creek in 1872 and has stood the test of time. New Jersey's Covered Bridges showcases the rich transportation history of these structures and pictorially honors the lost ones. -
By Anthony Puzzilla: The legendary Blue Comet train no longer streaks through the pines of New Jersey. However, its memory still lives on through timeless images and the sustained efforts of historical societies and preservation organizations. The Garden State's Blue Comet passenger train service operated from 1929 to 1941, on a route from the New York metropolitan area to Atlantic City. This book contains memorable images, many from private archival photograph collections, showing the remarkable history of this classic train and of the many hardworking, dedicated people who made it all possible.
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