By Joan Ruddiman Special Writer
You know you are in Jersey when summer fun includes going “down the Shore,” a term that is unique to New Jersey’s Atlantic coastline. Long before there was a New Jersey, going down the Shore was an annual event for the Leni Lenapi, whose summer sojourns to the Shore were about enjoying shellfish and escaping the humidity and heat of their woodland homes.
We can only imagine those long ago clambakes on the beach, but for a view of life at the shore in the 19th and early 20th centuries, photographs reveal a world that looks remarkably unchanged from our own.
Joe Czachowski, an adjunct professor of history at Kean University, has compiled “Historic Photos of the Jersey Shore” (Turner Publishing, 2007). Many of the over 200 beautiful black-and-white photographs — presented in the book in large format — were discovered in local and state collections and the National Archives. These rare images capture scenes from the Atlantic Highlands to Cape May, including people at work and play.
Mr. Czachowski’s chapter introductions and captions provide some historical context and facts that make this “coffee table” book a pleasure to repeatedly thumb through. The photos are organized by era. “Professionals, Presidents, and Piers” (1800s-1905) offers a glimpse of the high-class glitz of Jersey’s own gilded age. “Growth and Destruction” (1906-1929) includes images of devastation from hurricanes as well as the impact of electricity, expanded ferry and railroad services that served waves of new visitors to the Shore. “New Dangers and a New Deal” (1930-1949) recalls the Hindenberg disaster and the threat of German U-boats as the Shore struggled to survive economic disaster. Finally, with an era that many of us remember, the author encapsulates the years between 1950 and 1979 in what he titles “Blue-Collar Paradise.”
Trivia abounds. Grant retired, Garfield died and Wilson accepted the nomination for president — all “down the Shore.” In a caption of a 1929 photo of a Cape May yacht basin with an Esso sign prompts the author to explain that “Esso was the phonetic spelling of SO, i.e., Standard Oil … today known as Exxon.”
It is gratifying that the collection includes an early 1900s photo of the life-saving station at Sandy Hook. What would become the United States Coast Guard began as simple shacks on beaches that housed lines and pulleys that could be quickly set up to rescue sailors and passengers from foundering ships on the coastline of New Jersey and eventually, seacoasts everywhere.
Mr. Czachowski, however, does not acknowledge the inventor, William Augustus Newell, who is one of New Jersey’s own. This omission is disappointing but not surprising as the thrilling story of how this ingenious invention was conceived and developed “down the Shore” by a very enterprising young man has been ignored for a century.
Newell would go on to be a congressman, the 18th governor of New Jersey and a folk hero as the governor of the territory of the Pacific Northwest, as well as being a noted physician and surgeon. (Trivia alert! In 1848 as Congressman Dr. Newell, he attended John Quincy Adams on the House floor when former President Adams had his fatal stroke. In 1865 as White House physician for his old friend Abraham Lincoln, he doctored Tad through a near fatal bout of typhoid fever.) But what Dr. Newell was proudest of in his long life was the Newell Act of 1848 that established his life-saving stations from Sandy Hook to Little Egg Harbor. In 1850, after 200 passengers and crew were rescued from the Scottish brig Ayrshire, the life-saving service was extended on the Jersey coast and eventually, worldwide.
Fans of the Shore and New Jersey would enjoy Newell’s biography by Lloyd R.Applegate. “A Life of Service: William Augustus Newell” (Ocean County History Society, 1994) is available through Amazon and other booksellers, as well at the Ocean County History Society.
The publishing house aptly called “Down the Shore” is another source of books, calendars, videos, and other gift items that cater to “coastal residents and visitors.” Since the production of a calendar in 1985, this small company has become a dedicated publisher of works by writers, artists and photographers who thrive on the Jersey Shore. An anthology, “Shore Stories” (1998) edited by Rich Youmans, is a particularly fun literary journey down the 127-mile Jersey coast. More than 40 contributors, including notables John McPhee, Gay Talese and Robert Pinksy, add to the mystique of this unique setting.
For the day-trippers, weekly renters, and year-round residents who are passionate about “their” favored spot at the Shore, these books make wonderful gifts. For all those who mourn the end of summer, the images and text in these works offer solace until they can once again go “down the Shore.”
Joan Ruddiman, Ed/D, is the coordinator/facilitator of the gifted and talented PRISM program at the Thomas R/Grover Middle School in the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District.
