Last week when I was on the Jersey shore I had a chance to take a ramble through Ocean Grove, a small community with an interesting history. What most attracted me as I looked at the closely packed houses were the carefully tended gardens in the thin strips of ground between house and sidewalk.
The complexity of the plant forms were more than matched by the shapes and details of the architecture. Ocean Grove is full of fanciful Victorian houses, colorfully maintained. When I was thinking of a title for this post, the word furbelow came up from the recesses of my brain; its sound with flowers or foliage was lovely. Since the meaning comes from frills or ruffles on clothing, my use of it is a bit of a stretch, but it's such an amusing word. The porch railings provided inventive backgrounds to foliage, whether like dancing figures....
or decorative crisscrosses...
or more simple circles in a square.
A variegated leaf hydrangea looks like lacy froth above the solid round finial...
while an elegant iron gate gives a glimpse into a back garden, with a porch railing showing another whimsical design using hearts. I wonder how the builders of these 19th century houses thought of their porch railings and other details; did they value their imaginations? think of them as art? or were they gifts from God?
Ocean Grove was established in 1869 as the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association by a group of Methodist ministers. It is still an active camp meeting site, though no longer the strictly observant place I knew from my childhood summers in next door Bradley Beach, when cars were banned and the beach closed on Sundays. The magnificent auditorium, seating 6,000, was built in 1894.
It is a beautiful wooden structure with a vaulted ceiling and is a place for both secular and religious events.
One of the most charming architectural elements of Ocean Grove are the tents lining the green and streets around the Great Auditorium. They are two room structures on a wooden platform, with the tent in front and a seemingly flimsy wooden room behind which contains kitchen and bathroom. Since the camp meeting association owns all the land in Ocean Grove, all houses are leased to their owners with 99 year renewable leases; the tents are also leased and house the same people year after year, who are expected to support the mission of the Camp Meeting Association.
Like the Saint Johnsbury Athenenaeum, Ocean Grove is another place out of time, where you can imagine yourself in the late 19th century, enjoying the charm and calm of a small religious community by the sea.
very interesting post about a place out of time. because of the restrictive laws, in my mother's time they called it ocean grave.
ReplyDeleteYes, I remember that too, dbk. Things there have changed, although it seems so much the same. The Ocean Grove link at Wikipedia has lots of interesting history about those changes, which generally went through the courts.
DeleteI never heard it called Ocean Grave, but then I suppose the people my family socialized with were "fans" of Ocean Grove and only saw the positive influences of this wonderful community. My mother was from the Bronx NY and learned of Ocean Grove through church acquaintances ( she was Episcopalian) and started visiting in the thirties!
DeleteOur family went every summer for fifteen years or more to Ocean Grove for vacation and stayed at Pathway Manor which was two houses in from the boardwalk and Ocean.
Thanks to my cousin who is an artist for sending me your link so I could reminisce and view some beautiful photography.
Thank you for posting this on your blog Altoon!
You're very welcome, Anon. It's wonderful to know how many people have such happy memories of Ocean Grove.
DeleteOcean Grove is lovely. Should you ever happen to visit again- stop by Asbury Park. There is quite a few terrific art galleries!
ReplyDeletehi Laura, I've driven through Asbury many times, but never stopped to look at the galleries. I should do that. I have a nephew who's a young artist and he had some work in one of them.
DeleteMy husband, two daughters and I, were desperate to get out of the hot city for a couple of days. Thank you for your timely post about Ocean Grove which led us to finding a place to stay the night a block and a half from the beach. It was wonderful. The highlights were swimming, witnessing a dramatic fast moving storm with huge bolts of lightening over the water, walking the boardwalk to Asbury Park, crossing a bridge over the lake and meandering on the Ocean Grove streets to get back. And although initially it seemed disappointing to not be allowed on the beach until 12:30 on Sunday, that helped us decide to head back before the traffic. How can I have lived in NYC for thirty years and never visited Ocean Grove?
ReplyDeleteWow, Susan, I can't believe that this post inspired an actual trip to Ocean Grove. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself there. There are other nice places along the shore––Bradley Beach, Avon, Spring Lake––but Ocean Grove has its own wonderful character.
DeleteNext time you are down the shore come visit us in Island Heights, a smaller, lesser known town incorporated by the Methodists. In fact John F. Peto came to Island Heights to play the cornet and decided to make his home there. His restored home has become a Studio Museum.
ReplyDeleteSarah, I saw your comment on a previous post about the Peto Studio Museum. Thanks for telling me about it, again, and I hope to be able to visit someday.
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