Ocean Grove, New Jersey

After a great 4th of July in Vermont (and jokes about my becoming chautauquasized), I've spent the day traveling to Ocean Grove, on the Jersey Shore. Ocean Grove is really a camp meeting, though it is in the Chautauqua Network. One of my tasks it to determine whether it ought to be catagorized as a chautauqua, or is solely a camp meeting (was it ever a chautauqua? is it still one?)


On first glance, Ocean Grove seems to be a place of rich contrasts. It is right on the beach, but much of the construction of the community is focused inward, toward the Great Auditorium. Some houses are four floors while others are literally still tents. Most striking is that, to get here, one must drive through next door neighbor, Asbury Park, which is very poor. While Asbury Park appeared to be all-African American, Ocean Grove is very white (though not entirely). Ocean Grove's architecture is mostly from the 1880s and 1890s, but some are brick apartment blocks. Quaint cottages are next to massive condo buildings.

It does have a neat downtown area, which I will take pictures of tomorrow.

This evening, I watched the moon rise over the Atlantic and listened to the Ocean Park Community Band practice right on the boardwalk.