The Delaware River divides Pennsylvania from New Jersey, and at
Camden, opposite Philadelphia, there has grown another large city from
the overflow of its population. Ferries, and at the northern end of
Philadelphia harbor an elevated railway bridge, cross over to Camden,
while for miles the almost level surface of New Jersey has suburban
towns and villas, the homes of thousands whose business is in
Philadelphia. The New Jersey seacoast also is a succession of
watering-places where the population goes to cool off in the summer.
The whole New Jersey coast of the Atlantic Ocean is a series of sand
beaches, interspersed with bays, sounds and inlets, a broad belt of
pine lands behind them separating the sea and its bordering sounds and
meadows from the farming region. This coast has become an almost
unbroken chain of summer resorts from Cape May, at the southern
extremity of New Jersey, northeastward through Sea Isle City, Avalon,
Ocean City, Atlantic City, Brigantine, Beach Haven, Sea Girt, Asbury
Park, Ocean Grove, Long Branch, Seabright, etc., to Sandy Hook, where
the long sand-strip terminates at the entrance to New York harbor. To
these many attractive places the summer exodus takes the people by the
hundreds of thousands. The chief resort of all is Atlantic City, which
has come to be the most popular sea-bathing place of the country, the
railroads running excursion trains to it even from the Mississippi
Valley. Three railroads lead over from Philadelphia across the level
Jersey surface, and their fast trains compass the distance, fifty-six
miles, in an hour. The town is built on a narrow sand-strip known as
Absecon Island, which is separated from the mainland by a broad
stretch of water and salt meadows. Absecon is an Indian word meaning
"the place of the swans." The beach is one of the finest on the coast,
and along its inner edge is the famous "Board Walk" of Atlantic City,
an elevated promenade mostly forty feet wide, and four miles long. On
the land side this walk is bordered by shops, bathing establishments
and all kinds of amusement resorts, while the town of hotels,
lodging-houses and cottages, almost all built of wood, stretches
inland. The population come out on the "Board Walk" and the great
piers, which stretch for a long distance over the sea. It is the
greatest bathing-place in existence, and in the height of the season,
July and August, fifty thousand bathers are often seen in the surf on
a fine day, with three times as many people watching them. Enormous
crowds of daily excursionists are carried down there by the railways.
The permanent population is about twenty thousand, swollen in summer
often fifteen- or twenty-fold. Atlantic City is also a popular resort
in winter and spring, and is usually well filled at Eastertide.
The other New Jersey resorts are somewhat similar, though smaller.
Cape May, on the southern extremity of the Cape, is popular, and has a
fine beach five miles long. The coast for many miles northeastward has
cottage settlements, the beaches having similar characteristics. Many
of these settlements also cluster around Great Egg Harbor and Barnegat
Bay, both favorite resorts of sportsmen for fishing and shooting.
Asbury Park and Ocean Grove are twin watering-places on the northern
Jersey coast which have large crowds of visitors. The former is
usually filled by the overflow from the latter, who object to the
Ocean Grove restrictions. Ocean Grove is unique, and was established
in 1870 by a Camp Meeting Association of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Here many thousands, both young and old, voluntarily spend
their summer vacations under a religious autocracy and obey the strict
rules. It is bounded by the sea, by lakes on the north and south, and
by a high fence on the land side, and the gates are closed at ten
o'clock at night, and all day Sunday. The drinking of alcoholic
beverages and sale of tobacco are strictly prohibited, and no
theatrical performances of any kind are allowed. No bathing, riding or
driving are permitted on Sunday, and at other times the character of
the bathing-dresses is carefully regulated. There is a large
Auditorium, accommodating ten thousand people, and here are held
innumerable religious meetings of all kinds. The annual Camp Meeting
is the great event of the season, and among the attractions is an
extensive and most complete model of the City of Jerusalem.
To the northward is Long Branch, the most fashionable and exclusive of
the New Jersey coast resorts, being mainly a succession of grand
villas and elaborate hotels, stretching for about four miles along a
bluff which here makes the coast, and has grass growing down to its
outer edge almost over the water. In the three sections of the West
End, Elberon and Long Branch proper, the latter getting its name from
the "Long branch" of the Shrewsbury River, there are about eight
thousand regular inhabitants, and there come here about fifty thousand
summer visitors, largely from New York. The great highway is Ocean
Avenue, running for five miles just inside the edge of the bluff,
which, in the season, is a most animated and attractive roadway. The
hotels and cottages generally face this avenue. The most noted
cottages are the one which General Grant occupied for many years, and
where, during his Presidency in 1869-77, he held "the summer capital
of the United States," and the Franklyn Cottage, where President
Garfield, after being shot in Washington, was brought to die in 1881.
The most famous show place at Long Branch is Hollywood, the estate of
the late John Hoey, of Adams Express Company, who died there in 1892,
its elaborate floral decorations being much admired.