OLP 2013 – 4 – Himalaya

The Himalaya is apparently so named for the chilly blast of air in your face as you speedily go ’round and ’round. It’s based on German Caterpillar rides from the early 20th century.

As far as I can tell, it’s one of the only modern rides that uses a DJ— or I guess technically it’s a “manual operator,” but he/she controls the music and talks to the riders (“Do you want to go faster?!”).

It’s charmingly old-school, which I guess could be said for all amusement rides.
But in contrast, this year, the Gravitron and Monkey House both had automated voice recordings to deliver safety admonitions, which I don’t remember from years past.
I still like to hear the voices of real humans sometimes.

OLP 2013 – 3 – Ferris wheel

Ferris wheels are fun.

Hats off to George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. for designing them. Thanks man.

I got nothin’ beyond that.

OLP 2013 – 2 – Swing ride

I’ve never actually been on a swing ride… or any other carnival ride, actually, come to think of it. It looks like fun, though! What’s your favorite amusement ride?

OLP 2013

New Providence’s Our Lady of Peace Festival was this week, culminating in tonight’s festivities, all very exciting.

I’m trying to go through all the photos I took and weed out the REALLY bad ones… but I’m falling asleep on my keyboard. This’ll do for tonight, eh?

Tiny purple bells

EDIT: This is a lungwort, thanks to Jane from Food and Flowers! Back in the day, they were like, “hey, the leaves look like diseased lungs! Obviously we should use this plant to treat diseased lungs.” Hence: LUNGwort.

I’ve spent the past hour trying to identify this flower, and now I have officially given up. Do you recognize it? It’s a domesticated garden plant (as opposed to a wildflower), but beyond that I’m lost. The entire bunch of flowers is about as big as an egg.

Revolutionary cemetery

The old cemetery across the street from Westfield Presbyterian has been officially noted on the National Register of Historic Places as the “Burial Ground of the Presbyterian Church in the West Fields of Elizabethtown” since 2007.

The gate shuts out casual onlookers because the headstones are soooo old and fragile that they can fall apart if you touch them. People were buried here from 1730-1958 (give or take 10 years); if you lived in Westfield, this was the only public burial ground available to you until Fairview Cemetery opened a little over a mile up the road in 1868.

The site includes ~70 Revolutionary War veterans, three War of 1812 veterans, and eight Civil War veterans, as well as a few veterans from WWI and WWII.

Originally, local residents could just select whatever random spot they liked, pick up a shovel, and bury their loved ones (at no cost). Eventually the Presbyterian church got its act together and enforced some sort of organization here.

 

References:

NJ DEP – Historic Preservation Office. (2012). “New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Union County.” p.6. Retrieved August 31, 2012. http://www.state.nj.us/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists/union.pdf.

The Presbyterian Church in Westfield. (n.d.). “Cemetery information.” http://www.westfieldpc.org/AboutUs/CemeteryInformation/tabid/32234/Default.aspx.

Westfield Bicentennial Committee. (1976). “The Westfield Bicentennial Committee has designated the Revolutionary Cemetery…” (Plaque). Documented May 2013.

North End

Depending on your source, the North End Pavilion may or may not be a remnant of Ocean Grove’s 1911 North End Hotel complex.

North End Hotel. Image from the Ocean Grove Historical Society.

In 1938, the hotel suffered a brutal fire, and its pier was swept away by a winter storm, but the overall structure kept standing… until it was demolished in 1978.

I don’t know whether the remaining North End Pavilion structure (such as it is, after Sandy; until now, it’s always held a variety of quaint beach shops) is a recreation of the original North End Hotel, or a façade of the original. Any shore residents want to weigh in on this?

 

EDIT: My dad posited that this is definitely the original structure because it looks like the original. But I’ve seen cases where replicas and homages of historic buildings are erected after the original is no longer there, and I was skeptical. I did a little extra digging, though; turns out he’s right. There are some photos of the 1978 demolition on Blogfinger that show how they carefully preserved this one little section of the complex.

According to that same link (Blogfinger is a great resource for all things Ocean Grove; it’s like NPDP but way better), after the North End Hotel was torn down, the site was slated to be turned into a retirement community. Never happened, though.

 

P.S. The top photo also shows off Ocean Grove’s brand-new asphalt walkway. Ooh la la.

These boards were made for walkin’

Despite Ocean Grove being denied FEMA funding for rebuilding its boardwalk, the construction continues anyway. The Ocean Grove beach offices/ restrooms/ base of the fishing pier is one of the lucky sections to get a revamped boardwalk out of the deal.

Apparently this new boardwalk is a composite material. (Whether to use wood or composite for the new boardwalks has been the source of controversy in other shore towns [most notably Belmar].)

 

They’ve done a lot of construction since January:

January 2013: Ocean Grove boardwalk, rebuilding near the beach offices

 

Which is all great progress from what Sandy wrought:

October 31, 2012: Near the Ocean Grove beach offices immediately after Sandy

October 31, 2012: Base of the OG fishing pier immediately after Sandy

Beached

For Mother’s Day, we took my mother for a walk in Ocean Grove (with a quick jaunt into Asbury Park). I hadn’t been this close to the Casino since before Sandy.

They’ve cleaned up the rest of the area pretty well, so the lifesaving boat was likely dragged and intentionally placed here recently. I guess it’s one of those icons of Sandy, a reminder, a curiosity we can show the kids.

Playing in the trashed Asbury Park lifesaving boat.

Just this past week, a brand new 8-foot wide asphalt path was laid between the end of the Ocean Grove boardwalk and the Asbury Park Casino, making that area accessible again.

January 2013— After the boardwalk was destroyed by Sandy, the only access to the Casino from Ocean Grove was by walking across dunes.

The Casino serves as the bridge across Deal Lake between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, linking the two boardwalks. The structure itself is still fenced off, but sources say that it’ll be open for Memorial Day.

Peeking over the fence into the Asbury Park Casino, May 2013; this will all be cleaned up in two weeks

Currently, people can get from Asbury Park into Ocean Grove by detouring around the Casino onto the beach (which probably won’t work after Memorial Day, when you have to start paying for beach access).

Side of Asbury Park Casino, 2011

The sand drops off into the ocean right about where the old demolished Casino foundations end, so circumnavigating this area isn’t entirely safe anyway, but it’s our only option at the moment. Here’s hoping for better access in two weeks!

Dogwood tree

“Oh no,” I hear you groan, “ANOTHER flower?”

Answer: Yes. It’s Mother’s Day. You need flowers for Mother’s Day! I’ll have something less flowery tomorrow.