Sea Girt is More Fun, and First Shots Fired

Grover Cleveland defeated John Blaine of Maine and was inaugurated as the first Democrat President since the Civil War. Mark Twain published the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) incorporated, and the use of the telephone spreads. Dr John Harvey Kellogg invented corn flakes as a restorative health food.

In Spring Lake, the block between Essex and Sussex, Hastings Square was the center of Presbyterian primness. Linfoot had designed sixteen oversized semidetached cottages and two larger hotel cottages one called the Essex, and one the Sussex, all connected by common porches and shared rooflines, much like the buildings in the seaside town of Hastings, in county Sussex, in Linfoot’s native England.

From the TD Bank mural of a Spring Lake Historical Society photo colorized; 1884 barrel races with Hastings Square behind.

Common utilities brought each cottage, hot and cold water, heat, and sewers. Each cottage contained copper hot and cold soaking tubs for both sea and fresh water, built-in ranges, galvanized boilers, laundry stoves (before bleach, whites were boiled), and soapstone washtubs. With dining rooms, libraries, kitchens and bedrooms all lit with gas lamps, the city dweller would have “more than ordinary city conveniences.”

The most notable common element was the continuous porch which hung low to the ground and provided ample shade. The features which set the complex apart were the half-timbering, projecting bays & oriel windows along with cottages at different angles to the street. This gave the complex a three-dimensional look, with irregular surface patterns on the shingles and roof lines which engaged the eye. The stained-glass windows allowed the rising sun to enter in a rainbow of colors and the unobstructed views of the beach were glorious.

Guests of the Essex debated the superiority of their house with those of the Sussex. Each of the houses around the square was connected by a shared porch roof, and the residents watched from chairs as their neighbors strolled around the complex’s walkway.

At the Monmouth, evenings were described as even more stuffy:

“On the fairest moonlight night, with the silvered spray breaking into wreaths on the shining shore, and even when it is a little sultry and the sea air does not reach back to the hotel, there lies the beautiful walk and the empty pavilions, save for an occasional waiter and chambermaid in some corner enjoying the whole of the romance.

On the porches and in the parlors of the hotels and at the cottages are a thousand young people or more, but not a girl will go to the beach or a stroll, or so much as leave the porch. If asked why, the reply invariably is that " the other girls don't," and the reason why the other girls don't is that the other girls have Presbyterian blue blood in their veins.”

Contrast that with another article from the same season, “What People Are Doing at Sea Girt”.

“There has been great gayety at Sea Girt during the week, and people from all along the coast have made evening visits to the curious Beach House to witness the strange doings and carryings on. The numerous quaint features of the house, which were in a more or less chaotic state in June, are now complete, and the place astonishes people at every turn with novel and beautiful surprises.”

They found it important to stress that normal travelers could afford it:

“The house has nearly all it can accommodate and during the past few weeks has been crowded with people mostly of wealth and social prominence, though the impression that it is a place only for the rich is an erroneous one, and there are a number of refined people of moderate means who have double rooms for which they only pay forty dollars a week.”

The entertainment in this story was a Tableuux Vivant, a living diorama of scenes from literature and history:

“There are a great many young ladies in the house, and last Wednesday, aided by Mrs. Boldt, the wife of the proprietor, who has a great deal of taste in such matters, they got up an evening of tableaux, interspersed with music, which was attended by many people from Spring Lake, Long Branch, Berkeley Arms, Brielle and other places. Mr. Rodman Ellison, Jr., of Philadelphia, who took a number of parts in the tableaux, standing for Brutus, posing as the artist in the Artist's Dream, etc., got a number of swords and costumes from Philadelphia and did very much to help the ladies through.”

“Miss Zaidee Fulton, the very charming little daughter of Mr. Fulton, of New York, was Pocahontas, and a sweet little child, Evalina Walbaum, of Philadelphia, posed as the Sleeping Beauty. In the elaborate moving tableau of The Artist's Dream" Miss Bessie Ellison, of Philadelphia, the beauty of the house, was the bride, wearing some magnificent apparel from a variety of sources and captivating all by the graceful picture presented. This young lady, who was admired as one of the most beautiful girls and graceful dancers at the late Kirmis, is the chosen favorite of the other girls in the house, who group themselves around her and give her precedence. Three very interesting girls, the Misses Crozier, of Uplands, Pa., also participated, one of them in a Turkish costume as Blue Beard's wife and another as the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe”.

Most of the tableaux were reproductions of famous paintings. “The Artists Dream”

“They are granddaughters of Mr. J. P. Crozier, the founder of the great Baptist university. One of the prettiest stage pictures presented was Miss Nannie Sinnott, daughter of Mr. Joseph Sinnott, as Marguerite in the spinning wheel scene. Miss Lillie Norman, of Baltimore, who is here with her mother and sister for the entire season, was Galatea.”

There was a lack of men at the resort. Many worked during the week and returned each weekend. They used seven waiters for the Assassination of Julius Caesar. Little Georgie Boldt, the proprietor's son and Mrs. Boldt's pug were also used as props in some of the scenes.

Nursery rhymes were some of the most popular scenes like “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary," with Miss Lena Kehler and a row of pretty maids.

“After the tableaux refreshments were served and there was dancing. Miss Townsend, of New York, a niece of Mrs. Nathaniel Thayer, of Boston, is one of the belles of the house, and Miss Plympton, also of New York, has her own horses and rides a great deal on horseback with her father.”

The attire was fancy and quite competitive. And the wealthy displayed their wealth.

“Miss Anna B. Ellison, of Philadelphia, is also one of the most stylish young ladies here and wears a great many handsome dresses. In the matter of dress the young married ladies as usual have the advantage.”

“Nearly every one in the house has been lost in interest watching the wonderful toilettes of Mrs. J. T. Decker, the young wife of a New York banker. Most of her dresses are French and she has a French dressing maid. Many of them are wonderful creations of lace and embroidery, and each suit is complete in all its appointments. Mr. Decker has a number of horses and conveyances of his own, including a Brewster buck board, which rides very well on the sandy roads.”

People still came to the beach at Sea Girt to help recover from illness. These were all longstanding Philadelphia elite.

“Mrs. Morton P. Henry, who arrived yesterday, is quite sick, and hopes to be benefited by the sea air. Her husband was a founder at the Philadelphia Dental College and at the time served as the first President of Stephen’s Institute of Technology in Hoboken.

Mr. B. H. Wood, of the Philadelphia Club, who has not recovered from the shock of his wife's death, is here keeping very secluded. Wood was a Fire Insurance Underwriter who was an officer in a number of social clubs.

The Biddles needed no introduction at the time. George Washington Biddle, a well-known lawyer had written the definitive book on the Law of Stockbrokers.

Mr. George W. Biddle is here with his wife and sister and spends his time very quietly. He has a little table in the dining room so arranged that he can look out and see nothing but the sea. He will remain several weeks. His son, George Biddle, has just arrived out after a quick ocean trip.

Just to the south of the hotel, gunshots filled the air in late summer.

In 1884, the state leased part of the beach in Manasquan for drilling and target practice for the New Jersey National Guard Regiment. Longer-range guns required training and practice to perfect. The state government had spent over $3,000 annually at private shooting clubs around the state.

General William Sewell, a Civil War hero, was the advocate for bringing the regiment to the Shore. He was a former employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad turned politician. He was Senate leader in NJ and then US Senator. He maintained a business relationship with old colleagues William Gatzmer and the Commodore’s son John Potter Stockton, and was a partner in the Stockton Hotel in Cape May.

James Hunter and John Lucas, clearly needing the money, seized the opportunity, and through Gatzmer attracted General Sewell to seek out a purchase of the southern portion of the Sea Girt project.

The government would pay far less than the $600 per acre Hunter wanted, but while Sewell sought the state and federal legislative approvals, $3,000 rent per summer starting in 1885 would make a dent in the $14,000 annual mortgage on the property.