The Twin Resorts Diverge

In 1886 "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson was published. The first major earthquake of the century in eastern US, at Charleston, South Carolina, was at least a 6.9, and killed over 60. Geronimo surrendered, ending the last Indian war.

Standards were relaxed with the design of less formal dinnerware for men. The first dinner jacket (tuxedo) in the US was worn to an autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, NY, by James Brown Potter who had been introduced to the look by The Prince of Whales. The more casual look will catch on, and tails, gloves and other trimmings would be reserved for the most formal events. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor, a gift from the French. John Wannamaker, the department store magnate and Postmaster General spent a few weeks at the Monmouth, as a guest of John Lucas, who convinced Wanamaker to invest in his Keystone Bank. Lucas wanted Wanamaker to buy him out of the Sea Girt and Spring Lake projects as he was quietly drowning in expenses from demands of rich cottage owners in Spring Lake, and had no capital to improve a near-vacant Sea Girt. Wanamaker didn’t bite.

During this time reporters wrote advertorials for most resorts, in exchange for hospitality above their means. Resort owners also purchased ads in the same newspapers, so glowing stories of the twin resorts of Sea Girt and Spring Lake were common. But pulling them apart helps us discern why they were so popular and different from both the other resorts, and each other. From the July, 18 1886 Philadelphia Times:

“How the Season Opens at Spring Lake and at the Beach House. There is a distinctive charm about the Spring Lake and Sea Girt beaches, the first encountered going north along the Jersey shore after striking the New York and Long Branch Road where the Pennsylvania lines connect with it.”

An ‘intersection” in remote Sea Girt in 1886 (all photos in this post from the Marriott C. Morris Collection Library Company of Philadelphia)

Long Branch came to an abrupt end with bluffs as you got to the sea. Atlantic City, Cape May, and many of the southern New Jersey resorts required a trip to a barrier island, across marshes, subjected to biting insects.

Widow screens finally helped places along the South Jersey Shore which were unbearable in a west wind. Sea Girt promoted its lack of marshland and bugs.

“The charm consists of the closeness of the pine forests and vegetation to the end of the sea and the numerous lakes of fresh water fed by subterranean springs that abound, sometimes separated from the sea by only a little bar of sand.”

Ferries from New York brought in masses of day trippers and vacationers of modest means to Long Branch. New York’s young money also came here as well as famous entertainers.

The writer equates the quality of the land with the quality of the guests

“It is this strange and attractive combination of country and woodland and fields and briny ocean and sparkling lake that gives the locality a serene, peaceful, and habitable character. that makes it so popular with people of quieter tastes and a more serious turn of mind than those who frequent Long Branch. There Is hardly any feature of summer life more interesting than to notice the different physical characteristics of resorts and the way that the people who patronize them fit Into the surroundings.

The bold and breezy character of Long Branch, the stately elegance of Newport, the wild freedom of Mount Desert and the lazy free - and - easy nonchalance of Cape May are familiar to all who have ever visited these places. The people suit the place and the places suit the people.”

Then he notes the difference between the two resorts. The competition for larger and larger cottages were bringing ‘new money’ wealth. Still quite conservative, but new money. The “old guard” was still attracted to the history at Sea Girt

This 1887 photos shows a new cottage in the north of Spring Lake as the town spread from its original hotel orientation. Larger and more elaborate homes changed the nature of Spring Lake vs. Sea Girt.

“It is no accident that has led a large colony of Philadelphia Presbyterians to locate and build rows of cottages at Spring Lake and there is a regular natural selection lesson in the fact that the Biddies and Rawles and McKeans and other representatives of the quiet and dignified social element of Philadelphia have for so many years been spending their summers at Sea Girt, on the attractive site and in the very building where the Stocktons, of New Jersey, had their seaside home.”

The cottages of Spring Lake were creating a different feel, that of a small town, whereas, Sea Girt was mostly empty.

“Nothing more dignified and restful and full of serenity in a seaside situation can be imagined than the curious Beach House, which, like a sea-bound bird with outstretched wings, Is almost touched by the rugged ocean below It, and skirted on three sides by flowered lawns and thick pine forests and green pastures where herds of cattle are grazing. The marine hamlet of Spring Lake shows many touches of improvement, and a number of new cottages have been built since last season, most of them by Philadelphians.”

“The cottage life is more attractive than usual, but the hotel patronage Is more scattered than usual, and the increase in boarding cottages takes away from the concentration of great numbers in any one place.”

While Sea Girt appeared remote, the main downtown of Spring Lake at this time was centered around the Monmouth Hotel along First Ave, down to Atlantic Ave. (Where the Sundae Times building is was just one of a dozen businesses). Elliston Morris assured a renter of his second home, that milk, groceries and anything else they needed could be delivered to the home or obtained with a short carriage ride. Guests had the charm that they were in the middle of nowhere, with all the modern conveniences nearby.