Elliston Morris’ lawsuit did not work to stop the guard camp. Phebe Wright’s appeal to the governor to limit drinking at the camp had some effect. Her congregation in Shrewsbury wrote.
“The Society of Friends have sent the following letter to Governor Green:
The scandals attending the annual State Encampment of the Military, at Sea Girt N. J., resulting from the sale of intoxicating liquor at the Camp have become so notorious that public sentiment is widely aroused, and a protest from the usually quiet and conservative Friends is an added evidence that the gross outrages upon the respectability and decency of the neighboring resident population, and upon the good name of the State of New Jersey are not at least to be quietly deplored and endured by any special class of our citizens.
Men use shells to to mark their “street” at the Sea Girt Camp (Marriott Morris Photo, Library Company of Philadelphia)
The religions society of Friends of Shrewsbury. Monmouth County, through a committee of their number, has addressed a letter to Governor Green. earnestly petitioning him to issue an order applying to the Camp at Sea Girt, similar to the one recently transmitted by President Harrison to the District of Columbia National Guard, which directed that under no circumstances shall any liquor be sold at that encampment. May we not hope from Governor Green for a favorable response to this appeal?
We desire it for the honor of our State, for his own reputation as its responsible Chief, and in the interest of everything that is seemly and of good report in a Christian community.”
The Manasquan area Quakers meet at the 35 Wall Circle since 1818. The new and existing meeting house was built in 1885. Phebe attended both Shrewsbury and Manasquan (MCM photo)
The men had been having a great time since the first camp in 1885. The sound of taps each day meant they were free. There was no security and locals wandered into camp for the spectacle of streets of tents, gambling, and meeting boys. The men were free to visit the “low bars” in Manasquan. They set up a bathhouse and a bathing master for swimming hours when the bullets weren’t flying. Officers were entertained at the governor’s mansion, (the old Shearman farm house) or at the hotels for galas and dress balls. Many regiments hired brass bands for entertainment and fakirs and booths were set up on the perimeter of the camp (Sea Girt Ave) to attract money from the gawkers or the soldiers. While the Governor was here, the state business was here.
Shrewsbury Friends meeting house at Rt 35 and Sycamore Ave pictured in 1907 postcard.
The Sea Girt Camp changed names with each Governor. This is Camp Green for Governor Robert Stockton Green (MCM photo)
In 1890 Judge Conover ruled that Wall Township had the right to prevent a saloon on the grounds ending that controversy. That said, Newark donated 50 kegs of beer to the troops and they were not refused. Men also left the camp as often as they could to take in the sights. Businesses on the Manasquan-Long Branch road would prosper for the next generation on their money. Sleepy Sea Girt came alive for a few weeks each summer near the train station. The crowds were only there for the Camp.
Sea Girt had only a few hotels or rooming houses and most rooms were booked for several weeks at a time. People did sleep in the woods. Camp Cedar had been an impromptu camp in the late 1860s and a few extended families from New York, Brooklyn, Trenton and Rocky Hill had made it a tradition. The 50 or so families lived in makeshift shacks, tents and their wagons and they shared a common table. The camp slowly moved off lots of the Land Improvement property and hugged the shoreline of Wreck Pond. Riparian rights allowed public access to river banks and oyster beds. By 1900 the tents were replaced by makeshift wooden shacks at the foot of the Terrace.
Postcard of camp Cedar
Undated photo from the John Shibles collection of Camp Cedar