Almost a Baptist Camp Meeting

An earthquake and subsequent fire destroyed the city of San Francisco. Teddy Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act to preserve land and historically significant federal sites. Upton Sinclair’s, The Jungle was a best seller. It described the unsanitary and shocking conditions in Chicago’s slaughterhouses. Flim-flam potion salesmen also came under scrutiny as did beverage makers like Coca-Cola. The Pure Food and Drug Act hoped to standardize drug quantities and the Meat Inspection Act hoped to clean up a very dirty business.

Coca-Cola lost its cocaine but used elevated caffeine to simulate it. The company would be fighting in court until 1912, before lowering the caffeine to today’s levels.

Brig. Gen. Bird W. Spencer, of the New Jersey National Guard, was most responsible for the revitalization of the NRA following the Spanish-American War. Spencer worked with Senator John Dryden of New Jersey for his help in resurrecting a bill from 1902 that called for the establishment of an advisory committee to the Secretary of War—the National Board for the Promotion of Rifle Practice. This led to the resurgence of rifle marksmanship and the popularity and funding for the NRA. It fit well with the sporting culture around the turn of the century, the Olympic quest for gold medals trophies, and the fame given to sportsmen*. (NRA Shootiing Sports USA)

The problem was that by 1906 Sea Girt was becoming too popular for shooting. The events had evolved into a 10-day joint program with the NRA Annual Championship Matches and those of the New Jersey Rifle Association and United States Revolver Association. More teams from around the country wanted to come, but they all wanted to be there with the Governor, during the summer. New Jersey’s regular guard units needed drilling.

Handgun shooting events, women and children participating led to overcrowding. Gen. Spencer was forced to refund money to shooters who had purchased scorecards yet were unable get to use them.

The NRA was looking for a larger venue and a location that would allow teams from further west to participate. The Roosevelt administration supported advancing marksmanship among the general population. They provided more funds for facilities. The Ohio State Shooting Grounds was selected.

Charles Hinchman wanted to sell the inventory of lots held by the land company in Sea Girt. He courted the Baptist Association of the United States, and he got them to sign a 60-day option to purchase the property. The solution would allow the Baptists to use the existing camp meeting regulations set in Ocean Grove, Island Heights, and West Belmar where the “World-American Camp Meeting” was selling lots.

The Baptists hoped to use the land of the Sea Girt Farm for their tabernacle, and they would take over the laying of streets, curbs, and sewers which had been long promised but unbuilt in most of the southern section of town. It would solve the protests of the existing cottage owners who all wanted quiet enjoyment of their property, and they could swap unknown campers in the woods for pious campers who paid for their lots. The price was high, $300,000. Alternatively, the Pennsylvania Railroad had vacant land in Ocean County, not far from Toms River in Island Heights at a much lower cost. It did not have the ocean access that made Ocean Grove so special.

The Baptists passed on the purchase of the Sea Gir property. Hinchman was back to the drawing board. To give you an idea as to how empty Sea Girt was in 1906, this is the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of the town completed in 1905. The maps outlined where homes existed for insurance purposes. The land away from the two hotels and the train depot is virtually empty 30 years after opening the resort. By comparison, Spring Lake had over 200 cottages and a permanent population of over 550. Sea Girt was still a forest from the Cedars to the Sea.