Avalon, N.J., is a quiet town on Seven Mile Island, one of the barrier islands south of Atlantic City. The borough of Avalon shares this island with the borough of Stone Harbor, to the south. My mother owned a home here in Avalon, on the beach. She hosted friends for weekend visits and family — children and grandchildren — for long stays. These were happy days with many fond memories for us all. Ed McMahon, Joe Paterno and Taylor Swift have summered here; in fact, Ed McMahon’s home was near my mother’s.
Avalon Boardwalk, looking north.
The pavilion at the north end of the boardwalk.
Avalon has a lovely beach for taking long walks.
The upper left of this photo looks north across Townsends Inlet, the bay inlet between the islands, to Sea Isle City and Strathmere, on Ludlam Island, which sits below sea level, first used as a fishing grounds for the Leni Lenape Indians, then as a stopover for pirates, and beginning in the 1800s, as with all of these South Jersey islands, a summer vacation place for Philadelphians. In my family, as in many, the men would go to their jobs in the city and after work, commute down to the shore, about an hour, by train. I stood on a jetty to take this photo.
Beach goldenrod, growing in September and October in the dunes along the boardwalk.
I’ve inserted a great, detailed National Geographic map here:
Take the Ocean Highway — follow the seagull on the sign — across Townsends Inlet to Sea Isle and continue north through Strathmere along that island to Corson’s Inlet and cross to Ocean City (Peck’s Beach Island, named for whaler John Peck). Ocean City is a dry town, founded by the Methodists as a retreat camp. Because the town is dry it is billed as a family vacation resort. The two and a half mile long boardwalk is wonderful and said to be one of New Jersey’s finest. My family owned a home here before I was born. Sometimes during our stays in rental homes we’d see Grace Kelly’s family on the beach in front of the home they owned near the south end of the island. Author Gay Talese and his wife own a home in The Gardens, at the north end of Ocean City.
Below is a picture of the Ocean City boardwalk, also scenes of the music pier and some of the summer homes along the avenues.
Don’t be misled by the sandy beach to the right of the Music Pier. The sand must constantly be replenished. When the beach washes out during storms, the ocean comes right up under the pier and at high tide the breaking waves splash through the cracks between the boards on the boardwalk.
Striped awnings are one of my favorite things. It’s cool and quiet inside them. They make me nostalgic for summers gone by, before there was air conditioning.
–Samantha Mozart
For some reason the images no longer show here, but when you click on the question mark, it links to my books on Amazon.
I was a big fan of Ed McMahon and Joe Paterno also. The scenery is beautiful and shows a side of life where one can sit back and relax. I like the houses also. They remind me of the houses that I lived around in Blythe, Georgia. Your pictures bring back pleasant memories of the past.
Thank you.
Visiting from the A to Z Blog Challenge.
Shalom,
Patricia @ EverythingMustChange
It is so relaxing there, Patricia. You feel like you haven’t a care in the world. I’m glad the photos bring back happy memories for you. One of the beaches I was on was in Georgia — St. Simon’s Island. We lived there for four months — Feb.-May 1967 — when my husband was taking a Navy course at Brunswick. St. Simon’s was beautiful then, and they had a little library on the island, which I loved visiting.
Shalom.
Samantha
I’ve driven north through NJ to get to New York, New England, and once or twice, a friend’s parents’ house in northern New Jersey. My NJ beach experience is simply Cape May, when I would take the ferry across from Lewes, DE.
But I don’t have the length of nostalgia you seem to. Sounds delightful.
I’ll do two upcoming posts on Cape May, Red — one on the Victorian homes and in a couple days one on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. I grew up outside Philadelphia and have lived in Delaware, as I do now — so I have spent lots of time on the South Jersey beaches.
Thanks for coming by.
I love the beach. I have been to some fabulous beaches, but never to these two!
Paula from
Smidgen, Snippets, & Bits
Thanks for coming by, Paula. I’m glad I was able to provide you with views of some new beaches. 🙂
That’s what we used awnings for, Susan, to keep the house cool in summer. People still use them here and there, but they must be cloth — in the old days, canvas — to be ecologically compliant. When I was growing up, there was no air conditioning. People went to the movies often just to get cool, because movie theaters were “air cooled.” The Strand Theater on the Ocean City boardwalk is one such old theater. I don’t remember if it was air cooled, because normally the sea breezes keep the boardwalk cool.
The seagull is on the signs marking the Ocean Highway, a coastal route that travels along the islands and across the inlet bridges. It’s not a major highway, but rather a slower, scenic route. I don’t have a photo of the sign.
Since Ocean City occupies that whole island and has for generations, most of us are not aware that the island is named Peck’s Beach Island. I wasn’t; I learned that in my research.
I once considered living in Ocean City (where I had spent many happy summers), but moved to Redondo Beach, Calif., instead. 🙂
The beaches along the Atlantic shores are most beautiful in the fall. You have represented them well on this April showers of a day.
Arggggh matey,
aRgggggh
A lot of places are most beautiful in the fall, R. I took most of my photos shown throughout this A-Z theme in the fall. I like the warm colors and the pleasant, crisp temperatures. 🙂 Thanks.
What incredible photos and memories. The beach on your side of the country is so unique and interesting compared to the bare Southern California beaches! It is intriguing to me that towns have similar or same names on both coasts, as we have a Port Townsend an Historic logging and fishing town on the edge of the straight of the San Juan de Fuca and the Puget Sound.
Thanks for sharing your lovely area and the history.
We’re on the Eastern (Atlantic) Seaboard here, Gwynn, which is low-lying and flat. The coast along the South Jersey shore and down to Florida drops off gradually. The beaches in South Jersey have to continually be replenished because the sand gets washed away, especially during Nor’easters — unlike the West Coast, which drops off dramatically. Santa Cruz, though, has a nice boardwalk — I’ve always wanted to visit there.
We don’t have to travel far west of here to be in the higher elevation Piedmont Plateau, the foothills of the Appalachians.
Each coast has its beauty, I think. And, we’d better appreciate these scenes before they disappear as the glaciers melt.
We even have a Townsend right up the road from me in Delaware — pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, as we have discussed.
Lovely to wander through your memories and photographs Samantha thank you! I found some of the places on the map you mention eg. Pecks’ beach named after whaler, Townsends Inlet but the seagull was not forthcoming in any way?
I also like striped awnings – I’d never thought of them in terms of keeping things cool but now I can ‘see’ that ..
That’s what we used awnings for, Susan, to keep the house cool in summer. People still use them here and there, but they must be cloth — in the old days, canvas — to be ecologically compliant. When I was growing up, there was no air conditioning. People went to the movies often just to get cool, because movie theaters were “air cooled.” The Strand Theater on the Ocean City boardwalk is one such old theater. I don’t remember if it was air cooled, because normally the sea breezes keep the boardwalk cool.
The seagull is on the signs marking the Ocean Highway, a coastal route that travels along the islands and across the inlet bridges. It’s not a major highway, but rather a slower, scenic route. I don’t have a photo of the sign.
Since Ocean City occupies that whole island and has for generations, most of us are not aware that the island is named Peck’s Beach Island. I wasn’t; I learned that in my research.
I once considered living in Ocean City (where I had spent many happy summers), but moved to Redondo Beach, Calif., instead. 🙂