Location
Click here for a Monmouth County map
Overview of Ocean Grove:
People have been sleeping in tents at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, for more than 130 years. The little shore town is just 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of New York City, so the neighborhood has changed, but the spirit of a rustic summer worship camp endures.
The modest little Methodist town has become a destination for urban Easterners weary of bright lights, thick smoke, and loud music. They come for weekends where the sea breeze and purr of surf lulls them, where strangers smile and say hello, and where you can walk wherever you need to go.
A State and National Historic District
In 1975, Ocean Grove received the designation as a State and National Historic District as an example of a 19th century planned urban community. The “Grove” as us locals call it, contains the largest aggregate of Victorian and early 20th century structures in America. A Board of Architectural Review was established to create exterior design standards ensuring that the District would maintain its existing architectural heritage of Victorian seaside cottages.
At one time, 660 tents were leased or owned on individual lots throughout Ocean Grove. Now only 114 tents remain, in a semi circle around the Great Auditorium. Each spring, by May 15th, the canvas tents are brought from their back room shed to be erected over the front wooden platform transforming it into a living room, to be furnished with couches, chairs, rugs, lamps and pictures. Meanwhile, outside along the walks, flowers are planted by the tenters, many of whom are proud to be fourth and fifth generation summer Ocean Grovers. Similarly, throughout the Historic District, pre-season events begin in the Victorian seaside cottages as hotel owners rush to complete that last minute paint touch up on porches, rockers, etc., in preparation for the onslaught of visitors, friends and grandchildren.
click here for more information
Did you know?
Half a world away from Ocean Grove, New Jersey, is … Ocean Grove, Australia. This seaside town about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Melbourne shares more than a name with its New Jersey counterpart: It owes its start to the same man, the Reverend William B. Osborn.
After setting up a permanent religious retreat on the New Jersey shore and serving as its first chief of police, general manager, and pastor, Osborn left Ocean Grove in 1873 and embarked on a global evangelism tour that took him to India and Australia. The tent mission he set up on Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula in 1887 is now a resort community of more than 8,000 people.
