Seashore Resorts
|
Lodging
The first anywhere were established in Cape May and Long Branch in the
early 1800's, with the rest of the Jersey Shore and other shoreline states
quickly taking notice. Our American penchant for travel to the beach was
off and running!
Scheduled Ferry
Service
First implemented between Hoboken and New
York City in 1811 for the primary purpose of early commuting from NJ to NY
- but no doubt that ferry was used by New Yorkers to get to the beach on
the weekends as well! What a short hop that ferry was, compared to the
high speed service available to various shore points today.
Atlantic City Boardwalk
|
Casinos
So now we had a couple of resorts and a ferry but it wasn't until close to
a century later in 1870 that the first boardwalk was built in Atlantic
City. Can you imagine no boardwalks anywhere else on the Jersey Shore, or
for that matter anywhere in the world?
Steam Locomotive
Many early visitors to that new boardwalk probably traveled at least part
of the way by train - the invention of the car was still a few decades
away and widespread use still a half-century in the future. The first
steam locomotive to pull cars was developed in Hoboken in 1824, leaving
plenty of time to construct tracks to Atlantic City and that new boardwalk
later in the century.
Salt Water Taffy
I'm not sure where it was first sold, but salt water
taffy came along at about the same time as that new boardwalk, so Atlantic
City would have been a likely spot! There's nothing like a summer day on
the boardwalk enjoying freshly pulled taffy.
Shore Nightlife
|
Clubs
Early
on, as today, evenings at the shore offered respite from the hot muggy
weather further inland. Strolling down that new boardwalk in the dark
wasn't an ideal situation, but was remedied in 1879 when Thomas Alva
Edison invented the incandescent lamp in his Menlo Park labs. Can you
imagine his awe at all the glitter 24 hours a day now?
Entertainment Notes
In 1877, two years before the light bulb, Edison invented the phonograph
and followed up with motion pictures in 1889. Perhaps of equal
significance to the music industry, Les Paul of Mahwah, introduced the
solid body electric guitar in 1940.
Sporting Events
|
Sports
The first organized baseball game was held in Hoboken in 1846 and Rutgers
hosted Princeton at the first intercollegiate football match in 1869.
Basketball is in there too, with the first professional game played in
Trenton in 1896.
Passenger Air
Service
Beaches, boardwalks, lights - what better place to inaugurate passenger
air service than Atlantic City in 1919?
Miss America Pageant
Certainly, two years later, the winner of the first pageant flew out on a
cloud, if not on one of those early flights.
Your First Visit?
A lot of firsts for New Jersey, with many occurring along our little 127
mile long Atlantic coastline. If you're planning a first visit of your
own, the shore is a great place to start, get a better idea of exactly
where the beaches are in relation to each other in this
table.
