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Publisher’s Corner

Boardwalk Memories journalofantiques.com

Publisher
alk about boardwalks and almost everyone has a In 1902, Ocean City, Maryland Maxine Carter-Lome
favorite and memories to share. Growing up in built a boardwalk after several
TNew York City and on Long Island, boardwalks hoteliers decided they and their Maxine Carter-Lome journalofantiques@gmail.com
were part of my everyday life at the beach. My connection guests needed a way to walk easily between their places Business Manager
to boardwalks, however, goes back generations. of business while enjoying the view of the ocean. The Jeffrey Lome
Both my great-grandmother in 1911 for her second result was a wooden walkway that was removed at high jeffrey@journalofantiques.com
marriage, and my grandparents in 1924, honeymooned tide and stored on the hotel porches. In 1910, a more Managing Editor
in Atlantic City and captured their special occasion with permanent boardwalk was created for the visitors and Judy Gonyeau
a photograph taken on the Boardwalk. After the war, my residents of Ocean City. It originally ran five blocks but editorial@journalofantiques.com
grandparents returned to Atlantic City with my mother, was extended the following decade. When the boardwalk Contributing Writer
spending their Thanksgivings at the Traymore in the late was destroyed in the great storm of 1962, it was rebuilt to Erica P. Lome, Ph.D.
1940s, then a resort hotel on the Boardwalk featuring its current length of three miles. It remains a popular
ocean views and an indoor and outdoor swimming pool! attraction and throw-back to its family roots, with rides, Art Director
It was most probably my grandparents’ love of the food stalls, and other family amusements. Lynn Cotterman
beach and boardwalks that led them to purchase a Coney Island, New York was another small seaside ads@journalofantiques.com
summer home in 1950 on the south shore of Long Island. town with resort aspirations. Plans for a Coney Island Production
At the time, Atlantic Beach was a small town of mostly boardwalk were first discussed in 1890 as a way to Jill Montague
summer residents, known for its stretch of private beach connect and unite the different sections of Coney Island Judy Gonyeau
clubs and resort hotels tracking parallel to the Town’s under development, and to attract tourists to this
roughly 1.5 miles of coastline and undeveloped, private emerging resort destination. The economist Simon 508-347-1960
beaches. Running overhead and connecting these clubs, Patten, a boardwalk proponent, told the Town that Toll free:
hotels, and beaches was a mile-long elevated boardwalk the construction of a similar boardwalk in Atlantic City, 888-698-0734
that stretched to the southern tip of Long Island. This New Jersey had helped to revitalize the formerly rundown Fax: 508-347-0911
is the town where my mother spent her summers and waterfront there. The first portion of The Riegelmann Mailing:
where I grew up. Boardwalk, named after Brooklyn borough president P. O. Box 950
Our boardwalk in Atlantic Beach was quiet and Edward J. Riegelmann, who led its construction, opened Sturbridge, MA 01566
commerce-free; a great place to safely ride your bicycle in 1923, with further extensions in 1926 and 1941, as
away from beach traffic, and watch the sun set over the well as several modifications and repairs throughout the info@journalofantiques.com
ocean. But it was the Long Beach Boardwalk, in the next 20th century. Today, this legendary Boardwalk with
town over, that was the place to be, day or night! Roughly its famous wooden roller coaster and Coney Island UPS and FedEx
two miles in length, and built in 1914, the Long Beach Hot Dogs stands ready to make memories with a new Shipping Address:
Boardwalk in its heyday featured arcade games, food generation of fans. 46 Hall Road
stalls, game parlors, souvenir stands, rides, fireworks, Although boardwalks were primarily an east coast Sturbridge, MA 01566
hotel lounges, and live entertainment; the Atlantic City thing, another early boardwalk amusement park opened
of Long Island for summer residents and tourists. in 1907 in Santa Cruz, California. The Santa Cruz Beach Journal of
The first “boardwalk” in America was laid in 1870 as Boardwalk helped to connect the bathhouses and resort Antiques and Collectibles
a solution to a problem for the developers of Atlantic hotels going up along this popular stretch of beach. Soon, is published monthly in digital
City. Hoteliers of the new posh hotels going up along concessions sprang up including restaurants, curio shops, and bi-monthly in print by
the beach were tired of sand being tracked into their and photo stands. Today, the Boardwalk is the oldest Weathervane Enterprises, Inc.
lobbies. Beach sand was also a problem for the Atlantic amusement park in California and one of the last seaside 46 Hall Road
City-Camden Railroad from its passengers returning amusement parks on the west coast. Its Giant Dipper Sturbridge MA 01566.
home after a day at the beach with sand on their person roller coaster and Looff Carousel are both National Periodicals postage paid at
and possessions. And while hotel guests loved the idea Historic Landmarks and the entire Boardwalk property is Sturbridge MA.
of enjoying the beach from their ocean-front hotel a California Historical Landmark.
room, they were surprisingly uncomfortable taking off Although many boardwalk areas fell on hard times in
their shoes to walk on the sand. The solution was a the decades after WWII, they are being revitalized today. POSTMASTER:
mile-long wooden walkway from the beach to the town The movement is so popular, in fact, that Myrtle Beach, Send address changes to
that would lay over the sand, and could be taken apart South Carolina spent well over $12 million to build The Journal of Antiques
and stored when the season was over. By the turn of a boardwalk in 2010 because visitors expected a beach and Collectibles
the century, this wooden walkway, now elevated and resort to have one. People want the nostalgia that a stroll ISSN: (1539-5618)
several miles long, had gone from a novel solution to a down a boardwalk on the beach delivers, stopping along P.O. Box 950
pesky problem to a popular tourist attraction with rides, the way to enjoy an ice cream cone while watching the Sturbridge, MA 01566
shops, food stalls, entertainment, novelties, and rolling waves roll in.
The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
chairs. Its popularity soon got other developing seaside
reserves the right to reject any advertising that
communities thinking …
does not comply with our standards. The
In 1873, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware opened its first
Journal will not be liable for any errors or
boardwalk, running the full length of the oceanfront to
omissions but will print a correction in the
support the Town’s vision of building a Christian seaside Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher following issue if notification of such error is
resort. Over the decades it has been destroyed, rebuilt,
sent by the appropriate deadline. Original
and reconfigured by storms, but today this one-mile-long
manuscripts are welcomed by qualified
wooden boardwalk is flanked by the same types of eclectic
writers. We assume no responsibility for loss
shops, restaurants, and family amusements that made
of unsolicited material.
Rehoboth Beach another popular seaside resort by the Copyright 2021
turn of the century. All rights reserved
2 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles