200 Plus
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•July 15, 2020
Battle at the Sunset Hotel
The date July 27, 1920, is seldom mentioned in local history books or found on any historic sign, but on that date the battle of the Sunset Hotel would determine the fate of Long Beach Island and its…
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•July 8, 2020
Fight for Old Barney Continues
With the coming of summer 1920, the fate of the landmark Barnegat Lighthouse on Long Beach Island was still in doubt.
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•July 1, 2020
Fight to Save Barney Intensifies
By June 1920, it appeared the battle lines over Barnegat Lighthouse had been drawn. On one side was the Washington, D.C.-based Lighthouse Bureau, on the other, the growing cries of citizens.
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•June 24, 2020
Locals Fight to Save Lighthouse
There is nothing better than a good David versus Goliath story. In this one, a few locals living on a New Jersey island face off against the might of Washington, D.C., and its experts.
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•June 17, 2020
Was Old Barney a Lost Cause?
For locals, the term “lighthouse” can mean only one: Barnegat Lighthouse. The 100-year-old story of what it took to protect Old Barney should be retold, for it has its own message.
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•June 10, 2020
Big News at the Jersey Shore
For New Jersey and the rest of the nation, the big stories of 1920 would be Prohibition and the fact that all American women would for the first time be permitted to cast their ballot for president…
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•June 3, 2020
Jersey Giant Travels the Country
Most good fish stories are based on the premise “the one that got away,” but there’s proof to back up the Jersey Shore story about the capture of the great manta ray in August 1933. A reporter from…
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•May 27, 2020
One Really Big Fish Tale
In August 1933, the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression and the East Coast had suffered through a devastating nor’easter followed by a tropical hurricane. With this as a backdrop…
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•May 20, 2020
Fishing Bonanza at the Jersey Shore
It was the summer of 1933; the nation was in the grip of the Great Depression and looking desperately for any good news. In August of that year, the Jersey Shore would produce one of the greatest…
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•May 13, 2020
Cranberry Industry Dealt Mortal Blow
The year 1959 is one that the few surviving cranberry growers in Ocean County want to forget. Sales of their crop rested squarely on the traditional holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just…
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•May 6, 2020
Cranberry Growers Fight Back
The “great cranberry scare of 1959” began just before Thanksgiving when the secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Arthur S. Flemming, announced the seizure by the government of a small amount…
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•April 29, 2020
Cranberry Fears Hit the Table
As Thanksgiving 1959, approached the U.S. cranberry industry was hoping for a miracle to save it from financial ruin. Locally, the small bog owners were desperate. The Tuckerton Beacon editorialized…
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•April 23, 2020
Running Down to the Wire
In November 1959, the cranberry industry was dealt a devastating blow when Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Arthur Flemming announced there had been seizures of cranberries grown in the…
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•April 16, 2020
Cranberry Industry Threat Continues
For the inland residents of the Jersey Shore, the cranberry was as important to their livelihood as clams, oysters and tourists were to their coastal counterparts. This industry was dealt a nearly…
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•April 8, 2020
Jersey Fights to Save Cranberry Business
New Jersey and its citizens have been in many battles as the underdog, among them having its name on a sports team or getting credit for designing the American flag. However, none may have been more…
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•April 1, 2020
Are Cranberries Safe to Eat?
Never has the World War II warning “loose lips sink ships” been more appropriate than during the events of November 1959 that almost totally destroyed one of New Jersey’s and Ocean County’s most…
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•March 26, 2020
Hadrosaurus Foulkii’s Long Journey
Today if you wish to see the restored replica of America’s first dinosaur discovery, uncovered in Haddonfield, N.J., in 1858, you can simply drive to the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. The story…
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•March 19, 2020
Reconstructing NJ Dinosaurs
The most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found had been discovered in New Jersey before the Civil War, but while it had been interesting to scientists, the general public took little notice.
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•March 11, 2020
Dinosaur Discovery in New Jersey
Most of us are familiar with one of the groundbreaking scientific theories of evolution in the 1800s. In the 1830s, Charles Darwin cruised to the Galapagos Islands aboard the HMS Beagle. In the late…
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•March 4, 2020
Scam Artist Escapes Punishment Again
In May 1907, J. Randolph Appleby pleaded “no contest” to a charge of using the U.S. mail to fraudulently sell New Jersey land. He was given a suspended sentence on the condition he discontinue the…
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•February 19, 2020
Tracking Truth of the Appleby Estate
In the early 1900s, the area around Tuckerton was the center of a land boom promoted by J. Randolph Appleby. Newspapers along the East Coast advertised land in his development at extremely low prices.
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•February 17, 2020
Appleby Finally Called to Account
The 1902 exposé in the Philadelphia Bulletin of the Appleby land scheme did little to bring it to an end. People continued to purchase land advertised as bayfront or good farmland only to discover it…
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•February 12, 2020
Property Scams Nothing New
Today many land frauds begin with a phone call or an email, and we feel they are part of modern life. But even at the beginning of the 20th century, there were many scams that involved South Jersey…
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•February 5, 2020
Jersey Comes Through on Ratification
As February 1920 began, the fate of New Jersey’s ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the vote, was in doubt. The Philadelphia Ledger set the scene on the second…
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•January 29, 2020
Bitter Battle Brews in Trenton
The battle for ratification by New Jersey of the 19th Amendment, giving women the vote, was truly one of David versus Goliath. On the eve of victory, those supporting the amendment had it snatched…
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•January 22, 2020
Slick Trick Threatens Vote in NJ
There are many clich’s that apply to the events that took place in New Jersey concerning women’s suffrage in January 1920, including “politics makes strange bedfellows” and “the best laid plans of…
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•January 15, 2020
Would Women Be Able to Vote?
In the spring of 1919 when the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress finally passed the amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting women the right to vote, hopes were high that ratification would come…
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•January 8, 2020
Were You Paying Attention?
January is finally here and with it hopefully come snow and cold. But one thing you can count on is that it brings the answers to the 2019 year-end 200 Plus history test. Give yourself four points…
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•December 18, 2019
How Good Is Your Memory?
There are some New Jersey traditions that you can set your clock by … like it will rain and be cold during Memorial Day weekend and you will see your last mosquito while wearing your Halloween…
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•December 11, 2019
Hydrogen-Filled Blimps Rain Fire
As the summer of 1919 began the U.S. Navy was working on plans to enlarge its lighter than airship fleet. The plan was to construct a base at Lakehurst and there to construct a rigid dirigible that…
