RED BANK: WOMAN FLEES STOP, CRASHES CAR
An Atlantic Highlands motorist was injured after she fled an attempted stop by Little Silver police and crashed into a tree in Red Bank early Christmas morning, police said.
SANDY HOOK: BACKERS RALLY TO SAVE HOUSE
The Sandlass House, reimagined as a museum, above, and as seen in July, 2015, below. (Rendering by Anderson Campanella Archictects. Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[See update below]
By JOHN T. WARD
A group of preservationists trying to save the last remnants of a long-forgotten Sandy Hook beach resort from the wrecking ball.
Dubbed the Jersey Coast Heritage Museum at Sandlass House, the group has begun circulating a petition calling on the National Park Service, which owns the house as part of Gateway National Recreation Area, not to knock it down, and allow them to turn it into a museum.
ON THE GREEN: ICY GRIP LOOSENS
After a weekend that saw wind-chill temperatures as low as 17 degrees below zero, weather forecasters expect the Greater Red Bank Green to warm up Monday — Presidents’ Day.
The National Weather Service says we should expect daytime temperatures to peak at 36 degrees, as well as some snow and sleet, with accumulations of less than an inch. Tuesday should see a high of about 53 degrees, according to the outlook.
Above, a view of the Shrewsbury River between Sea Bright and Highlands, taken from the Captain Joe Azzolina Route 36 Bridge Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Bob Kern. Click to enlarge)
SANDY HOOK: BACKERS HOPE TO SAVE HOUSE
The Sandlass House, at the entrance to Sandy Hook, is the subject of a campaign by a new preservation group, whose logo is shown below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The last remnant of a Sandy Hook beach club that was the subject of a Fair Haven man’s nostalgic documentary earlier this year now has a support group.
Chris Brenner tells redbankgreen that his video gave rise to an effort to save the Sandlass House, which overlooks the Shrewsbury River from the site of a long-demolished resort called Highland Beach and is slated for demolition.
Supporters plan to press their case for preserving the structure this Friday in Shrewsbury.
More →
SANDY HOOK: STRANDED JETSKIER SWIMS IN
A jet-skier who triggered a search after he disappeared while traveling from Brooklyn to Highlands spent the night on buoy in the Atlantic Ocean before swimming ashore Wednesday, NJ.com reports.
SANDY HOOK: LOST RESORT REVIVED ON VIDEO
Chris Brenner, below, made the above video to shed light on a vanishing piece of Sandy Hook history. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven resident Chris Brenner was fishing the Shrewsbury River one day last summer when low tide exposed the vestiges of a pier on the western side of Sandy Hook.
Brenner knew what the pier had been: part of a sprawling resort called Highland Beach that thrived for some 80 years years at that location. His mother, Jill, and late father, Ted, had even met there in the 1940s, at a popular bar called the Bamboo Room.
But looking to his right, as a stream of cars brought visitors across the Route 36 Azzolina Bridge to a park that’s now part of the federal Gateway National Recreation Area, Brenner wondered to himself: How many of those people even know what was once here?
SHREWSBURY RIVER: BELUGA WHALES SIGHTED
Recreational boats and a New York Water Taxi sharing the Shrewsbury River off Bahrs Landing in 2012. Below, the whales as seen in a photo posted on the Bahrs Marina Facebook page Monday. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Three juvenile Beluga whales were seen in the Shrewsbury River Monday, according to multiple reports.
The Facebook page of Bahrs Marina in Highlands, six hours after first reporting the possible presence of dolphins, “confirmed” the presence of three whales just 50 feet off the marina’s dock shortly after 4 p.m.
ONRUST GRACES OUR BEAUTIFUL NAVESINK
The 44-foot-long ship’s three-day visit, arranged by the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association as a dual celebration of the 350th anniversary of the settlement of Monmouth County and as a fundraiser, included stops in Red Bank and Fair Haven, and ended with its departure for home in Watertown, New York, on Monday. (Photos by John T. Ward. Mouseover to pause.)
RED BANK: ONRUST ARRIVES IN GRAND STYLE
The Onrust, a replica of the first deck-covered ship built in colonial America, heads up the Navesink River past the Oceanic Bridge Thursday afternoon. The vessel will spend the weekend in Red Bank and Fair Haven. Here’s the schedule of activities, which includes public tours. will berth for two days at Marine Park. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS?
This week’s Where Have I Seen This? was suggested by loyal redbankgreen reader Bruce Whitaker of Red Bank, who made our never-ending hunt for a visual brainteasers that much easier – so thanks, Bruce.
Can you identify the location? Even if you’re not sure, take a guess! Please send your answer to wherehaveiseenthis@redbankgreen.com.
RED BANK: REPLICA SHIP TO DOCK IN JUNE
The Onrust, a replica of the first deck-covered ship built in colonial America, will berth for two days at Marine Park. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
They were the tractor-trailers of their day, hauling cargo from port to port in an era when inland roads were all but nonexistent.
Seventeenth-century sailing ships such as the Onrust plied the waters surrounding New Amsterdam, carrying produce and other goods from port to port.
“It’s how everything moved,” according to Michael Humphreys, a board member with the Navesink Maritime Heritage Association. “There were no roads worth traveling,” and hacking one’s way through the woods could get a visitor killed by an unwelcoming Native American, he said.
In June, the NMHA will bring a replica of the Onrust to rust-colored banks of Red Bank. But don’t say the name as it appears: the word is pronounced “AHN-roost.”
WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS?
Can you identify the structure in this week’s (day-late) Where Have I Seen This? Send us your answer by email to wherehaveiseenthis@redbankgreen.com, please.
Last week’s photo showed a watchtower. But Where?
O’HERN, AZZOLINA GET NAME HONORS
The Red Bank train station and the Route 36 Highlands-Sea Bright bridge, below, have new names. (Click to enlarge)
Two prominent pieces of public infrastructure one, some 140 years old, the other brand-new have officially been renamed for Red Bank-area leaders.
Governor Chris Christie has signed bills naming the century-old Red Bank rail station for the late borough mayor and state Supreme Court Justice Daniel OHern and dubbing a new bridge across the Shrewsbury River for the late Joe Azzolina, the longtime state Assemblyman from Middletown.
State Senator Jennifer Beck, who pushed for both, announced the changes Monday.
WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS?
She’s all set for her walk down the aisle… Now, which way to Westminster Abbey?
If you can ID our own Kate Middleton, drop us a line here, please.
HIGHLANDS-SEA BRIGHT BRIDGE OPENS EARLY
Work on the travel lanes on the Rt. 36 bridge is complete. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The state Department of Transportation is done with the heavy-duty work on the Route 36 Highlands Bridge, and announced Friday that all four lanes were open to traffic.
If you drove over the bridge this weekend, though, you noticed only two were open.
SEARCH FOR KAYAKER HALTED OVERNIGHT
Rumson firefighters shine floodlights on the Shrewsbury River from the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge in search of a missing kayaker Wednesday night. (Click to enlarge)
Helicopters and emergency personnel from Little Silver, Rumson and elsewhere searched in vain for a kayaker who reportedly went missing in the Shrewsbury River Wednesday afternoon or early evening.
The search involved watercraft and at least two helicopters scouring the river from Highlands to Oceanport through sunset and into the darkness of night as gusty winds buffeted the region.
LOCALS ARRESTED IN SEASTREAK TIX SCHEME
[SEE UPDATE BELOW]By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Four men were arrested Wednesday for selling fake boarding tickets for the SeaStreak commuter ferry, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Three of the men are locals, and all were charged with second-degree theft by deception, second-degree conspiracy, fourth-degree forgery and fourth-degree uttering a forged instrument.
GOOCH FIGHTS ON AS COUNT GOES TO LITTLE
Highlands Mayor Anna Little has won the GOP primary for the 6th-district run against incumbent Congressman Frank Pallone, Monmouth County officials say, according to the Asbury Park Press.
But millionaire publisher Diane Gooch of Rumson is clinging to hope and won’t concede to Little without a recount of all 13,000-plus votes in the district, a Gooch lawyer tells the newspaper.
LITTLE CLAIMS WIN; GOOCH WANTS RECOUNT
Newspaper publisher Diane Gooch is asking for a recount after an apparent loss in the Republican primary for the 6th district to Highlands Mayor Anna Little. according to various reports.
Little, with Tea Party backing an only a fraction of millionaire Gooch’s campaign treasury declared victory Wednesday after a vote tally from Tuesday’s balloting showed her leading Gooch by 105 votes, the Asbury Park Press reported.
Later in the day, the Star-Ledger said 79 votes separated the two candidates, and that Gooch would seek a recount.
SIPPRELLE WINS; LITTLE LEADS GOOCH
It’s not quite tea time in the two congressional districts covering the Red Bank area.
In the 12th district, Tea Party-endorsed Dave Corsi failed in his bid against Princeton millionaire Scott Sipprelle for the Republican nod to take on incumbent Rush Holt.
Corsi, of Oceanport, won his home county of Monmouth by a vote of 3,345 to 2,577, but came ups short elsewhere and fell by a vote of 8,930 to 7,575, according to the Star-Ledger.
Meanwhile, the outcome of the battle between Rumson newspaper publisher Diane Gooch and Highlands Mayor Anna Little for the GOP nod to challenge incumbent Frank Pallone in the 6th district was unclear early this morning.
SEA BRIGHT NIXES HONKIN’ BIG BRIDGE SIGNS
Highlands and Sea Bright officials don’t favor DOT plans to install signs that hang over the Route 36 bridge, shown here in November. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
It wasn’t that long ago that advocates of keeping that troublesome bridge that once linked Sea Bright to Highlands pooh-poohed the idea of constructing a new, larger once because it didn’t fit in with the landscape of the area.
Now, that the new Route 36 bridge is kind of here the Sea Bright-to-Highlands section is complete, with the rest targeted to be done in 2011 officials are echoing that old cry, with a plea to halt signs the state Department of Transportation intends to install, saying that they’re more useful for the Garden State Parkway or New Jersey Turnpike.
BRIDGES HEAD IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS
Vehicles arriving onto the Sea Bright peninsula via the partially completed Route 36 bridge from Highlands over the weekend. (Photos by Dustin Racioppi)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Call it a tale of two bridges.
Over the Shrewsbury River, there’s progress. And not too far southwest, spanning the Navesink, there’s regression.
Not only can motorists see advances made on the new Route 36 bridge linking Sea Bright and Highlands, they can start taking advantage of the work from nearly two years of construction of the 65-foot high structure. A portion of the bridge opened to travelers on Friday.