Tag Archives: Gunning Island

Focus: Sandy, Five Years Ago

It was the year that Halloween wasn’t. It was 2012 and Superstorm Sandy had pummeled the Jersey Shore. It decimated Sea Bright and destroyed low lying parts of Rumson. Fair Haven was a bit war torn and powerless.

Beach cabanas landed like Dorothy’s house to the Witch of the East on West Park lawns. Boats were hoisted by surging water onto dock tops and back yards. Gunning Island, in the Shrewsbury River, was loaded with the moored belongings of Sea Bright and Rumson people. Trees were downed. Transformers exploded.

Sea Bright residents were homeless. The beach was in the road. Sea Bright Rising began with some good-hearted burger flipping by Woody’s owner Chris Wood and chef Onofrio Moscato. The U.S. Army National Guard was parked in the Sea Bright municipal lot. There was no electricity.

There was a curfew. At nightfall, people scurried back into their homes, if there was anything left to go home to, like moles burrowing into cold, still night. Things were awfully dark. And Halloween was cancelled. There was no treat in Sandy’s trickery, just in the kindness of those who were good neighbors.

Take a look back … (and click to enlarge).

— Elaine Van Develde

Photos/Elaine Van Develde

Focus: Rumson Respite; Sunny Summer Daze

Well, if a sunny Friday morning on the Shrewsbury River is any indication of what’s to come over this Fourth of July weekend, it’s all about celebrating some sunny days along with the birth of our nation.

From the Sea Bright side, overlooking the West Park section of Rumson and Gunning Island this morning, skies were blue and clear as the NJ State Marine Police patrolled the Shrewsbury and boaters boated.

According to the National Weather Service, the only exception to the good weekend weather case may be Saturday, as forecasters forecast some heavy rain and a bit of stormy weather. But, as for the rest of the holiday time, all’s sunny.

Happy Independence Day weekend, all! Enjoy and stay safe!

— Elaine Van Develde

Focus: Morning Rumson Island View

There was a bitter chill in the air in Sea Bright this morning; but the view from the marina of Rumson’s Gunning Island was vivid this morning.

The predicted snow, or what was left of the little that fell on Tuesday, had disappeared.

The sun was out and the memories of many years’ worth of good summer times were warm ones.

Check it out and remember  …

— Elaine Van Develde

 

Focus: Fiery Sunset Over a Rumson Island

“Don’t you make me pull this car over, Sun!”

Well, it made me and quite a few others do it. It was a traffic stopper again — the sunset from the Eventide docks in Sea Bright overlooking Rumson on Friday night.

And, to coin the singular of another saying, the exclamation for the traffic stopper could be summed up as one “great ball of fire!”

As the biblical origination of the phrase indicates, implying the presence of God (nature, or whatever being one believes in) as fire, it could also haven been seen as a religious environmental experience.

Blazing and ducking very quickly behind Gunning Island in Rumson, the sight of the sunset was blindingly beautiful — again.

Take a look …

— Elaine Van Develde

 

Focus: A Special Rumson Island

Sometimes you just need to escape to an island. And all you need to do is look out onto the Shrewsbury River to find one.

If you can’t get in your gondola and paddle over there, the 32-acre Gunning Island preserve, 20 acres of which has been owned by Rumson since 2007, is close enough to see from the banks of Rumson or Sea Bright. For RFHers, it holds a cache of party and young pleasure boating memories.

It now seems to beckon with a sigh of serenity and solitude in its wildlife preserve state.

Exhale and take in the memories with the scenery …

(Don’t forget to click to enlarge.)

— Elaine Van Develde

 

 

Retro Rumson Sky After the Rain

A retro look at Rumson and Gunning Island in the Shrewsbury River at sunset after a rainfall  a couple of years ago Photo/Elaine Van Develde
A retro look at Rumson and Gunning Island in the Shrewsbury River at sunset after a rainfall a couple of years ago
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

It’s been a bit dreary and rainy today.

So, to show everyone how the skies can brighten so quickly after the rain, the Retro Pic of the Day shows a sunset over the Shrewsbury River looking toward Rumson and Gunning Island after rainy weather two years ago.

Gunning Island is owned by the borough of Rumson. It is roughly 30 acres and is earmarked as preserved open space/ecosystem to never be developed.