Retro Rumson Island Mooring Improv

Image July 23, 2024 Elaine Van Develde

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale … about an eight-hour tour, or hundreds, on the river in Rumson.

The part about this typical eight-hour tour in Rumson that doesn’t jibe with the three-hour tour Gilligan’s Island folks is that the kids on these “tours” sailed right into a marooning of their own making on what’s known as Starvation Island, just minutes from home. Who knew or cared, though? No one except the jolly river adventurers.

Improv on the low seas was what these captains of the row boat mastered. And very well.

Yes, when it came to waterborne fun in the ’50s — and pretty much every decade before and after — all it took was some kids, a boat, a sense of adventure, no fear and, of course, that deserted island.

In this case, the kids rowed that boat into the vast nowhere of the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers for hours’ worth of improv and intentional marooning.

And it all worked out just splendidly, according to those who were there (on this and a few other trips, anyway). No one could hear the dinner bell from the island. No one cared. No helicopter parenting then. No complaints. Dinner no-show? No problem.

Kathy Robbins, one of the intentionally marooned and photo owner, tells us that they fished, clammed and ate, or tried to cook and eat, the “not-yet-polluted” catches.

In this case, the kids pictured are Jack Clevenger and Jan Baron. They’d just moored, or got grounded, on the island, others in tow. And Clevenger caught a fish.

Nothing fishy about these much missed “days of innocence” as Robbins calls them. The memories? Well, they’ve lasted a lifetime, except the part about whether or not they actually ate the fish.

The real catch here is the encapsulation of the fairy tale, or sitcom, life of Fair Haven kids growing up on the river.

Got island time? They did. Your river island time adventure, Clammy? Do tell. Gunning? Starvation? Barley Point?

— Photos/Kathy Robbins