It was quite the hauntingly comforting scene on Tuesday — mist rising from the Shrewsbury River from the Sea Bright side to Rumson and all the way to Highlands.
Then the sun poked through the clouds, the mist evaporated and it was time for a little reflection … of the crystalline riverfront view onto the water and life in the Rumson-Fair Haven area.
Fair Havenite Sandi Richards-von Pier captured the moments.
Take a look … (and don’t forget to click to enlarge!)
Five years ago people piled onto the Sea Bright municipal parking lot to get and give help in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
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
Jetty rocks are piled. Sand is raked and plowed into a vertical dune-like stretch down the beach. Trucks are digging, pulling and plowing sand. The relatively new boardwalk that earmarked a piece of a beginning after Superstorm Sandy’s wrath is demolished. The Where Angels Play playground has been dismantled. It’s what Sea Bright Public Beach and north and south of it look like on any given day lately. Sea Bright beach rebirth has begun.
Continue reading Focus: Birth of a Sea Bright Seawall, Replenished Beach
Call it just another local’s summer boat ride. It’s the scalding sun before the storm on the Shrewsbury River.
Continue reading Focus: Locals’ Summer Boat Ride Rumson Island Style
It’s locals’ summer and all is serene on the beach in Sea Bright. It’s time to go walkin’ … after sunrise … lounging … exploring … this slice of life at the beach.
Here’s a glimpse of what it looks like … (And don’t forget to click to enlarge!)
— Elaine Van Develde
It’s that time of the year when the beaches are pretty barren. It’s locals’ summer. Perfect time for serenity and little waterfront trek.
That’s how it was recently on Sea Bright Public Beach — a stroll in solitude accompanied only by the birds, the sea, freshly combed sand and solace.
Walk along and take in the view. It’s not just for the birds, really. (And don’t forget to click to enlarge!)
— Elaine Van Develde
From the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office …
New Jersey State police have released a sketch of the African American female whose body was recovered in Sea Bright recently.
Continue reading Authorities Seek Help in Identifying Woman Found Dead in Sea Bright
There will be a DWI checkpoint in Sea Bright from Friday night into early Saturday morning, Monmouth County DWI Task Force Coordinator Michael Palmer has announced.
What would a Donovan’s Reef reopening be without a spotting of its unofficial, or official, mascot — the iconic guy about town everyone knows as Dizzy Dave?
Well, lots of area folks were there for Sunday’s (delayed from Saturday) grand reopening. And, while it was pretty packed and running into Dave was tantamount to playing a giant game of Where’s Waldo, one devout Donovan’s fan, Gerry Ryan, found him and struck the classic pose.
Ryan’s wife, former Red Bank Councilwoman Grace Cangemi Ryan, grabbed the photo op and shared it with Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect.
Rumson Mayor John Ekdahl told us he was there as well, but, no roving photographers seemed to capture him, either. He said he did not see Dizzy. “It’s surprising that I didn’t,” Ekdahl said on Memorial Day. “He’s pretty hard to miss!”
The new place got a thumbs up from the mayor. The Ryans and all other locals and fans we spoke with gave the new Donovan’s rave reviews.
Now, where’s Dizzy Dave?
It was like a scene out of The Wizard of Oz, with a wicked witch of a storm dropping a house on the spirits of Rumson-Fair Haven area locals. It was the scene of what many might call the Superstorm Sandy crime that devastated the Sea Bright peninsula and wiped out a decades-long iconic spot — Donovan’s Reef.
When the coast was literally clear of the storm’s wrath, locals flocked to the site to see what Sandy had spit out and left behind. They cried, reminisced, meditated on the jetty and gathered tiny scraps of memories made at the longtime RFHers’ hang-out.
The Retro Pic(s) of the Day take us back to Donovan’s in the aftermath of Sandy.
Laying on the ground were decades worth of remnants from a hut by the sea where many milestone memories were made. On the cusp of the iconic spot’s reopening, people wonder if the new and expanded hut by the sea will be a place to DO it again? Time will tell. Locals are poised for the fresh start. But, they always seem to look back on the good ol Donovan’s days.
What is your favorite Donovan’s memory from years gone by?
— Elaine Van Develde
— Photos/Elaine Van Develde
It’s day that many Rumson-Fair Haven area locals have been anticipating since the ravaging dawn of 2012’s Superstorm Sandy — the reopening of the devastated iconic Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright.
After many fits and starts, that day, save for any unforeseen issues, now appears to be set. It’s Saturday, a Twitter post confirmed, though with a praying hands emoji.
“4+ years ago we were washed away 
? thanks Sandy,” a post on the Donovan’s Facebook page says. “NOW, there is light at the end of the tunnel. You can sit at the inside bar & take in this amazing view! Can’t wait to see you! Hope for no delays and we open MDW!”
Take a look at the progression since Sandy in the below photos …
— Photos/Elaine Van Develde
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