They call it Family Night now. But, the Wednesday night of each Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair is forever Firemen’s Night to any kid who grew up hearing sirens blaring through the streets where they lived on that eve that welcomed and honored firefighters from near and far to the fair grounds.
Continue reading Fair Remembrance: A Firemen’s NightGalleries
Simple Summer: Guarding a Sea Bright Dawn with a Friend
On Monday morning, I’m going away with my friend …
It may have been a Saturday in the Sandpipers’ famed song Come Saturday Morning, but it sure looks like this Monday captured at Sea Bright’s sunrise today by longtime Fair Havenite and Knollwood School teacher, Andy Dougherty.
When morning has broken on a final summer’s day, nothing compares to the serene veracity of the moment, especially when shared with a childhood friend.
The softness of the vivid colors, the loud silence, the magic in the clouds’ formations, the whole world inside each droplet of a wave’s crash. The hush frozen in time in a minute’s worth of snapshots.
The simplest of moments atop a lifeguard stand with a best friend. Saturday or Monday, the awakening calm of the dawn, the moment remains, many of them …
“Just I and my friend. We’ll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles. And then we’ll move on. But we will remember … long after Saturday’s gone.”
The simplest of summers. Remember the moments. Savor them. Exhale with a smile.
- Simple Summer: A Gaggle of RFH Gal Pals Reunited
- Police Report: Theft, Drugs, Assault, Major Art Theft, Defiant Trespass, Terroristic Threats, Criminal Mischief, Lewdness
- Retro Rumson Beach Boys & Girl & Clubbing History
- Environmentally Speaking: Clean Ocean Action Sues NJ Over Pipeline
- Prosecutor: Monday Night Area Murder Under Investigation
Fair Remembrance: Rides & Reunions
On the historic year without the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair, we offer a look back at some classic moments of the past five years, since R-FH Retro has been roving the grounds freezing snippets of time.
To anyone who has grown up in the Rumson-Fair Haven area, the fair is a reuniter, an end-of-summer community anchor, a generous memory giver. So, on the year without the fair, here’s a look back at the more recent past and best of moments among friends who became family in a place called home. Take the ride with us …
Continue reading Fair Remembrance: Rides & ReunionsSimple Summer: Tubing on the Navesink
It’s a simple way to enjoy summer, especially in pandemic distancing times — tubing on a Thursday afternoon.
Continue reading Simple Summer: Tubing on the NavesinkR-FH Area Weekly Snapshot: Looking Back & Ahead, Weather, COVID & Pics





When the rain clears and the sun shines, shadows are cast. They offer a perspective of what’s behind, ahead and sometimes the view from beneath the surface. So, that in mind, we take a look back at last week, what’s to come this week and a little peek from beneath the surface in news, features and photos from under the Fair Haven Dock.
Continue reading R-FH Area Weekly Snapshot: Looking Back & Ahead, Weather, COVID & PicsSimple Summer: Fishin’ for Sunny Dock Daze
The summer of 2020 has been anything but simple — pandemic, tropical storm rip, power outage, murder hornets. And then down came the rain …
Continue reading Simple Summer: Fishin’ for Sunny Dock DazeScene Around: Weather, Tides, COVID & River View
Well, last week wound down with electricity still down and out in the Rumson-Fair Haven area, but sun spirits up for those who took advantage of the water’s calming effect.
Continue reading Scene Around: Weather, Tides, COVID & River ViewScene Around: Bella Fourth of July Luna
The Fourth of July was about more than fireworks shows. The moon had a special show of its own going on — a lunar eclipse coupled with a buck moon.
Continue reading Scene Around: Bella Fourth of July LunaSimple Summer: Fair Haven Dock Sunset Solace
Summertime can be hectic. Not quite as much these post-quarantine pandemic days of summer, though. Most are pretty tired of alone time. Still, there’s nothing better than some an end-of-day solo time to unwind, distanced, in the fresh air … embraced by a familiar, comforting scene.
Continue reading Simple Summer: Fair Haven Dock Sunset SolaceScene Around: Sunrise on the Shrewsbury River; A Covid-19 Era Dawn
Photos /John Kinsey
Call it a dawn after the COVID-19 storm. It looked that way at sunrise on the Shrewsbury River on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Continue reading Scene Around: Sunrise on the Shrewsbury River; A Covid-19 Era DawnScene Around: Seals on the Beach
Photos/Sue Hill-Spakowski
It’s not every day that a Rumsonite takes a typical beach stroll and bumps, not so literally, into a couple of seals. It’s only a pandemic day in May.
Continue reading Scene Around: Seals on the BeachScene Around: Soothing Sunrise, Sunset Moment
Photos by Sue Hill-Spakowski
Distancing. It’s a necessity these days. Yet, sometimes a little distance leads to appreciation. A new perspective. A dawn. That promise of a new day. The light that reminds us that it is there as darkness falls. The light that always appears after the darkness.
Solitude can offer solace. Taking several steps back to be drenched in sunlight’s promise, a stark view, uncluttered by fear and confusion. The comfort of isolation. The embracing call of the light, close in the distance.
Sometimes a furry best friend who doesn’t know how to distance makes the view just a little sweeter, too. Rumsonite Sue Hill-Spakowski and dog Nancy took in this sunrise, sunset view at Sandy Hook’s Fort Hancock and its perspective as COVID-19 stats rose and fear enveloped the area.
Call it serenity in a snapshot. And Nancy rose with the sun on this. She just didn’t want to move for the full view. That’s OK. She was stepping into the light. Illuminated Rumson dog.
Look for the light. Embrace it. Stay safe, all!
- Simple Summer: A Gaggle of RFH Gal Pals Reunited
- Police Report: Theft, Drugs, Assault, Major Art Theft, Defiant Trespass, Terroristic Threats, Criminal Mischief, Lewdness
- Retro Rumson Beach Boys & Girl & Clubbing History
- Environmentally Speaking: Clean Ocean Action Sues NJ Over Pipeline
- Prosecutor: Monday Night Area Murder Under Investigation

























































































































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