Visiting Our Own Monmouth County

FEATURED PHOTO CREDIT: Cathy Padilla

His recently released book, 100 Things to Do at the Jersey Shore Before You Die, is a handy guide for fun days and exciting nights all along the New Jersey Coast. Listed below are great Monmouth County spots you may drive by often but infrequently stop to enjoy, as well as a few day trips a little to our south. Let’s raise a glass to a healthy, happy July and reacquainting ourselves with all our area has to offer.

Allenwood General Store

There’s a long tradition of general stores throughout America but they have gone by the wayside courtesy of Walmart and Target. The Allenwood General Store bucks that tradition having stood roughly in the same place since the 1850s. The Herbert Family reinvigorated the general store in 1972 and family members still run it today. When you walk in, you will be greeted by the deli counter staff who wear t-shirts that read, “Got pork roll?” In addition to that famous Jersey specialty item, they have a full menu for take-out or eating outside. Don’t miss the back rooms! There’s an amazing collection of antiques, brick-a-brack, and craft items typified by the humorous sign, “This isn’t a museum. It’s junk for sale.”

Visit: AllenwoodGeneralStore.com

Classic Boat Rides

On Captain Dan’s Classic Boat Rides get a peek into the homes of those who live quietly at the shore but regularly commute to the craziness of New York City. From May to October, jump onboard to sail from Atlantic Highlands in the Sandy Hook Bay and venture south into the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers by Red Bank, Rumson, Fair Haven, Middletown Township, and Sea Bright. You see the current homes of Jon Bon Jovi and Jon Stewart, the former homes of Telly Savalas and Geraldo Rivera, and the beach house featured in The Sopranos. Tours are two to three hours with live music Thursday evenings, a sunset cruise on Fridays, and a mansion tour Sunday afternoons. The newest boat is a 100-passenger paddle wheeler, the Navesink Queen, with a heated indoor space and a bar with drinks and snacks. This summer, Captain Dan is mostly offering small group cruise charters, morning trips for fishing, or afternoon, evening, and weekend trips under the Highlands Bridge.

Visit: ClassicBoatRides.com

Englishtown Auction and Flea Market

Despite the name, Englishtown Auction is not an auction, but a giant flea market that has been a fixture of Monmouth County for more than 90 years. What began in a rural farmland and orchard as a place to buy, trade, and sell livestock, farm equipment, and produce, is now a place to buy all those things (maybe not livestock) plus antiques and collectibles, clothing, tools, and much more. Open every Saturday and Sunday year-round, the flea market features five indoor buildings with about 300 vendors and a variety of taquerias and food stands. The action really takes place in a large open lot marked by temporary “streets” such as Fifth Avenue. With a low-cost seller price, Englishtown attracts all kinds of sellers from people looking to sell used items from attics or garages to vendors selling new products like iPads.

Visit: EnglishtownAuction.com.

Henry Hudson Trail

Imagine English explorer Henry Hudson anchoring his boat and walking along the peaceful southern shore of Sandy Hook Bay. He would have seen vibrant trees and fauna as they rose on a hill up to the highlands overlooking the bay. You can have a very similar experience on a two-mile section of the 24-mile-long Henry Hudson Trail that follows a former railroad right-of-way along the shoreline from the marina in Atlantic Highlands to Popamora Point in Highlands. Walkers, runners, and bikers will find a well-tended, gravel and dirt path that was reopened last year after parts of it were washed away in Superstorm Sandy in 2012. In the heat of summer, head there for a cool morning walk in the shade. If you start in Highlands, you can finish your workout with a refreshing dip in the Sandy Hook Bay or join the faithful in throwing out a line in hopes of catching fluke, striped bass, or bluefish.

Visit: MonmouthCountyParks.com.

Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash

He’s a filmmaker, actor, comedian, podcaster, and comic book writer from Monmouth County and his name is Kevin Smith. Not sure who he is? You’ve probably seen one of his movies such as Clerks, Mallrats, or Chasing Amy or his reality cable TV show, Comic Book Men. Although he lives in Los Angeles, his heart is still in Monmouth County as evidenced by his store Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash. Growing up in Red Bank and Highlands, Smith dreamed of owning a comic book store. With profits from his movie Clerks, he opened up Secret Stash in 1997. At this one-of-a-kind store in Red Bank, geek out and buy merch and apparel related to Smith’s films and characters, like Jay and Silent Bob. If you’re into comic books and collectibles, then stop by and enjoy what one fan calls the “Disneyland for nerds.” Make sure to stop in the rear of the store to take a selfie with props from Kevin Smith’s movies including Buddy Christ from Dogma.

Visit: JayandSilentBob.com

JBJ Soul Collective, Red Bank

“Where there is love, there is plenty.” That’s the manifesto of JBJ Soul Collective restaurants in Red Bank and Toms River. Run by the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation, these unique restaurants are part of an ongoing commitment by Jon Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, to provide food for those in need, as well as job training for people interested in being part of the food industry. At these restaurants anyone can partake, choosing from a set menu. You pay what you want with a recommended price of around $25. You may rub shoulders with the rock star and his family or share a table with in-need customers.

Visit: JBJSoulKitchen.org.

New York Skyline, Keyport and Atlantic Highlands

Grab a blanket, a great book, and your favorite four-legged best friend for a walk along the water in either Keyport or Atlantic Highlands. Both towns offer marinas with views of the New York skyline dotted with elegant sailboats and the sound of gulls overhead. Open to the public year-round, bring along some quarters for the tower viewers in Keyport and see the Freedom Tower up close. Numerous local restaurants are in walking distance in both towns offering adult beverages and food with a view.

Ocean Grove Auditorium

Few American concert halls have featured concerts by John Philip Sousa, Enrico Caruso, Kenny Rogers, and The Beach Boys. Even fewer have natural acoustics that conductor Leonard Bernstein once compared to Carnegie Hall. More than 120 years ago, Ocean Grove’s founders built this amazing, mostly wooden building, originally with 10,000 seats. Eventually, they reduced capacity to 6,000 but it’s still one of the largest auditoriums in the state. Among its features are one of the world’s largest pipe organs and a huge painted American flag (circa 1916) at the back of the stage with light bulbs that flash in an undulating manner. Throughout a typical summer, the Auditorium hosts Sunday worship services, classical concerts, and a few pop rock vocalists and bands. Because the Auditorium has no air-conditioning, the barn-like sides of the Great Auditorium are often open for concerts. While many events have been rescheduled this summer, Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association has tentative plans for concerts and worship services later this summer.

Visit: OceanGrove.org/shows

Pine Creek Railroad

The history of New Jersey Museum of Transportation’s Pine Creek Railroad is more complicated than switching trains in Grand Central Station. It starts with a group of railroad enthusiasts who rescued a steam-powered locomotive from the Raritan River Sand Company around 1950, renaming it Pine Creek No. 1. After some fits and starts trying to operate a little narrow-gauge railroad as an amusement attraction along two different state roads, the Museum finally found a home at Allaire State Park, which already was established as an 1830s historic iron works village. Today, the Museum operates a steam train on a narrow gauge, half-mile track that runs through part of the park. The train yard is home to rare vintage pieces of railroad equipment, and admission is required for the train ride. If you want to see the Pine Creek No. 1 train, however, you’ll have to travel out west. It was sold more than 60 years ago and restored so it could operate at Disneyland.

Visit: njmt.org

The Breakers Hotel

There’s not one dominant architecture style that stands out in Spring Lake as much as the idea of the Gilded Age of American wealth and splendor exemplified in the choice of Spring Lake for scenes in the movies Ragtime and Once Upon a Time in America. Along the wide streets and tree-lined sidewalks sit majestic turn-of-the-century buildings, grand cottages, and historic bed-and-breakfast inns. At The Breakers on the Ocean Hotel, lean back in a chair on the veranda, close your eyes, and taste the ocean air while you imagine a simpler life.

Visit: BreakersHotel.com

Day Trips

Doo Wop District, the Wildwoods

Taking its name from the rock sound of Chubby Checker and Bobby Rydell, the Doo Wop Motel District in the Wildwoods celebrates the mid-century or space-age architectural style of that era. With Vegas-like neon signs and giant plastic palm trees, these still-operating motels feature exotic names such as the Caribbean Motel and the Bel Air Motel, with more than 50 in Wildwood Crest alone.  Stop by the former Surfside Restaurant, which has been turned into the Doo Wop Experience, including a retro-style malt shop and outdoor neon garden. New this summer is the Doo Wop Drive-In offering breakfast and lunch. In the parking lot, they are serving dinner with a projected movie two nights a week.

Visit: DooWopUSA.org/project-02 and DooWopDriveIn.com

Howling Woods Farm, Jackson Township

More than a dozen wolfdogs and domestic-bred wolves at Howling Woods Farm have been featured in Vogue and Esquire, as well as music videos, television shows, and films such as Disney’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. You can interact with, pet, and snap a selfie with the large, furry creatures during an hour-long tour. You can even practice your howling to get them to respond in kind with the classic wolf howl. Because New Jersey permits wolfdog ownership and surrounding states do not, this is the only related attraction within hundreds of miles. Reservations are required by phone, and the farm is open year-round every day except Monday. 

Visit: HowlingWoods.org

Island Heights

On busy Route 37 between Toms River and Seaside Heights, the turn-off sign for Island Heights is nearly invisible. Yet less than a mile south is the small river town of Island Heights, where a majority of its almost 400 structures were built during the Victorian era. Like Ocean Grove to the north, also on the National Register of Historic Places, the town grew from a Methodist camp meeting site in the late 1800s but never developed into a major tourist destination mostly because it sits on Toms River unlike its neighbors on the ocean. An outstanding example of the town’s architecture is the John F. Peto Studio Museum which the artist designed and built.

Visit: IslandHeightsBoro.com/history

Pine Barrens

With more than 1.1 million acres, the Pine Barrens make for a perfect outing and is closer to the Shore than you think. Created in 1978, it is the country’s first National Reserve. Despite its size, it can be challenging to figure out how and where you can explore this vast area of our state. One of the busiest outfitters close to the Jersey Shore is Mick’s Canoe & Kayak Rental. It provides online video instruction and, on site, points you to the best trails of the Wading and Oswego rivers.

For the more adventurous, check out Pinelands Adventures.

Tuckerton Seaport and Baymen’s Museum

Long before boardwalks and amusement parks, most people along the Jersey Shore worked in the maritime industry. At the Tuckerton Seaport & Baymen’s Museum 20 minutes north of Atlantic City, explore the life of a boat builder, fisherman, decoy maker, fishmonger, or volunteer who rescued people and boats from the Atlantic Ocean. Climb to the top of the reproduction of the Tucker’s Island Lighthouse to see how these men and women sailed out of Tuckerton Creek to Tuckerton Bay and eventually the Atlantic Ocean. 

Visit: TuckertonSeaport.org

Whale Watching in Cape May

Whale watching in Cape May dates back to 1987, a decade after the city revitalized itself as a tourist destination with a nod to Victorian architecture. Captain Ron Robbins started whale watching trips, leaving bait and fishing rods home in favor of binoculars and suntan lotion. With his vessel, the Holiday, a former fishing vessel, Ron slowly plied the waters of Delaware Bay and the nearby Atlantic Ocean, with great success finding Humpback, Fin, and Right Whales. Since then, two other companies have followed in his footsteps, offering multiple two-to-three-hour trips per day in season. There are almost always dolphins diving in the waves at the point where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, but the real stars of the show are the occasional whales.

Visit: CapeMayWhaleWatcher.com and CapeMayWhaleWatch.com