MUST DO’S: A guide to all the fun, quirky and entertaining things our region has on offer.
The publishing of a book sometimes takes a year or more, so the title 100 Things to Do at the Jersey Shore Before You Die by R.C. Staab is an unfortunate choice for a pandemic year. Also, most of the details about the events and stores are based on a normal year, so call first before embarking on a trip.
That said, this guide is a spectacular find for anyone living or vacationing along the Jersey Shore. First of all, the book is divided into five sections: Food and Drink, Music and Entertainment, Sports and Recreation, Culture and History, and Shopping and Fashion. Within these sections are numerous one- or two-page chapters that have large type, short descriptive paragraphs, tips to make the experience better, and addresses, emails and phone numbers. Best of all, it gives the number exit off the Garden State Parkway! For those like me who can never remember if Stone Harbor is north or south of exit 63 (Long Beach Island), that solves a huge problem.
Long Beach Island figures pretty well on this bucket list, starting with Food and Drink. The chapter titled “Savor Your Eggs or Chicken in Beach Haven” describes the Chicken or the Egg restaurant, which serves breakfast all day and offers 18 kinds of hot sauce. A tip is to go to the Yelp! app to check on wait times. Chapter 16, “Sing ‘Hello Ice Cream’ on Long Beach Island,” tells how singing servers entertain at the Show Place Ice Cream Parlour in Beach Haven and offer the Chorus Line Split, or the mountainous Anything Goes, which serves 10 people.
Country Kettle Fudge is mentioned in chapter 14, “Define Your Vacation with the Perfect Fudge,” and Ship Bottom Shellfish makes the cut in chapter 17, “Crack a Claw at a Local Seafood Shack.”
In Music and Entertainment, the Black Pearl Pirate Tours located in Beach Haven is suggested as “a battle plan for kids with lots of energy.” Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven is mentioned prominently in the chapter “Watch the Lights Go Up on Musicals and Plays.”
The Pinelands to our west are part of Sports and Recreation, as is Thundering Surf water park in Beach Haven. Barnegat Light is mentioned as a port for deep sea fishing charters, while Barnegat Bay is considered the prime destination for kite boarding.
The Island really shines in the section on Culture and History: Barnegat Lighthouse State Park is mentioned in the Lighthouse Challenge, usually held in October.
The New Jersey Maritime Museum in Beach Haven is a bonus for families on a budget, as it is free, and also has the atmosphere of “a clubhouse for maritime enthusiasts” – no need to whisper or tiptoe.
Nearby on the mainland, the Tuckerton Seaport in Tuckerton is the place to “Investigate a Mariner’s Life,” from decoy making to boatbuilding.
Ron Jon Surf Shop in Ship Bottom gets an enthusiastic nod in the Shopping and Fashion section, touting the founder, Ron DiMenna, as an originator of East Coast surfing. And “Fish for Good Bargains in Beach Haven” highlights Bay Village and Schooner’s Wharf.
Having been born here, I thought I knew everything I needed to know about things to do at the shore, but the guide got me excited about a number of chapters.
I didn’t know there are free jazz concerts held at Kennedy Plaza Stage at Missouri Avenue and the Boardwalk, Atlantic City, at the site of Chicken Bone Beach. The history of the beach is a sad commentary of our past, as Blacks, who did most of the hotel work back in the day, were not allowed on most of the beaches but were segregated to a couple of blocks for their picnics. Even Black celebrities – Martin Luther King Jr., Sammy Davis Jr. and Billie Holiday – spent some time at Chicken Bone Beach.
To learn more about Black history in A.C., visit the Noyes Arts Garage in Atlantic City, home of the African American Heritage Museum of Southern New Jersey. Atlantic City is Exit 38 off the Parkway.
I also intend to make a reservation to “Find Love and Joy on a Llama Adventure” as told in chapter 50. In either New Egypt (Exit 98) or Cape May (Exit 4 or 0), I can walk with a llama. At Bev Vienckowski’s Second Wind Farm in New Egypt, you meet the llamas in the barn and then join them at Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area for a two-hour stroll on the Cranberry Trail.
You’ll find your own – wow, never thought of that! – adventures among the 100 suggestions: maybe a visit to the Silverball Museum Arcade in Asbury Park (Exits 100A/102) with more than 160 pinball and arcade games; or a climb inside a six-story, pachyderm-shaped structure, Lucy the Elephant, in Margate (Exit 38).
At the end of the book are helpful suggestions for itineraries based on location, nightlife, rainy day adventures or if you have kids along. A truly helpful book when we all whine, “There’s nothing to do.”
The author, R.C. Staab, vacationed in Stone Harbor (Cape May County) as a child, and lived in both Brigantine and Sea Bright. He has written about travel and tourism for the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Wall Street Journal, LA Times and USA Today. The sturdy paperback is published by Reedy Press and costs $18. It’s available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and more.
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