Dick Handschuch

As explained in the preface, the authors decided to walk all the boardwalks of New Jersey (explanation for this decision is "Why? Because they were there!" p. 9) and found that there was no resource listing all of them in one place for easy reference. They decided therefore to write this book and include some details about each boardwalk rather than just a plain directory listing.

The book starts with very brief history of the boardwalks and then goes right into descriptions of the boardwalks in each seaside town, beginning with Middlesex County and moving progressively south down the state. Maps of each counties mark the appropriate dividing space; each town's boardwalk comes with directions and the length of the walk in addition to some description of the defining feature(s).

Throughout, the book contains lots of archival postcards and photographs showing various boardwalks in their heydays around the early 1900s; some modern photographs are included as well. Fun facts and side trip suggestions are scattered about in sidebars as well.

The end of the book has devotes a few pages to historical boardwalks that no longer exist after natural disasters wrecked them and towns and cities chose not to rebuild. This is an interesting history lesson; I definitely did not know that so many towns near where I live used to have boardwalks! There’s also a spread dedicated to Q&A where some additional random and interesting facts can be learned about the state's boardwalks. In addition, a few pages at the end are dedicated to information about which boardwalks allow cyclists and at what hours.

Buyer beware: When the authors refer to boardwalks, they quite literally mean boards on which you can walk. My definition of a boardwalk is much narrower and includes only those boardwalks that have “amusements” as the authors refer to it (arcade games, rides, etc.), food stalls, and shops. In this book, the authors also include places where the only attraction is being able to walk on something other than sand while viewing the ocean. There’s certainly something to be said for that pastime, but I prefer the more elaborate amusements. Also, the authors break everything down by town, which can be helpful when you know you will be in a certain area. However, sometimes this makes for odd breaks, such as referring to the boardwalks of North Wildwood, Wildwood, and Wildwood Crest as though they are separate entities. Having walked that particular 3-mile stretch at least once a year for roughly 20 years, I can tell you it’s very hard to distinguish when you’ve left one town and entered the next. To be fair, the authors do acknowledge when one town’s boardwalk is an extension of another town’s, but I’m not sure how apparent it is to the casual reader that these distinctions are not obvious on the actual boardwalk.

All and all, this is a very fast read and a must-have for anyone seeking to explore the Jersey shore (and not the reality TV show version of it).… (altro)