The "25 Of My Favorite...Pixs" Story

For the past nine years I have been sharing photographs of my visits to the island known as St. Martin/Sint Maarten.  It is the smallest island shared by more than one country; St. Martin being French and Sint Maarten being Dutch.  Carol and I have traveled to the island close to twenty times since my retirement from teaching in 1999.  We enjoy both sides of what is known as "The Friendly Island", but we tend to gravitate to the French side due to its low key lifestyle and fabulous French cuisine.  I have taken a few thousand photos of the island during our visits and recently looked at most of them.  Today I have chosen some of my favorites to share with you once again.  I have also given a bit more information about each photograph so you can better understand why and where I might have taken it.  Hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I did when I took them.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - click on images to enlarge them.

Happy Bay beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on St. Martin.  Many days you may be the only one on the beach since it is somewhat hard to reach.  This lone islander made for the perfect photograph.

This photograph was taken with my cell phone.  The color of the water contrasts with the white sand beach in this photograph of Happy Bay.

Carol and I were two of the very few who visited Happy Bay this particular day.  The shadows on our beach umbrella add just the right touch to the photo.

Roland Richardson is one of the best known artists on the island.  His gallery is located in the French Capital of the island, Marigot.  Carol and I have made a few visits to his gallery and this photo and the following one were both taken one day when he shared the story of the home in which his gallery is located.  Here he looks over his rear yard which fronts what at one time were barracks for soldiers. 

At one point Mr. Richardson removed his trusty hat and placed it on a bench in his gallery.  Just the perfect touch for this photograph.

The island has many stray cats.  Every morning during my walk to buy croissants, I passed through  the many restaurants in Orient Village.  Every morning I was greeted by many of the strays.  This little guy was such a treat.

This is one of many strays that live with a woman named Bernadine.  Her home was badly damaged when Hurricane Irma went through the island in 2017, but there is still room in her home for the many strays that call her their savior.

This photograph is more dynamic as a black and white.  It was taken  at Friar's Bay Beach of a French woman having a smoke as she had her lunch.  

Many trips to the island saw us making a day trip to nearby Pinel Island.  There are no official homes on the island, but the beach is beautiful with crystal clear water.  This photograph was taken at the ferry dock where you could catch a ferry to the island.

This photograph I enlarged and have it hanging over the fireplace in our home.  It shows the sandy point on Pinel from the hill above.  Every visit I take the same photograph and can see how much the point changes from year to year.  St. Martin is in the distance. 

The colors on Pinel are brilliant.  Karibuni is a restaurant on the beach that displays the bright colors found here.

The island has many inhabitants.  Most look like this!

The colors on Orient Beach are truly beautiful.  The blue sky, aqua water and colored beach bar known as Pedro's make the beach come alive.  Irma destroyed most beach bars, this one pictured here being one that was lost to the storm.

Many days Carol and I love to stay on Orient Beach until the sun drops behind the mountain in the distance.  This is what we get to see if we wait long enough.

Visits to the Sunset Beach Bar on the Dutch side of the island allowed these views while we have lunch.   The airport is directly in front of the plane.

In the French town of Grand Case we can sit in a restaurant and watch the sun set.

Many days on just about any part of the island you can find creatures to take photographs of for your scrapbook.  This is just one of many that I have photographed.  He is headed directly toward me.   

This photograph means so much more to Carol and me than to others, since it shows the roof of what at one time was Andy & Cheryl's Baywatch Beach Bar.  The dark blue and yellow plate which reads CAW-LWW was a gift from Carol and myself and was hung as we ate lunch one day years ago.  It too was lost to the hurricane.

In one of the many small stores along Front Street in Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side of the island, I found this young boy playing a laptop game.  He had no idea I was taking his photograph. 

Have you ever tried to take a photograph of a hummingbird?  Tough to find and hard to take photos of them since they move so fast.  At one of the villas were we stayed one year I was able to take this guy's photograph.

In downtown Philipsburg is a Catholic Church that is beautiful.  This fellow was opening the windows to allow the cool breeze to pass through the church.  Made for a neat photograph. 

In one of the many restaurants in Orient Village on the French side of the island I was able to take this photo of the barmaid preparing for the evening patrons.  The colors make the photograph come alive. 

Shortly after I took this photograph along the waterfront in Philiipsburg, this gentleman asked if I wanted to play a game of checkers with him.  No wanting to beat him, I declined!

On just about every tree on the island you will find a little guy like this.  He is showing me his colors on the photograph.

This was taken a few months ago on Orient Beach.  Someone was flying a kite above our umbrella.  The colors were amazing.

The "The Jersey Shore: One Last Look...Could It Really Happen?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Picked up a copy of the "Seven Mile Times" during a recent visit to Stone Harbor, New Jersey to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant, Marabella's Family Restaurant.  Leafing through the newspaper when I saw the headline on page 64 that read, "One Last Look - Behind the Walls of Villa Maria by-the-Sea."  

Nun's Beach located in front of Villa Marie on Seven Mile Beach.

It was five years ago that I wrote a story about the Nun's Beach Surfing Compe- tition and our visit to Villa Maria.  As I read the article it told the story of the coming  destruction of the 80-plus year old landmark in Stone Harbor.  This house on the waterfront is so beautiful and I image it must be heartbreaking for the nuns to even think about tearing down a piece of Stone Harbor history.  

Villa Marie by-the-Sea

This place has been a "home" for many nuns in the past, but after reading the fiscal hardships that face the order, I can see why they might have to come to the conclusion of demolition and building a much smaller building.  The tradition of the sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary spending the summer months at the shore began seven miles north of Villa Maria in 1913 in Sea Isle City.  

View of the Villa Marie in the 1930s.

The family of Sister Kathleen Rowan offered the use of their spacious summer home in Sea Isle to be used by the order.  The spiritual invigoration provided by the summer escape to the shore by the order made them realize they should look for a larger place along the shore.  

Another view of Villa Marie in 1955.

They eventually purchased the Hotel Carlton in Cape May Point and that was home for the sisters for almost 20 years.  But, storms caused problems with that site and in 1936 they began to look at Stone Harbor.  They found a site adjacent to 111th and 112th Streets for $2,000.  Can you imagine buying a property on the beach for that price today!  But, it was a time of instability and during the Great Depression.  

Picture Postcard of Villa Marie by the Sea in Stone Harbor, N.J.

Groundbreaking took place February 2, 1937 with the nearest home being on 96th Street.  Villa Marie, with a construc- tion price of $125,000, became the second largest structure in Cape May County, behind the Flanders Hotel in Ocean City, NJ.  

Groundbreaking for Villa Maria on February 2, 1937.

When ground was broken it impacted many people who obtained a much needed job.  

Garden with Stations-of-the-Cross.

During the winter of 1937 as many as 300 workers worked on the project.  It was a "godsend" to the community.  Initially the house had only small rooms and a chapel with offices, dining room, kitchen, laundry and assembly hall.  Hey, you're at the beach!  That's all that's needed!  Today there are 185 rooms.  It was considered a miracle that the construction took only 118 days.  The funding to maintain Villa Maria comes from each convent in the order.  The sisters were given the chore of maintaining the building.  

Lancaster Catholic High School art teacher
designed this T-Shirt for Nun's Beach competition.

They did every chore from painting to cooking to maintenance and cooking.  Villa Marie houses about 130 sisters who  typically attend ten-day retreats.  Six days are devoted to liturgy, meditation and prayer while the other four days are free to socialize with family and friends.  The final decision hasn't been finalized as far as destruction of the Villa Marie.  Perhaps they have plans to rebuild another retreat that is less costly to maintain, but will still allow them to enjoy the rejuvenation they experience while visiting the shore every year.  I'm sure many await their coming decision.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

The "The Jersey Shore: Something Sound Fishy To You, Too!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Sitting in our Ocean City, New Jersey rental on Pennlyn Ave. reading about a few of the other shore points on the Jersey coastline.  To the South of Ocean City is a small town known as Sea Isle City where Carol and I took our young children on vacation along with our babysitters, my parents.  We had a great time until the kids realized there were bigger rides on a huge boardwalk in Ocean City.  The following year we moved north to Ocean City.  To the south of Sea Isle City is another town known as Avalon.  Another town without a large boardwalk, but still an upscale town to visit as well as spend your vacation time for a week.

Construction of the Hotel Peermont. Click images to enlarge.

At one time there stood a very large hotel between 33rd and 34th Streets by the name of Hotel Peermont.  It was a wide, three-story Victorian structure on the beach that had a neat wrap-around porch to catch the cool ocean breezes in the summertime.  If you climbed the two tall widow's peaks you could see north to Sea Isle and perhaps Ocean City and south to Stone Harbor and Cape May.  

The Hotel Peermont was a grand building. At the time there were very few houses and even fewer hotels along the seashore.  Hotel Peermont was constructed in the summer of 1889 and drew many tourists from Philadelphia who wanted to escape the streets and buildings of the city.  

The dress of the hotel guests can be seen in this photo.

The fashion of the period that was displayed on the wrap-around porch was dress suits with derbies for the men and long dresses and fancy hats for the ladies.  Shorts and t-shirt would draw stares if you could even find something like that at a store.  

Map of Avalon.  Click
to enlarge it. 

And, bathing suits covered even more than casual clothes cover today.  The part of the island on which the hotel sat from Townsends Inlet to 25th Street was known as Avalon and from 25th to 37th Streets was called Peermont.  There was even a wharf at the end of 25th Street, a casino, train station and volunteer fire company.  The Peermont Hotel cost $12,453 to build on a tract that was 220 feet. by 360 feet.  The main entrance was on 34th Street with a pavilion and bath houses on the beach near 33rd Street.  Construction began on May 1 and by May 29th weather boarding applied.  It opened for business, fully furnished, by July 16th.  Colonel Henry Sawyer, a Civil War hero, was the manager of the hotel.   The nearby new railroad station made the Peermont Hotel a perfect place to stay.  Shortly a boardwalk was constructed which started in front of the hotel and extended south.  There was space for 100 guests at $2.50 a day with special rates by the week.  The place was lit by gas and eventually the porches were enclosed with glass and heated by steam to make it a first-class winter destination.  Beach erosion was a constant problem.  In September of the first year a storm washed out the railroad bridge and rail service was curtailed, cutting access to the hotel.  It also washed out the hotel's bath house and pavilion as well as the boardwalk.  The boardwalk was replaced in 1891 and a new railroad bridge was under construction.  But, financial problems plagued the hotel and on May 20, 1892 a sheriff's sale was held and the hotel was sold.  

The Hotel Avalon.

And, then in 1896 it burnt to the ground.  Sound fishy to you?  Well, there was another hotel in town known as The Hotel Avalon which was moved in 1893 from an area where there was constant beach erosion to the northwest side of First Ave.  It too was a remarkable piece of architecture for a young town on the Jersey shore.  The history of all the Jersey shore points is not only entertaining, but interesting.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  

The "The Jersey Shore: Saving The Life Of The Building That At One Time Saved Lives" Story

It was an ordinary day.  8:00 am and I'm walking the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey.  Grabbed a dozen and a half donuts at Ove's which is at 4th and Boardwalk and headed back to our rental which was located at 830 Pennlyn.  Walked a block and a half west and then headed north on Atlantic to see a bit of the north end of the city.  

Life Saving Station on corner of Atlantic and 4th Streets.

There on the corner of 4th and Atlantic was a rather large building that after further examina- tion, I found it was a life saving station.  How can that be?  A block and a half from the ocean?  A day later, after returning from a day on the beach, I walked back to the building once again to take a few photographs.  

View of the Life Saving Station when it was on the beach.

Saw the front door was open so I climbed the steps to the porch and walked in the open door.  There I was greeted by a white-bearded gentleman, about my age, who could have passed for Santa any day of the week.  John Loeper is the Ocean City Life Saving Station #30, as well as U.S. Coast Guard Station #126, historian I found out rather quickly.  

Historian John Loeper tell me the history of the building.

He answered question after question with answers that told the life of the building in which we were standing.  The construc- tion of the Ocean City Life Station began on September 17th, 1885.  It was a 1882-type lifeguard station of Carpenter Gothic style and one of 25 stations that were designed by architect James Parkinson.  

John told me that the station was a private residence at one time.

The following year on May 28th, the crew moved in to begin their job of keeping bathers and boaters safe.  The one-and-a-half story building was built entirely of wood that sat on 4 ft. high pilings, on a foundation of logs, concrete and brick.  The original walls were weatherboard and singles.  A one-story "lookout" tower sat atop the gable dormer roof made of asphalt shingles.  

This map show where the station was when
it was first built (red dot in center of the
photo).  More sand accrued around it, thus
it moved inland from the original location.

A brick chimney was used to heat the building.  Years later the wooden pilings were replaced with concrete.  Twenty years after construction  a porch was added on the west, south and a portion of the east sides.  The station was originally staffed by the U.S. Life-Saving Service, but in 1915 the newly created U.S. Coast Guard succeeded in taking over the station which now was known as Station #126.  Not long after sidewalks were added on the west and south sides.  A perimeter post and rail fence was placed around the building by 1931.  At the time the building sat next to the beach, but over time the beach accrued sand and moved the coastline eastward 400 meters or 1/4 mile.  One of my first questions was answered when I asked John why the building isn't on the beach.  In 1936 the building was closed due to its distance from the beach in the middle of new homes.  

The lifeboat is being returned to the Life-Saving Station.

The building was reopened during WWII to store equipment and personnel who patrolled the beach for German subs and spies.  After the war ended it was once again shut down.  During the time it was open, 62 men served at the station.  Then in 1945 the Coast Guard sold the building to a private individual who made it into a single-family home.  

This shows the station when it was a private residence.

Trees were added and the "lookout" tower was removed.  Then in 1999 the property was sold to a builder who had plans to demolish it and build three duplexes on the site.  The city wouldn't allow the destruction of the building and the builder attempted to sell the property.  In 2005 the builder offered the building and property to Ocean City for $3 million, but it wasn't approved by the Ocean City residents.  

This view shows the south and east sides of the station.

So, the builder donated the property to the city.  But, the state ruled the city had to pay fair market value of slightly over $1 million.  A group known as "Saving Our Station" was formed and eventually got the state to allow them to buy the property and building for $887,500.  In March 2010 the Ocean City Council approved the sale.  

This photograph tell the story of the current building.
Click on images to enlarge them.

A group known as U.S. Life Saving Station 30 was formed to seek grants to support building repairs.  On April 8, 2013, Ocean City Life-Saving Station 30 was listed on the state historic registry and in June was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  As I stand in the building today with John, the place looks great.  He ushered me from room to room, showing me item after item that has been preserved and will be a part of the new "museum".  I should tell you that I have added that word, but I'm sure it will become a living museum to show all visitors to Ocean City the history of the original Life-Saving Station.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - photos that follow I took during my visit with John.  I hope I have given a suitable description of what I thought I heard during my visit.

This was an award given to lifeguards who performed with distinction for the Life-Saving Station.

Looking into the office of the station.  Notice the wooden phone on the wall.

An Underwood manual typewriter sits on the dest of the Captain of the station.

While on duty the lifeguards could listen to music on this old music box.

One of the surfboats inside the building.

This metal boat is a lifecar, which was used to bring people ashore from ships wrecked or stranded.   The first step in setting up the rescue equipment was to fire a light line across the vessel from a Manby mortar on shore.  When everything was in place, the life car was pulled through the surf from shore to the vessel and back.  When the water was rough, the ride must have been very uncomfortable.  The lifecar was built in 1848 and is identical to one used to rescue 201 passengers from the ship Ayreshire on the New Jersey coast in 1850.  At the time, rescues were performed by volunteer crews.  

Another view of a surfboat that has been restored.

Click on image to read the story of the oarlock.

The rear or east side can be seen better in this photo.  The garage doors house the surfboat, or life boats, inside them.  Renovations to the building have made it look like it did when it was first opened.

  

The "You Can Call Me Rev. Woods" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Playing an online game when my wife, who was reading the morning newspaper, told me the bad news.  She said, "Look at this...you will no longer be able to marry couples in the state of Tennessee!"  I replied, "Jeez, that's one more state that I can't use my online diploma to marry a couple.  I can't marry couples any longer in Tennessee as well as Virginia and in some parts of my home state of Pennsylvania."  In Lancaster County, where I call home, I may marry couples, but the Lancaster County Register of Wills advises the couple to consult with an attorney to make certain the marriage is legal under state law.  It was back in 2010 that I finished my requirements to become an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church Monastery which has been issuing online ordination credentials since 1962.  

A sample of the certificate you receive.

About 3,000 to 5,000 people are ordained every month.  It takes about 24 hours for the church to process an ordination request and it's free!  If you care to have an actual certificate, that will cost you a few dollars.  I have my paperwork telling that I am an ordained minister and should  be called Reverend Woods.  Seems that a fellow by the name of Gabriel (isn't that a churchy name?), who lives in Tennessee, got the news that he can't marry his two male friends, since a new law just passed on May 21 that prevents online ministers from solemnizing weddings starting July 1.  Now Gabriel and two other ministers ordained online by the Universal Life Church Monastery have filed a lawsuit in federal court that alleges the new legislative action violates their rights of expression and religion.  Then a judge in Tennessee blocked the law and ordered a trial to be held.  

The article telling the news about Tennessee banning
online marriages in their state.

A date in November or December will tell the fate of the law.  Online ministers often marry gay couples or bilingual weddings or weddings that are interfaith, not religious or not affiliated with traditional churches.  Gabriel, who has performed four gay weddings, calls the new law a backdoor attack on the LGBT community, impeding his ability to legally marry.  Tennessee argues that an ordination that takes little more than a "click of a mouse" is not sufficient to authorize a person to solemnize marriages.  The state also says it is impossible to determine online whether a person had the "care of souls" as their law now states.  About one in seven weddings are performed by a friend of the couple says the president of the non-denominational Universal Life Church.  The online church, as of 2010, when I posted a story about my ordination, has ordained 18 million people.  My certificate tells me that I can perform weddings, baptisms, give communion, preach sermons and even count the money in the offering plate.  Can I claim a tax break for being a minister?  Why did I decide to be an online minister?  Just because I could do it!  I have never performed any type of service and really don't want to.  Hey, it was free and it made for a good story.  But, now the government is getting involved and who knows what will happen.  I'm sure nothing good will come from all of this. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.