Jersey Shore Magazine

j e r s e y s h o r e • F A L L / H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 5 13 continued on page 14 lifted. At that moment, the Point Pleasant Canal was born. In the mid-1990s, Arcadia Publish- ing approached Woolley, and other New Jersey town historians, about the idea of preserving and present- ing local history through books. He had already thought about writing a book, but Arcadia's idea of combin- ing text with historical photographs immediately appealed to him. Images of America: Point Pleasant, Volume I was one of the first books published in Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series, which now has over seven thousand titles. "It was such a thrill when it came out in 1995," said Woolley, who used his own collection of historical photographs, along with images from other sourc- es, and wrote every caption for the images. As soon as Volume I hit the shelves, Arcadia Publishing wanted a second volume, which was published in 1997, and a third, which was pub- lished in 1999. He confessed, "I like the third volume the best. It's my favorite." In 2009, Arcadia published his book titled Postcard History Series: Point Pleasant. In this book, Woolley was able to showcase many of the vintage postcards in his collection and tell the history behind them; however, when he saw the final copy, he was a bit disappointed in the image quality. "The quality of the postcards was not what I thought it would be. They looked blurry, and I wasn't happy about that, but that was out of my hands," he explained. Additionally, Woolley was one of several area authors who contributed to Manasquan Inlet - 75th Anniversary 1931-2006, the history booklet com- memorating the construction of the Manasquan Inlet. He penned the sections about the history of the Inlet and Point Pleasant Beach. Times have certainly changed, and while Woolley misses many things that are long gone, there is one thing he misses the most. "The old board- walk, with Jenkinson's Pavilion and Jenkinson's Pool, had more charac- ter than today's boardwalk. Today's boardwalk is nice, but it doesn't have the charm it used to have," he explained. In Woolley's eyes, the area's trans- formation as a result of Superstorm Sandy is the biggest change he's ever seen. He said, "I've never seen so many homes torn down or raised. The landscape is continually chang- ing every day, and those changes just jump out at you." Fortunately, his parents' home and his home were both spared from major damage. What keeps him busy in his free time? In addition to enjoying the company of his family, he continues to organize and add to the historic documents in his impressive collec- tion. In addition to his postcards, he has over sixty, three-inch binders full of neatly cataloged information, original photographs, negatives, slides, historic maps, guidebooks, magazine/newspaper articles, and more. "When I retire, I will certainly have enough to do," he quipped. Ten years ago, Woolley had the opportunity to speak to the ele- mentary students at Point Pleasant Beach's Antrim School about the history of the area, similar to how William Hess spoke to his class when he was a high school student. What has concerned him over the past few years is the shift in education, which replaces lessons about local history with other content. "I think that they [the students] need to have someone like me come in every year, not just once in ten years, so they know about the interesting and rich history of the Point Pleasant area. In today's soci- ety, there's a different focus. Learning about local history is not something with instant gratification. I wonder if students even know about postcards anymore. I wonder who will continue the legacy?" he contemplated. Jerry Woolley has certainly done his part to educate about and pre- serve the rich history of Point Pleasant Boro and Point Pleasant Beach. And in case you were won- dering, the rocks on both sides of the Manasquan Inlet came from Manhattan—when the New York City subways were dug out in 1930. And a department store called "Abromowitz's" was once located on the corner of Arnold and Bay, where the Green Planet Coffee Company is today. —Jill Ocone Books by Jerry Woolley: Images of America: Point Pleasant, Volume I (Arcadia Publishing, 1995) Images of America: Point Pleasant, Volume II (Arcadia Publishing, 1997) Images of America: Point Pleasant, Volume III (Arcadia Publishing, 1999) Manasquan Inlet - 75th Anniversary 1931- 2006 (contributor); (commemorative booklet, 2006) Scenes of America: Point Pleasant (Arcadia Publishing, 2007) Postcard History Series: Point Pleasant (Arcadia Publishing, 2009) Books by William M. E. Hess: On History's Trail, Volumes 1-4 (Barnegat Products, V. 1: 1973; Vs. 2-4: 1976) "Images of America: Point Pleasant, Volume III" (Arcadia Publishing, 1999) by Jerry Woolley.

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