6) The Towns Around Asbury

Wanamassa, Page 2

Sunset Avenue is the other major road through Wanamassa. If you read my Asbury Park section, you will know that Sunset Avenue begins at the beach in Asbury, passes Sunset Lake, crosses the RR tracks, passes Asbury Park High School and then crosses the "Wanamassa Bridge" or "Sunset Avenue Bridge" "or "Bridge Street Bridge" (see Image 2.6, preceeding page) right near Sunset Landing. (It's official name is the George W. Rosenstiel Bridge," I understand). In the heart of Wanamassa, it crosses Wickapecko Drive at the corner firehouse and continues on to Highway 35, which is less than a mile away.

If you have another look at the Deal lake Reference Image you will see the tip of Wanamassa jutting out into Deal Lake. This is Wanamassa Point.

Image 1.6.2. Wanamassa Point. The Sunset Avenue Bridge ("Wanamassa Bridge" is just outside the photo at left. Interlaken is right.) The photo was taken from Asbury Park, near the High School.

Early in the history of this area, the Hulick Farm occupied Wanamassa Point. In the late 1890s, the new owners retained the name "farm" for an enterprise quite different from growing vegetables and milking cows. Husband-and-wife vaudeville team Charlie Ross and Mabel Fenton turned the old homestead into a nightclub called "Ross-Fenton Farm." Older folks still remember it as a place that featured big-name entertainment and (during the 1920s) illegal booze. Those who were too young to enter recall being outside in a canoe listening to music waft across the moonlit water.

Image 2.6.2. The Ross-Fenton Farm. Click HERE to see a picture of Charlie Ross and another image of "the Farm."

A much-told story about Ross-Fenton Farm concerns the actress Helen Morgan, who was scheduled to appear at the Farm at midnight. After one of her Broadway performances, she hopped on a seaplane and headed for Wanamassa. Residents were supplied with torches, and they lined both banks of the lake branch to light the watery "runway" of Miss Morgan's plane.

Wanamassa is, of course, an Indian name. To find out a few things about the Indian origins of Wanamassa and the area in general, please click on Next Page to go to West Allenhurst and Ocean Township.

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