A Blast From The Past: President Grant at Ocean Grove

Welcome to "The Book Of Historical Secrets." In this post I am doing another "A Blast From The Past" on the topic of President Ulysses S. Grant's visits to Ocean Grove. It was my intention to do a research based post, as in the past, but my latest project is taking a little longer then anticipated. This is an excerpt from a very interesting book detailing the history of Ocean Grove from 1869 to 1919. I hope that you enjoy it.

Ulysses S. Grant the 18th President of the United States

"The fact that the founding of Ocean Grove and the inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant as President of the United States took place in the same year is not in itself a sufficiently remarkable coincidence to receive much emphasis, even from a sentimental point of view. But the accompanying fact that the infant resort was located so near to the President's summer home at Long Branch, and that its first years and period of most phenomenal growth coincided with his two administrations, is somewhat more significant. For this no doubt had much to do with the friendly interest which Grant always manifested toward the place.

During those years it was no infrequent thing to see him at Ocean Grove. Gray-haired men and women who were children here in the seventies remember quite distinctly his occasional visits to these grounds and the keen thrills of excitement that ran through young, hero-worshiping hearts on the days when the news spread—as such news would—that Grant was here. Some of these visits were by invitation and in a sense official. One such was on Independence Day in 1875. The day was really the fifth of July, the "glorious fourth" having fallen that year on a Sunday. But the celebration was on the largest scale which Ocean Grove had up to that time attempted. A large and beautiful new flag was raised with appropriate ceremonies at the foot of Ocean Pathway. The Declaration of Independence was read by Joseph H. Thornley, Esq., of Philadelphia, and a patriotic oration was delivered by the president of the Association, Dr. E. H. Stokes. An invitation to be present on this occasion had been extended to President Grant, who accepted graciously, took an unassuming part in the exercises, and afterward dined with the officers

Pitman House 

of the Association at the Pitman House. Those who were present related with pleasure how, after the dinner, Mrs. Grant, who also was of the company, joined with others in the singing of patriotic and religious songs; and many still remember the hour that followed; when the President was conducted to the Auditorium, where a great crowd of people had gathered and where a kind of informal reception was held, the honored guest giving a generous and willing interval to handshaking. This privilege was especially sought and enjoyed by the many children present, and none entered more heartily into the spirit of the occasion than President Grant himself.

Again, on what was then called Anniversary Day, now known as Founders' Day, Grant was invited

The Second Auditorium

to be present at the commemorative exercises. This also was a notable occasion. A large congregation gathered at the Auditorium. The "stand" had been handsomely decorated with flags and flowers, most of the members of the Association occupying places upon it. Special music was prepared and other attractive features were introduced into the program. It was generally known that the President was expected, and there was a sense of disappointment when, at the time for the service to begin, the seat of honor prepared for him on the right of Dr. Stokes was seen to be still vacant, the chair on the left being occupied by Bishop Scott. But the disappointment was only for a little while. The distinguished guest had been unexpectedly and unavoidably delayed; but, rather than fail to keep his engagement, he arrived after the beginning of the exercises and during Dr. Stokes's Historical Address, which was interrupted long enough for the enthusiastic and affectionate welcome which Ocean Grove always had ready for the nation's hero.

Other visits were made quietly and without any of the pomp and circumstance attached to high position. Such, indeed, were always repugnant to the great and simple nature of the man. The matchless soldier and the nation's chief was also a dutiful son and brother, and during the time that his mother and sister occupied a cottage near Wesley Lake he came at frequent intervals to visit them. These trips from Long Branch were made by carriage, and the President's favorite pair of horses came in time to be as quickly recognized as the man himself. It is not surprising, perhaps, that Main Avenue, so wide and straight and smooth, offered to a genuine horse- lover almost irresistible temptation to speeding; but the big and commanding chief of police, who still holds the same position at Ocean Grove, testifies that on certain occasions when it became necessary for him to lift his hand as a warning signal the President always and instantly complied, reining in his spirited bays to a decorous trot.

But of all the visits of Grant to Ocean Grove, there was one which left a peculiarly deep impression. It was on a Sunday in the height of the season. Dr. John P. Newman, afterward Bishop Newman, had been invited to preach at the morning service in the Auditorium. There were no Sunday trains at that time. In fact, the writer is not absolutely sure whether the railroad had as yet been extended to Ocean Grove or not, though he believes it had. Dr. Newman was Grants pastor in Washington and his intimate friend. It happened also that at the time of his Ocean Grove engagement he was the President's guest in the Long Branch cottage. What more natural, then, than that the President should offer to convey the preacher in person in his private carriage to Ocean Grove and the Auditorium on that Sunday morning? This was the arrangement made and communicated to Dr. Stokes.

But with it arose an unanticipated source of embarrassment. According to the by-laws, no vehicle could be admitted to Ocean Grove on Sunday. The small gates were open for foot-passengers, but from midnight Saturday until the same hour on Sunday the large gates were kept tightly closed. What was to be done? Hundreds of visitors came every Sunday, in all kinds of conveyances, from the surrounding country; but they all alighted unquestioningly outside the in closure and walked in. This involved no little exertion and sacrifice of comfort on a hot summer's day; for there were no pavements or concrete sidewalks in Ocean Grove then, and trudging through the soft sand and flying dust could scarcely have been agreeable. But law was law, in those early days, and was cheerfully respected.

Main Avenue Gates

Here, however, was an unforeseen situation. The President of the United States was about to honor the place with his presence. Could the law be set aside? On the other hand, could even seeming discourtesy be shown the President by asking him to get out of his carriage and walk into Ocean Grove like any common man?

Only the other day a lady who was a girl in her teens at the time, recalling the incident, said that she remembered hearing Dr. Stokes confess in a small circle of intimates how great disquietude the dilemma had given him, even robbing him of his sleep at night. But, with the simple directness of the large-natured man and true gentleman, the President of the Camp Meeting Association met the emergency. Candidly and courteously he wrote the President of the United States, setting the case before him. And Grant rose to the occasion with a fineness and nobility that will make his memory forever revered in Ocean Grove. "Who should regard and uphold the law, if not the chief magistrate of the nation?" he replied. "Enforce your rules. When I come to Ocean Grove on Sunday, I will walk in like any other law abiding citizen." And this he did.

After the close of his administration Grant still came sometimes to Ocean Grove. On Sunday, August 13, 1882, he was present at the anniversary service of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society. The anniversary sermon was preached by Chaplain (afterward Bishop) McCabe, and after the sermon Grant's venerable mother was made a life-manager of the society by the payment of $100, while the ex-President himself became an honorary life-member by the payment of $20.

Quiet, grave, unassuming, and undemonstrative, Grant came and went, maintaining to the very end of his life his friendly relation to this place. His last public appearance, indeed, was made in Ocean Grove, and his last public words were spoken upon the Auditorium platform. But this occasion was of too impressive a nature to be added to these reminiscences, and of it another will have the privilege of writing."

-THE STORY OF OCEAN GROVE 1869 1919 By Morris S. Daniels

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