Saturday, April 19th, 2008
The scene is bay side, at the end of Osborne Avenue in Holgate, Long Beach Island. The dock, such as it is, used to be a part of Osborne's Marina. Osborne's Marina was built in a square shape.
Immediately adjacent to Osborne's Marina was another marina, called Graham's, which was rectangular in shape, but stuck out into the bay exactly the same distance. The two marinas were joined along the dock edge that you see in the picture (Graham's was to the right).
In 1960's, when this was the site of two marinas, my Dad kept his boat at the far end of this dock, in the outer corner - in Graham's Marina, the marina that isn't there anymore. My grandfather, father and mother all knew Mr Graham well, and while I know I saw the man many times, I cannot, even vaguely, mentally picture him.
I have two vivid memories of this place though - one of the old fellow named Charlie that used to catch bait, minnows and clams and such, for the fishermen to use. He may not have been all that old, but to me, being 7 or 8 years old at the time, he sure seemed to be...anyway, I remember one hot and sunny summer day, while walking out to my dad's boat, Charlie was sitting in the shade at the bait shack, chewing away with gusto, spitting the juice out into the water - but it wasn't tobacco, it was a big ol' raw clam and he offered me some.
The other memory was of a Mr. Otellini. He and my Dad were mechanical engineers that worked together and that is where they met. He had a farm and his Angus beef were renown. He also owned a house in Beach Haven which my dad rented for the summers. He stayed in the house next door so he was always around for a chat and he enjoyed fishing with his sons (he had 7 or 8 children).
He kept his boat in Osborne's Marina and my memory is of the fishing "competition" between his boat and my dad's. Back in the day, big flounder (3-5 pounders) were prized, but you settled for Blowfish (pufferfish) if that is what you got. I remember us (the Otellini boys and my brothers and I, but mostly the dads) cleaning fish for hours, even into the darkness - still trying to prove we caught the biggest and the mostest, long after we were done fishing.
Today, I don't know what has become of Mr. Graham, Charlie, or any of the Otellini's. The dock too, it seems, will soon be nothing but fading memory.
5 comments:
What wonderful memories. So sad to see the dock empty like that.
Yes, those kinds of memories are great. It's too bad the docks are no longer there like they once were. I'm sure others could have had the same memories to share with friends or family one day if they were.
One question...the date below the pic is Saturday's date. I thought you were home-bound with that foot of yours. How did you get that pic on Saturday?
Alice Kay, I was off my foot - I rode down to the beach with my Dad and we just hung out and had lunch down there. :) Both he and I got cabin fever at the same moment and he called me to ask if I wanted to go just as I was looking for my phone to call him.
Dontcha just love when that happens? You get thinking of someone and just as you think to reach for the phone, they call ya.
That's really great, Iggy. I'm glad you had that time with your dad. :)
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