Harvey Cedars Hotel
Encyclopedia
Long Beach Island
Long Beach Island is a barrier island and summer colony along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States...
, NJ
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in the town of Harvey Cedars (although at the time it was built, it was known as High Point). It was begun in the 1830s as a fishing and hunting hotel on the then, scarcely-inhabited Long Beach Island.
Originally a small hotel, it was built expanded in the 1870s and 1880s. A large renovation, completed in 1903, led to the 3-storey structure which was kept rather similar until the late 1990s when sections of it were gutted and rebuilt, completely out of style with the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
architecture.
Camp Whelen
Camp Whelen, a Christian summer camp for young girls, was founded in the early 1920s after the former Harvey Cedars Hotel was purchased by the Philadelphia YWCA....
, a Christian summer camp for young girls.
Camp Whelen
Camp Whelen
Camp Whelen, a Christian summer camp for young girls, was founded in the early 1920s after the former Harvey Cedars Hotel was purchased by the Philadelphia YWCA....
survived until the Depression. After shutting down due to declining attendance, the hotel was abandoned for about 10 years.
At this time Presbyterian minister Jack Murray purchased the hotel, and converted it into Harvey Cedars Presbyterian Bible Conference. After several years of directing the conference, Jack left the operations to Al Oldham. The name was changed to Harvey Cedars Bible Conference
Harvey Cedars Bible Conference
Harvey Cedars Bible Conference is a building complex of the Presbyterian denomination, in Harvey Cedars, New Jersey, including a hotel, a dock and sport facilities.-History:...
, and was run by Al until the mid-90's when the director position was passed on to his son, Jon Oldham.
Years of neglect to the physical property led to decisions to renovate in the '90's up to the present time.
the renovations kept it up to date to keep it safe for current residents of the establishment.
while some things in history cannot always be preserved, oldham and son have done their best to keep it as accurate to
period as humanly possible.
this structure still remains to this day very recognizable in stature and design as it were in previous history dating back to the early 19th century. and is thoroughly enjoyed by all who visit every summer.