Chapters
The saga, in installments.
15 chapters, in the order they happened. Read them in any order that pulls you.
The chapters
Chapter 0 · Prologue · Deep time on the ridge and the spit
The Land Itself
A stranded sea floor, and a new one being built beside it.
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Chapter 1 · Before record · The Navesink band of the Lenape
The Navesink
The land had names before it had a deed.
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Chapter 2 · 1524–1609 · Europe arrives at the front door
First Sails
The golden shore and the fresh grave, in the same week.
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Chapter 3 · 1651–1764 · The century between the deed and the lantern
Purchase and Settlement
What the deeds said was sold, and what was in practice kept.
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Chapter 4 · 1764–1783 · New York built it. The British held it. New Jersey watched.
The Light and the War
The oldest operating lighthouse in America, and the town of refugees that grew at its feet.
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Chapter 5 · 1828–1949 · America's optics-and-signals lab
The Twin Lights Century
Five American firsts, one hill, one hundred and twenty-one years.
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Chapter 6 · 1830–1900 · Writers, painters, steamboats, and the resort the famous built
The Painted Shore
One of the most beautiful combinations of land and water in America.
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Chapter 7 · 1839–1915 · The graveyard coast, and the service built on it
Wrecks and Rescue
A congressman told Congress that 158 ships had been lost. Congress believed him.
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Chapter 8 · 1874–1974 · A century of coastal defense
Guns on the Hook
The Army arrives, stays for a hundred years, and leaves the concrete behind.
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Chapter 9 · 1881–1963 · A resort, and the family who ran it
Highland Beach
The sea never beat this family. New Jersey did.
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Chapter 10 · 1900–1920 · Incorporation, clam boats, and the working waterfront
A Town of Its Own
A working man's town at the foot of the resort hills.
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Chapter 11 · 1920–1933 · Prohibition and the rum fleet
Rum Row
The bootleg capital of the East — and the town that built the boats.
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Chapter 12 · 1944–2012 · Storms, floods, and the price of living at sea level
The Sea Takes Back
The town pays tribute on the water's schedule.
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Chapter 13 · 1945–2000 · The fleet, the fare, and the town that ran on both
Party Boats and Postwar
For half a century the town sold the same thing every morning before dawn. Not fish. A seat.
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Chapter 14 · 1962–present · From seized shore to shared shore
The Public Coast
The same eminent domain that ended Highland Beach created one of the most democratic coastlines in America.
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