Spring Lake, Revisited

Foreword

by George C. Valente

The Enjoyment Of This Book

It is not often that looking at old photographs can cause a “transporting experience”—the feeling that what you are looking at, although long gone, exists today or that you have been momentarily transported back in time.

This book is a vehicle for this type of experience, a visual time machine that will take you back to Victorian Spring Lake, one of the Jersey Shore's most enchanting towns and eras. A close viewing of these images will transport you to a time of decorum and manners, grand hotels and magnificent mansions, and parasol strolls along the boardwalk.

Presented in this book is The Schreck Collection of postcards and photographs, collected by the late William Schreck (the one-time owner of The Sandpiper Hotel and The Letchworth Hotel). These images feature Spring Lake during the turn-of-the-century and into the early twentieth century, at the time of the Victorian era and near its end. Most of these beautiful, haunting scenes are now gone forever. This book is meant to be a window into the past, a vision now preserved for future generations.

Author Patrick Smith, grandson of William and Rosemary Schreck, presents his grandfather's collection with informative descriptions of each image that bring Spring Lake's past to life while revealing many details that are telling of the era. Smith's critical study of the photographs dissects the images as though they were paintings, pointing out all of the details and real life happenings of one hundred years ago that reveal the humanity of the time. Spring Lake, Revisited is often written in a way that places you in the scene, and Smith's insightful observations will make you feel as though you are really there.

Throughout this book, the subjects are often presented in multiple images from different angles and distances as well as different time periods. The effect not only shows off more detail of the subject and how it changed over time, but also enhances the transporting experience. This enjoyment of the book can be achieved by looking closely at the photographs and examining their details. For example, during its early years, The New Monmouth Hotel had two octagonal turrets with round look-throughs on its roof. Imagine the view and feeling one would have had standing inside and looking out over all of Spring Lake and the Atlantic Ocean. These turrets disappeared for unknown reasons during the early years of the hotel and thus mark those years. You will see The Monmouth with and without its turrets, and by noticing this detail, you will not only fill your imagination but date what you're seeing. There are hundreds of details like this in this book; once noticed, you will be taken back in time.

For those who know the town, your enjoyment of this book will also be found by “figuring it all out.” You will recognize a location or street corner and see things that no longer exist. Today, when I stand on the corner of First and Sussex Avenues looking southeast, the ghost of the Urie Cottages, with their witch's hat roofs, appear briefly before me. Many of these cottages stood on this spot for more than one hundred years.

Much of Spring Lake's past, however, still exists today, like The Essex and Sussex Hotel and The Sandpiper Inn. This book will give you insight into their histories and fates. A number of images in this book show the huge Monmouth Hotel with The Sandpiper dwarfed by its side. It is ironic to think that The Sandpiper survived its history and The Monmouth did not and that it is from The Sandpiper that this collection originated.

The images presented in this book are exclusively from The Schreck Collection of postcards and photographs and therefore do not show many of the photographs of historical landmarks and scenes of Victorian Spring Lake that are known to exist. Other scenes can be viewed in books noted in the bibliography as well as at The Spring Lake Historical Society.

About The Digital Enhancements, Colorization Process, Renderings, And Dates

Over three years in the making, each of Spring Lake, Revisited's images have been digitally enhanced to reveal the ultimate view into Spring Lake's glorious past. For most of the postcards and photographs, our goal was to restore them to the original photograph (or photo/rendering) from which they were derived. This included removal of promotional type, sharpening of focus, and bringing out colors that may have faded over time. A few of the postcards are presented intact, for the purpose of reading the original promotional type and hand-written notes. The backs of the postcards (on the inside covers and endpapers) are also presented intact, just as they were written.

The original colors of the images were created as part of a colorization process; in addition, people, buildings, and scenery were often hand-painted onto the photos. The colorization process began with a black and white photograph of the scene. Then, the photos were hand-painted making them “color.” Some of the earlier postcards were individually hand-painted, while the later cards were hand-painted and then printed using rotary drum negative imprinters, a type of printing press. The earliest postcards were printed in Germany and are generally of a higher quality; the later cards were printed in New York.

Many of the individually hand-painted cards are true works of art. These cards were painted by women in an assembly line fashion, with one person being responsible for one color. Production of these cards was eventually discontinued because the women used to wet their brushes with their lips to sharpen them to paint the fine details of the small cards. The lead in the paint caused illnesses and production was stopped.

Some of the later cards that were printed on presses show their color out of registration (not accurately placed on the subject and bleeding into areas it shouldn't). Higher costs after World War II and inexperienced labor caused poorer production quality.

The colorization was meant to be accurate but often was not. As a result, it can be difficult to determine whether a color shown is accurate or not; thus we can see a red roof but wonder, was it really red? If multiple images from different periods show it as red, then more than likely, it was. Also, many of the images have elements (people, buildings, and scenery) painted and drawn in, often making the photograph just as much a rendering as a photo and, in some cases, more of a rendering. Often in the end, the photographs became just as much an artist's interpretation as an actual photo. The elements were added for a variety of reasons. Some had to do with promotional purposes (like showing the north wing of The Essex and Sussex years before it was built); others were done simply to enhance a scene or make it more true to life at the time.

Regarding “postmark” and “circa” dates shown in this book: “postmarked” dates are derived from actual postmarks printed on the card; although this shows when a card was mailed, the photograph itself may be much older. (There are postcards in this collection that show images as they appeared more than twenty years before their postmarks.) “Circa” dates are derived from landmarks in the scene and the historical record as well as postmarks.

About The Author

Patrick Hayes Smith, the son of Timothy Smith and Ann Schreck (now Ann Riordan), was born October 1, 1965 in Newark, New Jersey, the second of eight children and one of twenty-three grandchildren born to the six children of William and Rosemary Schreck.

His first years were spent in Merchantville, New Jersey, before his family moved to southwest Philadelphia where he lived until third grade. They moved to the Main Line area of Pennsylvania where Pat attended high school at La Salle College Preparatory School. He went on to college at West Chester State University in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he attended for one year. In 1984, he moved to the Jersey Shore to find himself and start a new life. He worked for his grandparents at The Sandpiper Hotel where he bussed tables and washed dishes. At this time, Pat had no particular interest in the history of Spring Lake. The events that led to his current passion for the town are described in his introduction to this book.

During this time, Pat also taught tennis. (He began playing during his freshman year in high school and continued through his first year of college.) When he was twenty-one, he left The Sandpiper and went on to pursue teaching tennis full time. Today, Pat is a tennis professional and has taught at places such as The Spring Lake Bath And Tennis Club, The Bay Head Yacht Club, and The Manasquan River Yacht Club. He currently teaches at The Mantoloking Yacht Club. Recently, Pat received a degree in network administration from Brick Computer Science Institute.

Pat met his wife Colleen in 1992, and they were married in 1994. They have two children, Kaitlyn and Megan, and live in Point Pleasant, New Jersey.

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Special thanks to Patrick and Colleen Smith, Judy Cardella, Karen France, and my wife, Jane. My work on this book is dedicated to our daughter, Anna Jane, who was born during its creation.