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FAIR HAVEN: CLUB LANDS HISTORIC LISTINGS

fair haven shrewsbury sailing yacht 080519The Shrewsbury River Yacht Club began in a one-story houseboat acquired by a group of vacationing actors in 1910. Below, an undated photo from the early days of the Players Boat Club. (Photo above by John T. Ward; below, courtesy of SRYC. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Shrewsbury River Yacht Club undated The bawdy entertainment culture that spawned it is long gone. So is the Red Bank houseboat that served as its first home. Even the name of the river on which it sits has changed.

But the Shrewsbury River Yacht Club, founded by a bunch of vaudevillians vacationing in Fair Haven more than a century ago, lives on. And now, the successor to the club’s original Navesink River gathering spot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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CENTURY-OLD EDISON FOOTAGE TO BE SHOWN

rsz_img_69622Thomas Alva Edison‘s links to New Jersey  are well-documented. But it’s unlikely that many Garden Staters know about his interest in ice boating on what’s now called the Navesink River.

Edison’s American Vitascope Co. shot footage of ice boaters on what was then called the North Shrewsbury River between 1901 and 1904, according to historical accounts.

Your chance to learn all about it and see Edison’s actual footage is next week.

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