If you were asked to think of a site related to music history in NJ, you might think of the Stone Pony in Asbury Park – and that would be a good choice! The Pony opened in 1974 and, while perhaps most famously associated with rocker Bruce Springsteen, it has been host to countless acts, both locally and internationally celebrated. But there are so many other sites tied to music history throughout the Garden State – and music just might be one of the most accessible prisms through which to explore our shared heritage. Towards that end, the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University is currently surveying the creation of a statewide music heritage trail. If you’re interested in collaborating, reach out to curator Melissa Ziobro, mziobro@monmouth.edu. In the meantime, let’s look at a few little know music history sites - both privately owned and open to the public, reaching across the state and spanning centuries and genres.
“The Purple Building”
Highlands, Monmouth County
Privately Owned
This unique purple building at 78 Bay Ave. in Highlands has been occupied for over 50 years by local legend and true renaissance man Carl “Tinker” West. The over 100-year-old structure has a fascinating history that includes time spent as a theater, an automotive repair shop, a surfboard factory, a recording studio for local artists – to include a young Bruce Springsteen. Read more here. Though it is in a redevelopment zone, Highlands has said they have no plans to condemn or otherwise forcibly redevelop the site.
Albert Music Hall
Waretown, Ocean County
Plan your visit here.
Albert Music Hall is a thriving, 350-seat concert venue run by the Pinelands Cultural & Historical Preservation Society. An outpost of bluegrass, folk, and country music in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, it traces its roots back to the 1950s, when brothers Joe and George Albert started hosting informal musical gatherings at their hunting cabin, known in the area as the “Homeplace.” What started as locals playing old-time and country music at a rustic cabin deep in the woods has evolved into a more formal venue that features musicians from around New Jersey and beyond. As Christine Lutz writes, “Albert Music Hall has persisted as an island of an older, more rural, and isolated Pines in an industrialized, urbanized state.” Read more here.
Lowell Mason’s Gravesite, Rosedale Cemetery
Orange/Montclair, Essex County
Plan your visit here.
Famed 19th-century composer Lowell Mason’s body of work includes the tunes for hymns “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” and “My Faith Looks Up to Thee.” Though he has been called ‘the father of American church music,” perhaps even more importantly, Mason was early advocate of including music education in public schools in the United States. To this day, sadly, many districts are still fighting to defend the arts’ inclusion in the curriculum. See more about Mason’s life and work here.
Rosedale is a non-profit, non-sectarian, 125 acres cemetery founded in 1840. See more about its history here.
The Doo Wop Experience and Neon Sign Garden
Wildwood, Cape May County
Plan your visit here.
Did you know that The Wildwoods are called the Doo Wop capital of the world? You can learn all about it at the Doo Wop Experience and Neon Sign Garden at 4500 Ocean Ave. in Wildwood. The museum is housed in a repurposed 1960 restaurant previously known as the Surfside. It bills itself as “a celebration of architecture, design, music, pop culture and everything else that made Wildwood famous in its heyday of the 1950s and 1960s.” As Barabra Dreyfuss explains, “In the 1950s and 1960s, Wildwood was a mecca for the leading African American jazz, blues, and R&B singers of the day. Over 50 clubs and music halls dotted the streets and lined the boardwalk. It was the dawn of rock and roll, and these were the artists who were shaping it.” Unfortunately, doo wop history sites are being lost to the wrecking ball at an alarming rate. See more here and here.
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