A Christian group that has blocked access to a Jersey Shore beach on Sunday mornings for over 150 years has temporarily lifted the restriction that the state says is in violation of beach access laws.
The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Monmouth County-based organization founded in 1870 by a group of Methodist ministers, owns the beach and the land under all of Ocean Grove’s houses.
The seaside community of roughly 3,000 residents is part of Neptune Township, a popular resort town along the New Jersey shore.
For the past 155 years, the group has banned access to its beach on Sunday mornings from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.
Despite fierce opposition from residents, the association has defended its decision, saying Sundays are “the Lord’s Day.”
AP Photo/Wayne Parry
Haze slowly burns away from the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, N.J. on May 2, 2024. The state of New Jersey says the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is violating state beach access laws by keeping people off the beach until noon on Sundays.
The policy — which involves the chaining and locking of all nine beach-access entries from 9 a.m. to noon — is done “to honor God, a core pillar of this community since [its] founding,” the group said in a statement.
But according to the state, the practice violates beach access statutes and regulations.
Last year, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ordered the group to end its long-running practice.
Violating the order could lead to fines of up to $25,000 per day.
AP Photo/Wayne Parry
Luisa Paster, left, and Harriet Bernstein, right pose on the boardwalk in Ocean Grove, N.J. on May 2, 2024, near a pavilion where a religious group that owns all the land in Ocean Grove refused to let them hold a civil union ceremony in 2007. The state of New Jersey says the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is violating state beach access laws by keeping people off the beach until noon on Sundays.
The association maintains that anyone is welcome “onto this private property 99.5% of the year,” noting the restriction amounts to a total of 45 hours, or three hours every Sunday during the summer months. It is challenging the state order “to preserve our property rights and religious freedom.”
But starting on Sunday, while the case plays out in court, the beach will be open to all, every day of the week.
“We are currently compelled to comply with the NJDEP order to open the beach but have not ceased nor abandoned our quest to protect our religious and property rights,” the association told NJ Advance Media on Monday.
The group has also hired lifeguards on Sunday mornings “for the safety of beachgoers.”
The association didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
With News Wire Services
