A Look Back at Ocean City
By Fred Miller
Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was initially called, has been commemorated in Ocean City for 143 years. While the day signals the beginning of the summer in America’s Greatest Family Resort, residents and visitors have always remembered the country’s war dead.
The patriotic tradition dates back to May 30, 1881, when Gainer P. Moore, a resident and veteran of the Civil War, led a small group of men along Asbury Avenue in the city’s first remembrance of America’s fallen soldiers. Moore was elected mayor in 1884, and under his leadership, the parade grew and became an important annual event. People were also encouraged to go to the mainland and decorate gravestones with flowers.
Under the headline “Memorial Day,” R. Curtis Robinson, editor and owner of the Ocean City Sentinel, wrote the following article in the May 26, 1898 issue of the newspaper: “One of the most beautiful and sensible anniversary days of the year is the 30th of May, called Decoration Day. “The beautiful custom of strewing the graves with flowers, patriotic music, and orations. The day should be one of blessings.”
In 1861, there were about 900,000 inhabitants in our little state of New Jersey, and yet this State sent over 90,000 men to fight the battles of the Union (in the Civil War)—one-tenth of her population, counting men, women, and children. Nearly every family in the State had one or more members in the Union armies, and many of these never returned to their homes alive, while some were buried in unknown graves on the battlefields.
“The day is not a religious holiday, but rather a patriotic, memorial, decoration day. The right way to spend the day will be largely according to the individual or community’s selections. It is first in order to visit the cemeteries with muffled music and to strew to the heroes’ graves with flowers, but we do not spend the entire day in the cemetery nor memorial services. It is a great thing to have a holiday on our hands.”
Originally a day set apart in memory of those who fought and were killed in the Civil War, after World War I, Memorial Day observances have been held in honor of all of the country’s war dead.
Ocean City’s 143-year-old Memorial Day tradition will continue on May 27, 2024. The Ocean City Beach Patrol will begin the program at 9 a.m. on the 9th Street beach. A lifeguard crew will row their lifeboat a short distance from the beach and place a wreath on the ocean to commemorate the naval war dead. At 11 a.m., the ceremonies will continue at Veterans Memorial Park between 5th and 6th streets on Wesley Avenue.
