You Can Never Go Home Again

You will go home and then you will find that home is not home anymore. Then you will really be in trouble.

Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin

You can never go home again. It's true. Each time you go away for an extended time and come back, it's different, but I have to say that my recent trip to Long Branch, New Jersey was an absolute blast. I had a great Thanksgiving at home, but was still acutely aware that it wasn't the same.

Long Branch, New Jersey 1869 Homer Winslow

Long Branch was a beach resort town in the late 1700s. In the 1800s it was a "Hollywood" of the east, where some of the greatest theatrical and other performers of the day gathered and performed. It was visited by presidents Chester A. Arthur, James Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Rutherford Hayes, William McKinley, and Woodrow Wilson. Seven Presidents Park, a park near the beach, is named in honor of their visits. The Church of the Presidents, where all seven worshipped, is the only structure left in Long Branch associated with them.

President James A. Garfield was brought to Long Branch in the hope that the fresh air and quiet in Elberon might aid his recovery after being shot, an incident that left the assassin's bullet lodged in his spine. He died there on September 19, 1881, exactly two months before his 50th birthday. The Garfield Tea House, built from railroad ties that carried Garfield's train, is in Elberon. I attended the former Garfield Elementary School for third and fourth grades.

Originally a resort town with a few hotels and large estates and many farms in the early 20th century, Long Branch grew in population. Italian, Irish and Jewish immigrants settled in during this period. By the 1950s, Long Branch like many other towns had developed new residential spots and housing to make room for the growing population. Many of the former farms of Long Branch were transformed into residential "suburbs". Many of the estates and a few old historic resorts (with the addition of many new ones) still remain.

With the ascendancy of Hollywood in California as a film capital, Long Branch lost much of its activity as a theater spot. Parts of traditional living areas with old houses were altered to support private projects by eminent domain legislation. Many families were forced from their homes and their neighborhoods demolished, not to build schools or hospitals, but upscale housing.

Long Branch still continues however to be a popular resort area. Many people from New York City travel or settle in to the area to escape the crowded city and enjoy the benefits of Long Branch's beaches. While it may no longer be the place I reside, it will always be the place where my thoughts of home reside.

Home is where a four year old boy nearly fell through the ties of the old railroad trestle that crossed Long Branch Avenue on the way to the beach.

Home is where that same four year old fell off a jetty to be snatched from the surf by his older cousins, avoiding the ass-whippings that were waiting if any adult found out they went to the beach.

Home is where there were 4th of July pig roasts and Labor Day cookouts that gathered family members to eat, fuss, cuss and play bid whist all night long.

Home is where children ran through the Sea View Manor, Garfield and Grant Court housing projects, with no thought of harm because everyone looked out for them.

Home is where there were always new outfits for Easter and Tonka trucks for Christmas and always lots of food, whatever the holiday, because that's why your family worked hard.

Home really is where the heart is.

Maybe going somewhere else was an act of remembrance, of where you were from. A world of mirrors in which you witnessed a countless number of things that could have occurred at home or anywhere.

Once the Shore, Paul Yoon

Some data gathered from Wikipedia