BAY HEAD — The Mayor’s Walk and Talks returned last week to Bay Head, as members from the community got to learn more about The Bluffs, a long-gone landmark.
Last Wednesday, around a dozen residents of Bay Head gathered at the clocktower on Bridge Avenue for the return of the Mayor’s Walks. Meryl Clement, co-chair of the Bay Head Mayors Wellness Campaign, explained that this is a monthly event, each with a different topic, where residents get moving and promote health.
“We bring their principals and a lot of their ideas for a healthy community into our own community,” said Clement. “This walk, we are calling it ‘Remembering The Bluffs.’ A lot of us have our own personal memories of The Bluffs and spending some time there.”
The Bluffs was a hotel and bar that used to sit on the beachfront at East Avenue and Chadwick Street. It was demolished in 1996. Currently, residential homes stand where the hotel used to stand.
“We had a lot of great memories there. It was almost like a secret little speakeasy in the town of Bay Head,” said Clement, explaining how there was no sign for the bar, and the door to get into it was on the side of the building, so an ignorant passerby would be none the wiser of the bar in town. “You could see friends from the community, shoot some darts, play some shuffleboard, it was just such a great place to gather, as if it were our own little secret place.”
As residents walked with the mayor, those who were around when The Bluffs stood shared stories and experiences with each other about their times at the place. The tour then met up with Cathie Coleman, of the Bay Head Historical Society and Museum, who spoke more about the history of The Bluffs, and handed out information and photos about them. She also shared a few personal anecdotes about her time at The Bluffs.
“I moved here in 1965, a single girl on Bridge Avenue. This was a very dreary place in the winter in those days because so many people were seasonal and went away, so this became my home away from home,” said Coleman. One fond memory she shared was how she met her husband at The Bluffs, and another was how she became the first woman to ever open a bar tab in the place, as women were not allowed to open tabs back then at The Bluffs.
Mayor Bill Curtis said, “The mystic about The Bluffs is that if you were not from this area, you might have asked yourself ‘Where’s The Bluffs?’ Well you might have been standing right in front of it. They would not tell you. If you could not find it, then you didn’t belong there. No signs, no billboards, no neon lights, nothing like that.”
“The town loved it, and I am personally very sorry they allowed it to go to ruin,” said Mayor Curtis. He also claimed that The Bluffs made the best bloody marys anywhere.
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