I knew little of the history of Ocean Grove when I first went there in the 1990's but was immediately taken with the architecture. This image is of the summer tent houses that grew up along three sides of the Great Auditorium built by Methodists in 1894s after they outgrew the first two structures.
It was in 1869 that the Reverend W. B. Osborn, Reverend Stokes, and other Methodist ministers camped at a shaded spot on New Jersey's seashore and created a permanent Christian camp naming it "Ocean Grove." There were about twenty tents pitched that first summer.
Ocean Grove in the 1870s.
The New York Times called Ocean Grove the "Queen of Religious Resorts". A Victorian seaside splendor welcoming tourists and pilgrims. Following World War I interest in camp meeting declined resulting in Ocean Grove becoming a time capsule of late Victorian and early 20th century architecture.