newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

If you want to visit what preservations, historians and just plain New Jerseyans think is the best historic place in the state, you should be prepared to get your feet wet.

Preservation New Jersey, the non-profit Trenton-based historic preservation organization, hosted a "Best of New Jersey Heritage Tourism'' contest throughout the summer and the results are in.

The Wildwoods-by-the-Sea – Wildwood, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and Diamond Beach – won out as the favorite heritage tourism destination.

The Wildwoods got over 36 percent of the vote and Michael Hirsch of the Doo Wop Preservation League knows why.

"The Wildwoods by-the-Sea are the best heritage tourism destination in New Jersey because visiting takes you back to a time when America was at its optimistic best,'' he said. "When the Garden State Parkway was completed in the 1950's hundreds of motels were built. They are fanciful motels designed to appeal to the passing motorist. They have exotic names like Shalimar, Royal Hawaiian, Pink Champagne, and Caribbean.  Each one was designed to appeal to any type of visitor, to forget where he or she came from and transport them to a tropical location within a short drive from home.

Click on the thumbnails for larger images of some of the entries in the Best of New Jersey Heritage Tourism contest.

"When I'm in Wildwood, I am taken back to my own childhood,'' Hirsch said. "I ride my bike on the three-mile boardwalk – only in the morning – I sit on the largest, safest, free beach in New Jersey, I eat locally made ice cream, and play miniature golf. Who gets to go back to their own childhood for the weekend? I do. When I was child the water tower read, ‘Wildwood Welcomes the World.' It's still true.''

The Hereford Inlet Lighthouse in North Wildwood with over 22 percent of the vote was selected as the second favorite heritage tourism site. The Stickley Museum at Craftsman's Farm in Parsippany emerged as the third favorite and the Cadwalader Heights neighborhood and park in Trenton finished fourth. Overall, 35 sites received votes.

Stephanie Cherry-Farmer, Preservation New Jersey programs director, conducted the contest.

"The contest aimed to promote heritage tourism in New Jersey and encourage the public to patronize the tourist destinations that promote our state's heritage,'' she said. "The Wildwoods have been a popular Jersey Shore vacation destination for decades, and grew significantly in popularity during the post-WWII era. They bring back fond summer memories for scores of people throughout the state, and our poll simply shows how important a role the Wildwoods played in the lives of so many New Jerseyans and the history of the state, and how important it is to protect the historical development there.''

Unrelated to the contest, Preservation New Jersey in 2005 named the 1950s and 60s Doo Wop-style motels of the Wildwoods to its annual 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites list. The following year, the motels were placed on the National Trusts for Historic Preservation's annual list of America's 11 most endangered sites.

The Wildwoods are the location of over 200 Doo Wop-era motels. The National Trust describes them as "irreplaceable icons of pop culture.''

Cherry-Farmer said the many of the motels still exist but remain endangered by development.

It was the HofBrau Hotel in Wildwood in 1954 that Bill Haley and the Comets first performed "Rock Around the Clock,'' often credited as the first rock and roll hit. The performance helped give rise to Wildwood's claim as the birthplace of rock and roll.

Take that, Cleveland.