You have to admit, it’s a catchy name: Ship Bottom. I love it. A perfect name for a beach town. That’s where we spent our weekend at the invitation of our neighbors Kim and Mark, at their shore house. I fell in love with its signature water tower. I don’t quite know why.

Ship Bottom is on Long Beach Island, affectionately referred to as “LBI.” LBI is an 18-mile-long narrow barrier island off the mainland, and one of the most popular vacation spots for New Jersyites. Frankly, I had never understood the whole “shore” thing. We had really only visited the boardwalks at Point Pleasant and Seaside Heights and had never spent much more than a few hours at either one. After this weekend, I get it. No wonder it’s so popular.

Ship Bottom itself is a bustling little town. There is a real vacation feel to the streets that are lined with restaurants, gift shops, ice cream stands, and beach rentals. We walked the two short blocks to the beach laden down with beach chairs, umbrella and whatever else we needed for a few hours of sun and sand.

Here are some beach scenes early in the morning before the throngs of beach-goers arrive. Every morning the sand is freshly groomed, erasing all evidence of the day before.

Here is a shot from our “spot” later on:

And here is another shot looking down the beach at midday. Compare this to the second photo of the empty beach above which was taken in the same spot to see the difference. Colorful umbrellas as far as the eye can see!

I felt the name must have some history behind it so I did a little digging. Here is what I found on the Ship Bottom website:
~~~~ Ship Bottom is one of the oldest place names on Long Beach Island.  According to the local historian John Bailey Lloyd, author of “Six Miles at Sea,” the name dates from an unusual shipwreck that occurred in March, 1817.

The captain of a schooner heading south was navigating through a thick fog when he heard cries from the direction of the shoreline.  Encountering a schooner heading north, he alerted Captain Stephen Willets of Tuckerton that there might be a ship in trouble near the shore.  Although Willets and his crew could see nothing in the fog , nor could they hear anything but the clang of their own ship’s bell, they rowed along the outer bar for several hours searching for the endangered ship.  Finally a dark shape appeared—the hull of a ship overturned in the shoals.  Corpses hung from the rigging and bobbed in the frigid sea.  As one of Willets’ men climbed onboard the beached schooner, he heard a noise under his feet—someone tapping the inside of the barnacled hull. 

With an ax, Willets chopped a hole in the ship’s bottom near the keel and, after much struggling, freed the young woman trapped inside.  She spoke no English.  But after being taken ashore, she expressed her gratitude by drawing a cross of thanks in the sand.  No one knows her name or the name of the ship because they were never recorded.  But the place of the shipwreck and the rescue became known as “Ship Bottom.” ~~~~

I will be sharing more photos and more of our experience tomorrow. Stay tuned. Until then feel free to enjoy the Friday night sunset from the rooftop deck.