Pray for Surf: Nuns’ Beach
What a great story!
"Along a certain stretch of the Jersey Shore, the t-shirts seen
advertising Nuns’ Beach seem to be just another bit of satirical
beachwear targeted at the tourist trade. But the beach in question is
very real, as are the nuns who have flocked to the popular surfing spot
for the last 75 years.
Nuns’ Beach is a one-block strip of sand in Stone Harbor, N.J., a hamlet 40 miles south of Atlantic City. The beach is attached to a facility owned by the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a teaching order based in Pennsylvania. Each summer, the property fills with nuns weary from nine long months in the classroom.
In the 1990s, when the order was struggling to pay a property-tax bill of more than $100,000 and maintain their large facility, they took ownership of the Nuns’ Beach brand and began capitalizing on their status as a righteous oddity on the sometimes profane Jersey Shore.
The Nuns’ Beach Surf Invitational was launched in 1996 as a fund-raising vehicle, and the contest now attracts an array of local sponsors like Pete Smith’s Surf Shop, Kindle Auto Plaza and the Windrift Hotel. Surfers come from as far as California to compete."
Nuns’ Beach is a one-block strip of sand in Stone Harbor, N.J., a hamlet 40 miles south of Atlantic City. The beach is attached to a facility owned by the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a teaching order based in Pennsylvania. Each summer, the property fills with nuns weary from nine long months in the classroom.
In the 1990s, when the order was struggling to pay a property-tax bill of more than $100,000 and maintain their large facility, they took ownership of the Nuns’ Beach brand and began capitalizing on their status as a righteous oddity on the sometimes profane Jersey Shore.
The Nuns’ Beach Surf Invitational was launched in 1996 as a fund-raising vehicle, and the contest now attracts an array of local sponsors like Pete Smith’s Surf Shop, Kindle Auto Plaza and the Windrift Hotel. Surfers come from as far as California to compete."
Labels: Nuns
posted by jope @ July 10, 2013
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