Boardwalk Chapel

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Boardwalk Chapel (formally, "The Boardwalk Chapel") is a summertime Christian Gospel outreach on the two-mile boardwalk on the barrier island of The Wildwoods, New Jersey which holds 77 consecutive evening services during June, July, and August, open to boardwalkers.

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In the early 1940s Rev. Leslie Dunn, pastor of Calvary Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Wildwood, New Jersey, walked up and down the boardwalk of The Wildwoods conducting open-air preaching services. He discovered an empty lot towards the southern end of the boardwalk that was to be sold at a citywide tax auction. He persuaded fellow church members to allow him to bid, but no more than US$3,000; Dunn was the highest bidder at $2,950. [1] The Gospel Pavilion, its original name, had been built during the waning months of World War II. Nightly services began in July 1945, a few weeks before Japan's surrender.

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Since its inception the Chapel has been operated by the Presbytery of New Jersey of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Its hand-drawn logo depicts the Christian cross rising out of an Atlantic Ocean wave.

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Over the years, the chapel has become a landmark for tourists visiting Wildwood. In 2005 a Washington Post travel article said "People come to Wildwood for its beaches ... and for the boardwalk, a roughly three-mile-long human circus of noise, junk food and amusement rides. The boardwalk—part honky-tonk, part family playground—has a few quirks that give it an endearing quality. The ... Boardwalk Chapel, between a tattoo parlor and a pizza parlor, has been the voice in the carny wilderness for 61 years." [2]

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References

  1. "Salvation By the Sea" (PDF), in The Presbyterian Guardian, pp. 339-340, Dec. 10, 1945, by Rev. Leslie Arden Dunn.
  2. "The Boardwalks of Jersey", Washington Post, August 10, 2005, p. C02.

Sources

  1. A history of the first fifty years of the OPC titled "The Orthodox Presbyterian Church 1936-1986" ( ISBN   0-934688-35-4) references the work of the Boardwalk Chapel on pp. 134–135.
  2. "Rev. Leslie Dunn Memorial 2001" on the Boardwalk Chapel website.

Coordinates: 38°58′58″N74°48′59″W / 38.98283°N 74.81628°W / 38.98283; -74.81628