GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

One of our Long Beach Island symbols for many years has been the Fisherman’s Shack.  More properly a hunters’ shack it was said to date from the 20’s and to have been on the marshes adjacent to Route 72 since the 50’s.   It became a traditional signal that one had arrived at the beach and, passing it on the way home, a farewell to happy vacation memories.  Unfortunately the years took their toll and the shack deteriorated.  There were outcries for preservation, and volunteers installed interior bracing.  When I last photographed it three years ago the roof was gone and the internal bracing 2×4’s could be seen.

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I had photographed it earlier in 2005 when its character was still on display.

The 2005 winter image became the basis for a Christmas Card, and many prints of it have since been sold at craft/art shows.

There have been hundreds of Shack scenes, photographs and paintings, but only one with a Christmas Tree in a gentle winter’s night snowfall.

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Well, Hurricane Sandy came and went last fall, and the Shack went with it.  It was completely flattened and its timbers were disbursed to the meadows.  This was a very sad event for residents and the thousands of annual visitors to LBI.   A strange thing, however, happened to me this past week.  I was returning to the island on a sun-filled, puffy cloud day.  Held up by traffic I momentarily looked over at the Shack’s former site.

Wonder of wonders…..a phenomenon….. some weird diffraction of the sun’s rays…..a shimmering mirage.  Whatever… it was briefly there and saying softly,

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“Please don’t forget me.”

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