Pendle Hill Pilgrims: Ocean Grove

I am a little behind with the blog, as you can see from the last posting. This blog refers to a trip we took October 25th/26th. It is an unreflective blog, but we hope you enjoy the pictures.

It seems quite a common feature of life for many in Pennsylvania to visit the beach. We had heard about Ocean Grove from one of Tom's relatives earlier in the summer, and were intrigued. When it was mentioned again by a Friend in Pendle Hill, we took the opportunity to visit, and were delighted. An ex-Methodist holiday centre, consequently teetotal, it stands as a little bit of Victorian Americana. I will spare you the details of the epic journey to arrive there, including getting lost in Trenton. Readers of Stephanie Plum, or fans of The Sopranos, know you should not be lost in Trenton, New Jersey. We were given helpful directions by a group of young African Americans surprised to find a middle aged white man speaking in a peculiar accent approaching them and asking directions.

When we eventually arrived, we stayed in Quaker Inn, which has no link to Quakers other than its simplicity. It seems a feature of mine to encounter elements of American religious experience - when I had been to have my hair cut in Media, the local town to Pendle Hill, in the barber I encountered a sincere, devout Catholic who knew of North Wales through recordings he had of the St Beuno's Jesuit retreat centre, near St. Aspah in North Wales, where Gerard Manley Hopkins lived; he ended up loaning me the American equivalent of The Tablet and a DVD by a priest called Raymond E. Brown. Here in ocean Grove a similar thing happened. On this occasion, we wandered in a cafe for tea, only to find it staffed by an evangelical minister who used the cafe as a ministry to reach out to people,(a la Liquid Church thinking) and would pray for people on request. Despite/because we were Quakers we were warmly welcomed.