New Jersey Demands That ‘God’s Square Mile’ Open on Sundays

Neptune Township, N.J.

A religious nonprofit has owned Ocean Grove, a stretch of beach and adjacent property, for more than 150 years. During that time, it’s been the Methodist community’s policy to close the beach on Sunday. In the 1980s the group relaxed that policy, opening Ocean Grove’s beaches at noon on Sundays between Memorial Day and Labor Day. It’s the only patch of the roughly 130-mile Jersey Shore that’s off limits to bathers on summer Sunday mornings. Now state officials are looking to strip the community of its religious tradition and force the beaches open.