The Greenville Enterprise

A Brief History of Long Branch.

Long Branch takes its name from a brook, a branch of the Shrewsbury river. In the year 1793 the place was inhabited by Indians, and was styled Land's End. About that time four men, named respectively Parker, Slocum, Wardell and Hewlett came from Rhode Island and established a settlement there. A considerable portion of the land which they obtained continued in the possession of the Slocums until thirty years ago, and some of the land warrants are still in existence. A few years later other hardy settlers from neighboring provinces bought land in Long Branch at twenty shillings an acre, built dwellings and occupied themselves with farming and fishing. It now embraces a population of four thousand five hundred.

The Liberty Pole is the name given to the village, from a flag staff erected there during the war of 1812, while the coast portions upon which the cottages and hotels are located, is known as the Shore, fronting the ocean. Land purchased at the edge of the village by Mr. Samuel Laird, in 1863, for $2.50 an acre, was sold for $4000 in 1870, soon after the Burlington Railway was opened.

The first hotel erected at Long Branch was the Ocean House. There are now accommodations for twenty thousand people. Three years ago Elberth and Beach, south of the present West End Hotel, comprised only farming lands. To-day it is laid out as a park, with new roads from seventy to one hundred feet wide, and beautiful sites for cottages. Of these there are now two hundred.