Victorian Summers vividly re-creates a way of life when spacious "grand hotels" flourished along the oceanfront at the resort city of Long Branch, New Jersey. Ideally situated on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, "The Branch" with its cool breezes was an extremely popular "watering place." It was known internationally during the heyday of the Victorian era. This lavishly-illustrated book describes ten selected hotels in detail and provides a lively account of the daily parade of finery, activities, and special attractions that lured thousands of visitors to this city by the sea. The written word found in the social commentaries, the exquisite wood engravings, ephemera, and rare photographic documentation of the day tell the story "the way it was." The authors have rescued a unique chapter of Monmouth County's past that was rapidly fading into oblivion. Early illustrated publications such as Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper represent great sources of accurate and artistic scenes of life at the shore. These as well as other newspapers, books, and guidebooks from the era provide references and preserve significant comments about the Victorian period.

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