A blog about living in Aberdeen, New Jersey.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Off the Beaten Path

The Matawan-Aberdeen Public Library has the ninth edition of "Off The Beaten Path - New Jersey: A Guide to Unique Places," by Kay and Bill Scheller. They've been publishing this work for seventeen years. Bill was born in Paterson but the couple currently live in Vermont.

The Schellers divide the state into five regions and provide over 30 pages to each, identifying and describing their favorite spots for touring, dining, and lodging. Perhaps the book will give you some unique ideas of places to visit in the state before summer ends? Or maybe you want to begin to plan some fall day trips?

Our area fell under the Central Lowlands portion of Central New Jersey. Local spots featured in the book include the Freneau Gravesite (pg 94), Big Ed's Barbeque (pg 95), the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial (pg 93), Nicholas restaurant (pg 94), and the Monmouth Museum (pg 93) at Brookdale College. Longstreet Farm at Holmdel Park gets an Other Attractions mention (pg 100) but no description. We have no worthy lodgings in our entire area (pp 97-98) -- take note, local chambers.

If I were picking local eateries, I might have mentioned Drew's Bistro and/or Nemo's in Keyport as worth exploring. I would have put Nicholas restaurant in the Shore section of the book, if I included it at all. It seems a bit too exclusive for a book like this, IMHO.  I might have included the Cliffwood Beach seawall, which is certainly off the beaten path yet provides a nice view of Raritan Bay and Keyport harbor.

As for local historical sites, Matawan and Keyport have some work to do. Matawan needs to put some serious flesh on plans for the shark attacks anniversary in 2016. And Keyport has the makings of a fine mariners and seaplane museum. If either municipality or chamber makes progress before the next edition of this book, maybe we'd get more than a paragraph?

This paperback resides in the New Books section of the library, inside the door and along the wall. It bears Dewey code 917.49 Sc.

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