It was a party that not only celebrated 100 years of loving Highlands, but also renewing family ties and events, sharing time and history with neighbors and friends and meeting new friends and family members.
The occasion was the festive celebration held at the Guenther home on Marine Place, a home first settled by the family in the 20th century, replacing other homes owned by the Guenther family since the first of five generations first summered here in 1924.
Walt and his siblings own the Marine Place residence and annually have a family get together to relive old times and establish new memories and traditions.
With this year being the centennial of the first Guenther summer in Highlands, 105 family members and friends turned out for the celebration, with the oldest 103 years of age and the youngest two 14 and 16 months of age. In-between were a host of teenagers and early 20s from Tennessee, some planning on starting their own families shortly, others in the 30s 40s, and beyond, and all happy to see the Summer home that has been in their family for generations.
Family members came from 12 states in addition to New Jersey, arriving from New York, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, New Mexico, Mississippi, Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. Some came by plane including one couple that piloted their own plane. Many more drove, and still others came by Seastreak ferry while there were others who walked. Nearly all had been to the family bungalow before but about a dozen were making their first visit to the historic family home.
Guests enjoyed sharing their memories and hearing stories about Highlands and especially their visits to the family bungalow. There were many stories about swimming over the bulkhead using ladders the family put up on the old wooden bulkheads.
Fishing trips in their own boats moored in the Shrewsbury River or snapper fishing with bamboo poles from in front of the house were highlights of several conversations.
Visits to the Twin Lights, now a state museum, ocean swimming at Sandy Hook, now Gateway National Recreation Area, and bike rides along wooden walkways, now Henry Hudson Trail were also included in numerous stories as were barbecues in the backyard and making beach plum jam, clam chowder and family recipe potato salad in the kitchen. Beach plums were readily available at Sandy Hook, and numerous family members remember gathering them for the traditional family jam making sessions.
Sitting in the rockers on the front porch enjoying the view of the river, boats and New York City was popular all day long.
Mayor Carolyn Broullon joined the family celebration for the afternoon presenting the family with the Highlands Borough Proclamation she had recorded in municipal minutes which recognizes the Guenther family’s 100 Years of Summers in Highlands.
Walt and Linda Guenther had poster size copies made of many of the 1924 and beyond black and white photographs and lined the first-floor level porch with the posters, more photos, along with a scrapbook, the borough’s proclamation, and other memorabilia from the past century.
Guests enjoyed the photos taken over the years; the Guenther family on a South Bay Avenue beach in 1924 with King Boat Works craftsmen working in the background was a favorite.
The family was also honored at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church where they have been summer parishioners for 100 years and congratulated in the church bulletin as well as honored at a special mass on Sunday morning.
“It was a wonderful day,” said Walter Guenther, one of the generations who spearheads and makes all the arrangements for the annual event. “Even God gave us His own gift with the spectacular sunshine and beautiful day we had. We could see how times have changed, even in the photographs. Where we have cherished the small black and white photos from Kodak cameras, this year’s family photo was made possible through a drone. We could all gather on the top deck overlooking the Shrewsbury while the drone took the photo from out over the water.”
Walt Guenther is as avid about all Highlands history as he is about preservation of his family ties with the borough. An active member of the Highlands Historical Society and publisher of the Society’s newsletter with his wife, Linda, he has conducted walking tours of the borough telling some of the history of its business area and has participated in the historic presentation of Joshua Huddy. The story of the Revolutionary War hero who was hanged in Highlands a couple of blocks away from the current Guenther home, in retaliation for the death of a British soldier., was researched and written by Council president Joann Olszewski and reenacted by the Society in several presentations earlier this year.
