(Text borrowed from Ocean Township Daily Photo)

This bridge runs between Belmar and Avon-by-the-Sea. I featured it for the City Daily Photo December Theme Day; when I did, I was unsure of its name. So when I once again found myself traversing the bridge on foot, since it was daytime and I could actually find the plaque, I photographed it. (I won't show the plaque because even in the daylight, it's very difficult to read.) I saw that it is the Shark River Bridge, but I didn't realize until I got home that a famous trombonist/bandleader had been one of the officials who brought the bridge into existance!

Here is what the plaque says:

Now, that may seem like just a bunch of names, and it is, but the part that caught my attention was one of the Chosen Freeholders.

Arthur Pryor?

Arthur Pryor was a Chosen Freeholder?!

Arthur Pryor was a famous bandleader and trombonist in the John Philip Sousa Band. (The only reason I know this is because one of my community bands did a huge Arthur Pryor feature last year. We imported a trombone virtuoso from Virginia who dressed up in period band costume and narrated the songs.) Pryor had strong ties to this area: although he retired from the John Philip Sousa Band (in 1903) before the band started making regular appearances at the Ocean Grove Auditorium [outside view] (from 1912-1926, until Sousa made a crack about Prohibition and the Ocean Grove Methodists decided not to invite him back), Pryor's own band performed for 26 seasons on the Asbury Park boardwalk (which is less than a mile from the OG Auditorium); he retired to Long Branch; he died immediately after a rehearsal in the Asbury Park bandstand.

And APPARENTLY, according to this source, he DID win a seat on the Board of Chosen Freeholders, so the name on the bridge IS the same Arthur Pryor!

What an unexpected perk of a bridge plaque photograph!




Date: February 2008
Where/What: the Atlantic Ocean, as seen through the Shark River Bridge
Camera: Nikon E3200
Shutter: 10/3333*
Aperture: f 5.6
ISO: 50
Flash used: yes

*Because this was taken on my Nikon 3200, which doesn't really allow me to control anything other than "auto mode" vs. "sunset mode" vs. "night mode" (etc.), the EXIF tends to be funky.