Harvey Cedars Bible Conference
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Harvey Cedars Bible Conference has occupied the former, historic Harvey Cedars Hotel in Harvey Cedars, NJ (on Long Beach Island) since the early 1940s (although it was first called Harvey Cedars Presbyterian Bible Conference).
Presbyterian minister Jack Murray purchased the old hotel, which was abandoned for around 10 years, and converted it into Harvey Cedars Presbyterian Bible Conference. After several years of directing the conference, Jack left the operations to Al Oldham. The name was changed to Harvey Cedars Bible Conference, and was run by Al until the mid-90's when the director position was passed on to his son, Jon Oldham.
Originally a small hotel, it was built expanded in the 1870s and 1880s. A large renovation, completed in 1903, led to the 3-storey structure which was kept rather similar until the late 1990s when sections of it were gutted and rebuilt, completely out of style with the Victorian architecture.
Around the early 1950s, a separate chapel was built on the property. Stained glass windows purchased from the Engleside Hotel in Beach Haven (built in the 1870s, and torn down during WWII) were used in the new chapel. These windows were, with the exception of 2 sashes, completely removed years later after years of damage from the high winds. Two of the old sashes remained in the bookstore, off the chapel, until around 2003 when they were also removed.
The HCBC complex also contains a modern hotel, a 1960s motel-style building, separate dining hall, a dock and elevated bayside deck, tennis courts, an indoor heated swimming pool, a gymnasium, volleyball court, and soccer fields.
Years of neglect to the physical property led to decisions to renovate in the '90's up to the present time.
These renovations to the original hotel have distorted it beyond recognition in some areas. Almost no attention was paid to the historic fabric of the hotel. Much of the hotel has been gutted and renovated to make it appear as a modern hotel, and not the historic hotel it was.
It appears the historic structure will continue to be poorly and insensitively renovated, despite its extreme importance to the history of Long Beach Island. All other historic hotels of the same size located on the island have long since been destroyed.
