Finding Dedicated Benches After Sandy, Honoring Loved Ones' Memories

A favorite spot to enjoy a view, to create a peaceful moment to relax and contemplate: the benches along area waterways are often more than a place to sit.

Most of the benches in places such as the Manasquan Inlet and Sea Girt boardwalk are also memorials. An engraving or a plaque denotes that through a donation, this sponsored seat is also in honor or in memory of someone.

Hurricane Sandy claimed many of these memorials, and towns are working to recover the often historic benches and the plaques themselves. Sea Girt has an online database to count off which benches have been recovered and which are gone.

Manasquan happened to remove the benches from the inlet prior to the storm, and about a month after Hurricane Sandy destroyed much of the waterfront in the borough, public works officials returned the benches to their original spots.

That meant a lot to residents such as Matt Nolan. A bench on the Manasquan Inlet is dedicated to his late wife. He's returned there dozens of times since the storm, to what he said was his wife's favorite spot.

"This gives me a lift, to come here," Nolan said.

That the benches are back not only lets Nolan share with the community his wife's memory, and what he said was a testament to her dedication to their family. 

But it is also a testament to Hurricane Sandy recovery, he said. 

He initially thought the bench was destroyed in the storm, and called the borough to apologize for not picking up his bench ahead of time.

Nolan said he was relieved to hear the borough had rounded up the benches and had them in storage and planned to set them in place again a month later.

While so much work remains to be done to recover from Hurricane Sandy, Manasquan is clearly working hard, Nolan said.

"Manasquan is a quality town. We're going to come back strong," Nolan said. "It's taken a little longer, "It's been a difficult battle but I know Manasquan will be back."