No. 111
“GEHRING’S RESTAURANT, ONE OF THE EARLIEST IN STONE HARBOR, N. J.” – Let’s start with the rather interesting hand-written message that appears on the back of this old post card. A woman by the name of Dot is writing to her friend Marian Snyder in Allentown, Pennsylvania and references a delicious meal she and some others had at the place pictured on the card. Here is just what Dot communicated: “Marian, This is where we ate our first supper. Hamburger. Yum! Yum! Dot P.S. +Blackberry pie a la mode”. That message sure is short and to the point. Nevertheless this was not at all an unusual type of message to find years ago since there was very little space provided on the reverse or the address side of post cards. Generally, post card messages were often hastily written and not very thought provoking.
In this image we can see Gehring’s Restaurant featured. While it may be difficult to see, there are at least 3 advertising signs that upon magnification I was able to make out. Attached to the left front side of this building is a vintage advertising sign promoting “Hires Root Beer”. To the right of this building are signs indicating that “light lunches” were served and that fresh “milk” was also available for sale. And after reading the penned message above from Dot, we now know that Gehring’s also served suppers.
An additional bit of information about this image discovered at the Stone Harbor Museum archives was provided by a woman named Gwen Raring Hand. Here is what she reported concerning the two women standing in front of this store: “The woman on the right is Bertha Gehring, a woman who owned the restaurant. Previously her husband and Bertha owned a bakery in Philadelphia. The woman to the left is her daughter Mildred Gamble. Bertha was a German immigrant who never attended school and managed to acquire a small fortune”.
Judging from the size of this large two-story cedar shingled building, and in addition to the restaurant in the front on the first floor, there appears to be considerable additional space in the back providing perhaps living quarters for the proprietors as well as several rental units as often was the case available and situated on the second floor.
It is not known just when this structure was built nor do we know just how long this building stood the test of time and served the resort of Stone Harbor. Furthermore, while we do not know the actual location of Gehring’s Restaurant, it most likely was situated in the vicinity of 82nd and 84th Streets. Should anyone reading this account have such specific knowledge, please let us know as we would be grateful for such additional background information.