On the road to Verich's

[uuglypher]

I hope you'll agree that this qualifies to be posted here, as it does relate to a possibly forgotten place.
In the early 50's, when I was a kid and my folks and I would vacation on Long Beach Island we would make occassional forays onto the mainland to
"...go to "Verich's" " an ice cream/soda fountain joint that my Dad frequented when he was a kid in the 20's - and still sold great ice cream well into the 50's. A visit to Verich's was about the only carrot-on-a-stick that would get my agreement to leave the beach and stay in a reasonably good mood.

So, my folks would get into driving here and there, visiting Dad's old friends , sightseeing in the pines, looking for someone selling blueberries, and whatever... etc...etc... and whenever I'd ask "Where are we NOW" the response was invaribly: "On the road to Verich"s. This became family conversational shorthand that outlived my parents and is used now by my kids and grandkids to mean "...don't be in hurry, we'll get there eventually" or even "...be patient, I'll get to my point in a minute or so..."

Although we always did finally get a delicious soda, milkshake, or ice cream cone at Verich's, I never did get a good idea where the damned place was because of the obviously circuitous route we had taken.! It never took us near as long to get back to Long Beach Island from Verich's as it took us to get there, so I finally figured out (I was one helluva trusting, slow study in those days...) that my folks never intended to go directly to Verich's in the first place!

The bottom line ... and the reason I told you all of the above is to ask ... does anyone have any notion as to where a soda fountain name'o "Verich's" might be - or might have been? Far as I can guess it could be in the Toms River vicinity or anywhere within the triangle of Toms River, Lakehurst, and the bridge to Shipbottom.

Just curious and trying to fill in some blank spaces ... and if you don't know what I mean by that ... the time will eventually come that you will!

Thanks,
Dave

 

[aserdaten]

Could that possibly have been the ice cream stand that once stood at the intersection of NJ 70 and County 539 in Whiting? That was before a Wawa was built there some 15 to 20 years ago (more or less). But back in the 50's thru 70's I used to prowl around the Pine Barrens quite a lot, and have seen other such places, although memory doesn't help me much as to where they may have been. Let's hope someone else out there has a better memory than me.

 

[Teegate]

Could that possibly have been the ice cream stand that once stood at the intersection of NJ 70 and County 539 in Whiting? That was before a Wawa was built there some 15 to 20 years ago (more or less). But back in the 50's thru 70's I used to prowl around the Pine Barrens quite a lot, and have seen other such places, although memory doesn't help me much as to where they may have been. Let's hope someone else out there has a better memory than me.

It was just posted what the name of that place was and that was not the name. It was Hillards.

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=1894&page=1&pp=10&highlight=stand

Guy

 

[Teegate]

But back in the 50's thru 70's I used to prowl around the Pine Barrens quite a lot

Do you have any photo's? Also, anyplace special that you might know about that we could discuss?

Guy

 

[Teegate]

Dave,

Are you certain the name was spelled verich?

Guy

 

[aserdaten]

Guy,

Much to my regret at this point in my life, I wasn't into photography much in those days. I just wandered around down there, often looking up places that had been written up in Beck's and perhaps other books, such as Buckingham, Aserdaten, Forked River Mountains, Apple Pie Hill, Bamber Lake (where I, as a 10-year-old kid, had attended Camp Columbus), Old Half Way, Ongs Hat and several other places predominantly in Ocean and Burlington counties. Most of the time I didn't come across any remnants of previous civilizations. Spent quite a bit of time in summers looking for nice cool swimming holes - with sandy bottoms.

Managed to navigate all of those backwoods roads, with their deep puddles and often slippery clay bottoms in my various sedans and station wagons, only getting hopelessly stuck a couple of times - one of which required an overnight stay (for the car) since it was quite late and it took us a long time to hike back to civilization, and it became necessary to wait until the next day to get one of my friends with a Bronco and heavy rope to pull the car out. That was the only time it was that bad, fortunately.

Many of my trips into the pines involved taking some of my teenage soccer players (that I coached) for stints of practice driving, since they were approaching legal age. Was teaching them how to drive in sand and know what kind of sand to avoid, how to gage puddle depth and get by the deep ones by keeping two wheels on the dry edge of the puddle, etc. One of those episodes wound up with my right wheels sliding into deep clay ruts (at Old Halfway) in the middle of the puddle, tipping the car enough to get water under the right doors. Fortunately several motorcyclists came by and, together with the kids onboard, were able to push the car out. I was the driver at the time, which was also a bit embarrassing.

Getting back to the original forum point of discussion, I did over the years run across quite a few ice cream stands (some also selling cooked snacks) at various places south and west of Toms River where I lived at the time. But since my memory was never very sharp, I can honestly say that I have no recollection of where any of them were, or their names. Let's hope somebody else can solve the riddle!

Dave

 

[Boyd]

I worked in Toms River and lived in Bayville in the early 1970's. I still remember being very happy to "discover" Carvel for the first time

That whole area has developed so much since then that I sometimes find it hard to orient myself....

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Dave, you write very well, and your posts are a pleasure to read. Why two nicnames on this board though?

 

[BEHR655]

Dave, you write very well, and your posts are a pleasure to read. Why two nicnames on this board though?

uuglypher & aserdaten are 2 different people if that is what you are refering to. Steve

 

[aserdaten]

Yes, I am the one and only aserdaten, at least on this web site (there is another one somewhere, as per Google). Name is Dave Quaid, formerly of Toms River, Brick and Hamilton (Mercer Co.) Townships in NJ; now retired and residing in Ormond Beach (just north of Daytona Beach) in Florida. I will be coming back to the area between Sept. 10 and 17, inclusive, and will attempt to get together with one or more of y'all at that time. But will be staying over in Trevose, Bucks County.

Dave

 

[uuglypher]

Steve-
Aserdaten (a Dave) and I - uuglypher - (a Dave) are two different "Daves". I'd suspect that he and I are approximate contemporaries. I'm vintage '39, howzabout you, Aserdaten Dave?

And Guy, as far as the spelling of "Verich's" goes, no, I'm not absolutely certain of the spelling. Could have been "Verych's, Verik's, Virich's, Varich's, Varychs, Veryks, ... or some other reasonable combination of letters or appropriate phonemes.

Also, however it was spelled, I don't think that it was an isolated soda shop out on a rural road. As best I recall, there were at least a few close to nearby buildings, whether commercial or residential I can't say for sure. And Verich's itself had a red clapboard facade with white door and window trim (at least in the early 50's)... and it might be that one had to climb a short flight of steps (wood, painted white) to get to the entrance (I hope this isn't one of those "acquired false memories that are fashionable these days...the steps, I mean... the rest is bankable.)

Thanks,
Dave

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Thanks Dave and Dave. I somehow got a bit confused somewhere along the line. You both write very well, for that matter.

 

[aserdaten]

Dave (uuglypher),

This other Dave (aserdaten) has a few years on you, having been hatched way back in 1930. I've been retired (from NJ State Government) since July 1961, and have spent all except my first three summers down here in Central Florida. I tried living late April thru early October in Crestwood Village, Whiting, but the semi-annual moving jaunts became more trouble than they were worth. I had spent much vacation time in the Daytona area and enjoyed it, so that was the obvious place for retirement. Found that the summer heat here is no worse than Jersey's, although it lasts much longer. It's usually in the low to mid-90's from June thru September, but AC overcomes that pretty well. I just keep out of the sun (pool decks or the beach) during most daytime hours.

Well, I'll get a break from the heat (hopefully) when I get up there the second week in September. Luckily, I'll have access to a heated pool, and that should be helpful what with those cool fall nights up north. Looking forward to meeting some of you guys in NJ Pine Barrens - just as long as there aren't any ticks to contend with. Have had enough problems with fleas which seem attracted to my cats here. It's dinner time, so I gotta make tracks!

 

[Teegate]

Looking forward to meeting some of you guys in NJ Pine Barrens - just as long as there aren't any ticks to contend with. Have had enough problems with fleas which seem attracted to my cats here. It's dinner time, so I gotta make tracks!

The ticks have been here all year round, but they seem to fade later in the summer slightly. At least in the past they have.

Guy

 

[aserdaten]

I goofed in a big way on my earlier post this afternoon ...

I retired in 1991; NOT in 1961 !!!

Would have to be something of a boy wonder to retire at age 31; age 60 going on 61 is more like it.

Dave (aserdaten)