Hundreds of sun-worshipers flocked to a New Jersey beach for the first time in 155 years Sunday morning — after state officials ordered the Christian sect that owns the sandy stretch to stop blocking it for prayers.
The beach-hungry throngs took advantage of the holiday weekend miracle after the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association — a Methodist group that began shutting the beach off on Sunday mornings to worship in 1869 — grudgingly agreed to open its sunny shores to the public, at least for now.
“We were walking around [at] eight or nine [a.m.], we were going to the bathroom,” said college student Daniel San Giuliano, 21, who was among the first to hit the beach with his pals Sunday — and didn’t realize they made history.
“There was an elderly couple sitting on the bench feeding the birds, and they told us it was the first time in 155 years that the beach was open before noon,” San Giuliano said.
Kevin Juarez, another morning arrival at the Ocean Grove beach, said it was a breeze getting onto the sand compared to past Sunday trips to the shore.
“It’s nice you can come early,” Juarez told The Post. “Last year a lot of people waited on line!”
The beach is finally open to the public during the previously forbidden hours thanks to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which ordered the Christian landowners to open up.
The ban had been part of the “core pillar” of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which revolves around its massive Great Auditorium on the waterfront property — where pilgrims come to pray from far and wide.
The rep for the Methodist group did not respond to a request for comment from The Post on Sunday but issued a statement about the flap last week.
“For 155 years we have closed our beach on Sunday mornings to honor God — a core pillar of this community since the founding of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association,” the statement said.
“Now the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is ordering us to open our privately owned beach on Sunday mornings. We are challenging this order to preserve our property rights and religious freedom,” it said.
“We are currently compelled to comply with the NJDEP order … but have not ceased nor abandoned our quest to protect our religious and property rights.”
The group, which is providing lifeguards during the new hours, calls the beach just north of Asbury Park, “God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore.”
The rule that the beach was off-limits during Sunday morning prayers went largely unchallenged for decades — until the surrounding neighborhoods grew and more locals sought sun and sand.
After people increasingly started to defy the rule and sneak onto the sand early, the issue came to a head.
In court papers, the association argued that its beach is open to the public “for 99.5%” of the time, calling that “abundantly reasonable.”
But the DEP ruled otherwise and ordered that it “cease its use of chains and padlocks or any other barriers that restrict reasonable public access to the beachfront.”
In a ruling Tuesday, DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette denied the association’s request to rescind the order, dismissing the claim that it was doing the right thing most of the time.
“While [Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association’s] intent to comply with the Public Access Law during the majority of the calendar year is acknowledged, the association’s legal compliance at most times does not justify its illegal violations at other times,” LaTourette wrote.
The DEP order dictates that the association could be fined $25,000 per day if it violates it.
Not all locals agree with the state agency — seeing no harm in a Sunday morning shutdown.
“People didn’t buy a house in Ocean Grove without knowing the rules,” resident Kathleen Pisano said.
“When you bought a house, you had to sign an agreement saying you understood what the Blue Laws were and that you couldn’t take your car out and so forth,” Pisani, 71, said, referring to local regs that once prohibited such things as driving or even bike-riding on Sundays. “So most people knew what was expected of them.”
