During and post-COVID, many from this newspaper’s readership started using their Shore homes throughout the year leading to more year-round restaurants and businesses. Added to the Urban Dictionary in 2010, “shoobie” began as slang for a New Jersey, Delaware or California seashore day-tripper, and evolved to refer to someone with a summer beach home whose permanent residence is elsewhere.
According to World Population Review, in 2024 nearly 18 percent of New Jersey’s population identifies as Italian. Only Rhode Island and Connecticut ranked higher.
And the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which collected data from 2018 to 2022, found that Hammonton Township, which hosted the nation’s first Italian festival 149 years ago, was home to nearly 6,000 people who identify as Italian or Italian American – 35.3 percent of the population. An area called Dover Beaches South in Toms River Township, while not an incorporated place, is home to 707 people who identified as Italian or Italian American – about 48 percent of the year-round population.
Why? Because our ancestors immigrated from what’s known as the mezzogiorno, the southern regions in Italy. They traded the Adriatic, Tyrrhenian and Ionian seaside villages near Abruzzo, Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Sicily and Sardinia for the Atlantic Ocean’s open seas and farmland.
My family has been going back and forth, year-round, to the seashore my entire life. I can count on one hand the summers I missed.
On the Way to Cape May, did you know there was a train to the South Jersey Shore? Actually two, the Cape May line was built in 1863. Both were abandoned early in the 20th century. Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano recounts his immigrant grandfather was due to get off in Atlantic City, fell asleep on the train, woke up in Wildwood and stayed. Their family business is now over 100 years old. I remember crossing over the abandoned railroad tracks of New Jersey & Wisteria Ave in Wildwood Crest because my mother’s immigrant parents, Guido Acciavatti & Lucia Nobilio, built a house (circa 1950) still standing today for their eight children and later for us grandchildren to enjoy.
So many family names from Accaciavatti to Zippi included: DiGiulio, Spica and Cappetto. I remember catching crabs from the public pier down the block, singing in Crest Pier talent shows and dancing to the “big band” sounds of a live orchestra.
My parents “retired” down the Shore. My dad was the first Zippi on the island and served as harbor master in Wildwood Crest for years. He had a fisherman’s dream garage refurbishing reels and making custom fishing rods. Mom Rita Zippi “retired” as a Wildwood Crest Bank manager, then “retired again” from Cape May County Division of Youth and Family Services and served as a Soroptimist International of Cape May County member for years.
Cape May County is becoming a popular wedding destination and it hit the next generation of my family. Niece Angela Zippi’s wedding at Shaw Crest Marina arriving as a Bride in the Tower, goddaughter Rachael Masse’s rain-soaked Cape May Convention Center “beach” wedding, nephew Paul Zippi’s 2023 “hurricane” wedding at Urie’s, and niece Sarah Masse honeymooned at Ocean Towers. How exciting for me to start sharing the shore with their children.
With beach taxies to the ocean’s edge and buses to the Atlantic City casinos, the seashore is on the doorstep to IAH readers as a family activity for everyone from babies to seniors and those with limited mobility. These towns hold events that draws crowds of thousands, so just as while visiting Rome, visitors are cautioned to be on their guard. When you see a police officer, thank them for their service.
IAH readers are proud of their heritage and culture and working together we can keep those traditions alive. Please share your shore stories or multigenerational stories on the IAH Facebook Community Page. Posts received by Oct. 1 will be entered to receive tickets to an upcoming Keswick Theater show.
One last thing: Check out the free online directory of Italian-American organizations, or add to it at italianamericanherald.com/survey