Want to Know the Real Story Behind JAWS?

Want some Jersey Shore history this weekend? Visit the Tuckerton Historical Society's Museum (in Little Egg Harbor) and learn about the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916.

Those attacks changed our perception of sharks and even inspired a little movie you may have heard of...JAWS.

Haven't seen the 1975 film JAWS? The story is said to take place in a quaint New England town called Amity Island. Replace the name Amity Island with the Jersey Shore, and the events of the movie and book are mirrored in the historical records of the Jersey Shore.

In just 12 days, July 1 through July 12, 1916, a shark or sharks killed four people and mauled 7 others along the Jersey Shore. People were in a panic because just a year earlier, the New York Times had said that sharks didn't seem to be dangerous in U.S. waters. The panic was so widespread U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had to handle the crisis. Wilson held special meetings with his Cabinet and dispatched the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard to get rid of these menaces of the sea.

So if you want some Jersey Shore history check out the program at the Giffordtown School House Museum, Leitz Boulevard on Saturday (July 9, 2011) at 2 pm. For further information call 609-296-2584.

Laura Giannotta

Click on any of the links below to:
Search the Jersey Shore MLS
View Daily Little Egg Harbor Housing Market Info
Find out about buying or selling a home at the Jersey Shore
Contact a Little Egg Harbor REALTOR®

Picture from wikimedia.org, Kmusser