Ambo Point
You are standing where Perth Amboy’s history began. This is the place called Ompoge, meaning ‘point.’ The Lenni Lenape used these beaches for thousands of years before any European settlers arrived. In 1651, it was deeded by the Lenni Lenape to Augustine Herman, a Bohemian-born entrepreneur from New Amsterdam. Later, this Native American place name became “Ambo” and then “Amboy” on English tongues.
This is the section of the waterfront where the first houses were built by the Proprietors in 1683. Here it would have been easy to reach the water without climbing down a steep cliff.
During most of the 19th century, Perth Amboy was a fashionable resort. Water Street was lined by grand Victorian houses with large porches that caught the summer breezes. Remnants of the beaches lingered into the early 1960s when the water became too polluted for swimming. The well-tended gardens along Water Street disappeared as bulkheads edged the entire point and public park space expanded.
Marker is at the intersection of Water Street and High Street, on the left when traveling south on Water Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
