Just saying the word “beach” or bringing your favorite beach to mind, will ease most people into a pleasant state of relaxation. For many, waves washing ashore on sandy beaches defines the ideal weekend or the setting for a perfect vacation. Looking at sunbathers on crowded beaches around the world, it would be easy to believe we’ve always been drawn to the shore for entertainment or relaxation. However this is far from the case, for most of history, the coast was a dangerous place.
Writing for the , in her work , Daniela Blea observes: “From antiquity up through the 18th century, the beach stirred fear and anxiety in the popular imagination. The coastal landscape was synonymous with dangerous wilderness; it was where shipwrecks and natural disasters occurred.” We may not know the pleasures of a seaside stay, if not for Cape May, New Jersey, when in the mid-1800’s it became the country’s first oceanside resort town.
