Long Beach Island: Those Who Dare by Joseph John Mezlo

This epic tale is the four-hundred-year saga of life on Long Beach Island, from its Native American roots to the COVID pandemic. Family stories are blended with national, worldwide, and storm events that shape the destiny of those living on this fragile barrier island. Throughout the story, the reader is introduced to Indians, whalers, patriots, murderers, thieves, entrepreneurs, rumrunners, suffragettes, politicians, scoundrels, and visionaries.

Long Beach Island: Those Who Dare begins with the Lenape Indians who first visit the island and find it a place of great beauty and bounty. With the help of the Lenape Indians, an enterprising Dutchman begins the first commercial operation on the island. The story progresses through the gradual influx of people who come to the island to hunt, fish, and enjoy the sand, surf, and sun. Future generations help rescue shipwreck victims, promote ways to warn sailors of the treacherous shifting sands just off the island and become among the first entrepreneurs to start a boarding house that grows into a flourishing hotel business. The stories are laced with romance, friendship, suffering, murder, treachery, bravery, and sacrifice.