Authentic Ocean City?

Despite having been born and raised on the East Coast and spending most of my adult life in its major cities (Philly, New York, and finally, D.C.), I’d never been to Ocean City, MD, before last weekend when I hung around there with my husband and his family.
   
My mom’s a big beach-goer and is pretty particular on her sunning spots. I may dare say she’s a beach purist. She likes broad expanses of sand; spindly egrets; tufted, virgin dunes; and minimal crowds. Her favorite beach spot along “the shore” (what we Pennsylvanians and New Jersyians call the Jersey shore) is Cape May, NJ. She prefers it for its busy but manageable beach and homey snack shops but mostly for its well-maintained, brilliantly hued Victorian homes, most turned into lucrative B&Bs. I respect her high standards and now see they’re probably why I’d never before been to Ocean City, MD.
   
Having said all of that, I didn’t expect much from Ocean City as we arrived and finally extracted ourselves from our too-hot car after four hours on the road from D.C. It was busy and commercial and built up. It smelled too strong of the vinegar doused generously on the ever-popular boardwalk fries. I looked around, went for a dip, sat with the family, watched the world go by, and had two pepperoni slices and a cold beer. It was a fine day but considering Ocean City through the lens of what we at IT and Traveler espouse–authentic, cultural, and sustainable travel–I thought Ocean City fell short. But did it?

As I looked more closely around me, at the amusement park rides that made me queasy just to watch, in the games of chance and the tacky, overpriced trinkets for sale, I saw an authentic slice of Americana. It was family friendly, no-holds-barred commerce and indulgence, and it was real.

Ocean City began pretty much in 1875 when the original Atlantic Hotel opened.

The railroad helped out in 1876 when it finally bridged Sinepuxent Bay.

Lifeguards began striding its beaches in 1878 and O.C.

became a municipality in 1880. The 1952 construction of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge helped the situation dramatically and made it easier for city dwellers from D.C. and Baltimore to spend a long day at the beach.
   

The city itself takes up 4.5 square miles. Its boardwalk meanders three of those. Its tourism bureau reports eight million visitors stop by for a day or more each year. There’s truly a lot to do there, including free concerts, beach bonfires, movie screenings on the sand, and even festivals well into the fall.

And, it’s doing its fair share to be green. In fact, O.C. has been awarded Five Stars for Water Quality by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of only six U.S. beaches to receive the accolade. This is the second year it’s received this recognition. The NRDC has also named O.C. a “Beach Buddy” for its environmental achievements. The city is an active partner in the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, created to help the region develop a plan to protect and restore the coastal bays.

The city itself also recycles, uses high-efficiency lighting, recycled concrete for the road base, and recycled glass in its asphalt. Its visitors guide, Sea for Yourself, is even printed on recyclable paper.
   
So, in the final analysis, though Ocean City isn’t isolated or particularly unique, while it’s not an out-of-the-way place much less a place of a lifetime, in its boom and bustle, it’s familiar and captures a big part of what an American summer is all about.

Is there a summer destination that’s close to your heart and authentic in its own way if not at first blush?

Where is it and why?

Photo: Town of Ocean City Tourism Office