Bradley Buildings That Tell Stories

What the Past Holds

By: Anthony DiMaio
Remembering Bradley Beach and the Stories Beneath the Surface
In my beach town on the Jersey Shore, home buyers can’t wait to jump on any property and build out some structure, clean, white, with many windows and decks, but so often so much history is demolished. I could walk down the blocks and identify an old Baptist summer retreat house, a row of one-story beach homes that were once owned by one or two families. But now, the demo crews can’t keep up with the demand to level and create some sort of shore palaces of leisure.

We don’t just inherit land. We inherit the layers of meaning built into it—brick by brick, name by name, horse by horse.

As I look out on the quiet streets of Bradley Beach, New Jersey, I see more than beach homes and boardwalks. I see the echo of something older—something rooted in values, people, and purpose.

A Town With Intentional Origins
Bradley Beach, named after developer James A. Bradley, shares a namesake with its more famous neighbor, Asbury Park. Bradley wasn’t just a builder—he was a man who named towns after bishops and laid out spaces with a vision for community, commerce, and spiritual grounding.

That wasn’t by accident. That was value-driven development—long before “placemaking” was a buzzword.

Forgotten Stories in Vacant Lots
One such story lives—or lived—on Newark Avenue. It was a simple, vacant lot until recently. Most wouldn’t look twice. But it held a long barn, a forgotten structure that once housed over a dozen horses.

It belonged to the Quixley family, a name that locals might recognize. Charles Alan Quixley, the family patriarch, passed away during the pandemic. Quietly, with little fanfare, properties were sold, and a legacy thinned out.

Alan’s great-great grandfather, William B. Bradner, was a business partner of James A. Bradley, for whom the Borough is named. These two men combined their interests, and Bradley Beach was incorporated on March 13, 1893. The Borough’s incorporation was confirmed on March 13, 1925.

When I ran across a picture I took when it was for sale, it said something. But that open lot of land with its barn seems to have its own legacy built-in… It reminded us that Bradley Beach, like much of the Jersey Shore, had an equestrian history amongst other roots.

We don’t associate the Shore with horses anymore—but we should. Monmouth Park. Freehold Raceway. These weren’t outliers. They were landmarks and benchmarks in a culture that enjoyed a rich heritage of horses, riders, and times spent in a saddle. The Shore wasn’t just about surfboards – an integrated agrarian culture marked the pace of life.

More Than Structures—Symbols
Old barns. Empty lots. Names on deeds. These aren’t just artifacts. They’re symbols. They tell us what people valued:
■ Space for animals meant self-sufficiency 
■ Naming a town after a bishop meant anchoring civic life in faith
■ Owning property meant building generational stability

We often talk about progress—and we should—but honoring the past doesn’t mean living in it. It means learning from what was built and preserved, and more importantly, why it was.

Holding Onto What Matters
You can’t hold back time, and so you can’t hold back the builders–they are not only coming, they are here.

As new development continues up and down the Shore, I hope we don’t forget to preserve more than structures. Let’s preserve the stories. Let’s remember that each parcel of land once held dreams—sometimes on horseback.

And maybe, just maybe, the values those early residents held—resilience, rhythm, rest, and rootedness—are still worth building around.

If you have any questions about this information or title insurance, please contact Ralph Aponte: 732.914.1400.