The New Jersey Shore would not be a place where you would expect to see a model of Jerusalem as an outdoor summer attraction, but this was the case from 1879 to 1951. The model depicted in this postcard mailed in 1923 shows “Whythe’s Model of Jerusalem” which was on display in New York City on 14th Street before moving to Ocean City, N.J. in August 1879.
Whythe was Rev. William Windsor Whythe (1829-1906) who built this model with his daughter Carrie at a cost of $2,500 ($80,000 today). It was housed in an open-air pavilion that was modelled on the Dome of the Chain, a structure on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The model depicted Jerusalem at the end of the 19th century, and not during biblical times. It included 1,200 trees and was so accurate that people who had visited Jerusalem were able to identify areas and individual buildings. Visitors to Ocean City heard lectures about Jerusalem and were taken on virtual tours, which were spiritually uplifting to the mostly Methodist visitors who came for religious retreats. The model could be lit up at night using large portable gas machines.
By 1951, the model had fallen into disrepair due to the elements and vandalism. All of the buildings and trees were thrown out, and the area was paved in concrete reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s song ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ where she sings “They paved paradise.”
Jerusalem has been the subject of fascination for thousands of years. While the city is holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, it is only the Jewish people who have mourned the city’s destruction and who have longed through all those years that next year we will be back in Jerusalem.
Tisha b’Av is the day of mourning in the Jewish calendar where we recall the destruction of both the First and the Second Temples in Jerusalem. Tisha b’Av begins at sundown on Aug. 2.