up here in Maine - we have lots of beautiful small beaches and coves and ponds - often all to ourselves - and Cocoa Bch in Florida - where I lived in the early ‘60’s - is STILL uncrowded, the water clean - amazing
But WAY back, in the ‘40’s, when I used to go to Revere Beach in Mass - it was crowded and the water was filthy. I can’t imagine what it must be like theses summers. YUK
No way I’d go to beaches like that
Ha ha ha, I used to LIVE on Revere Beach (aka Tampon Beach), about 15 years ago. I was just starting out, and couldn’t afford the hipper neighborhoods of my friends in Cambridge or Summerville (I was shy and didn’t want roommates). Got a sweet, spacious basement apartment all to myself, right on the water, in the home of a lovely family. Every morning I would see the sun come up over Nahant as I got in my car. I always felt safe, and although I was farther away from the hot spots like Harvard Square or Newbury Street, I was minutes away from several awesome Italian bakeries, plus the good ole’ fashioned cheese of Rt. 1 in Saugus!
Can’t say I miss the wind blowing sand in my face first thing in the morning, air traffic from Logan so close a kite could get tangled, or trash from Kelly’s Roast Beef everywhere, though! Oh, and the salt spray KILLED my little Mazda MX3, LOL. Good times.
Oh, and my sister recently moved to Maine, Biddeford, to be precise, and she has a salt marsh for a back yard. It’s soooo nice. The clincher is, she moved partly to get away from her soon to be ex-husband, who is from....Revere!
It’s a shame, but here on the Jersey shore money talks. Paying slightly higher fees/driving a little further thins the crowd a bit (unless you get far enough south where you start encountering Pennsylvania people).
I’ve been to some lakes/pools in state parks in NY along the border with NJ, and they are packed (but cheap). They were built to provide recreation for people from the Bronx, and they serve the purpose well.