NJ - Surf Club Shorts

While some historians have said that surfing on the East Coast began in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. in 1905, and others said it began in Virginia Beach in 1912, an unearthed newspaper story from 1888 suggests that Asbury Park may have been the spot.

A story that appeared in newspapers around the country on Aug. 4, 1888, tells of a dexterous "Sandwich Island Girl" from Hawaii who rode the waves in Asbury Park for three days in a row, astounding onlookers.

A picture of the supposed Island Girl appears on Aug. 18, 1888 in a different publication.

So, who was this girl with "skirts reaching scare to the knee" who brought surfing all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic?