One of my happiest memories was painting that bridge! I graduated from RFH many years back and remember it being our tradition! I think every senior class at RFH had painted that darn thing! Wasn't too happy when I drove a U haul truck underneath and it didn't quite make it.. Tore the top of the truck right off!
Thanks for the great article! Makes me feel young again!

You were running through what is now my backyard ... I am sure the beer bottles we dig up did NOT belong to drama kids :).

Ha! Sorry, Sal! See, if you were there at the time, you could have found Libby! FYI, drama kids didn't really drink beer in those days ... uh, I mean soda. That's right, soda. There were certainly no beer drinkers at R-FH. Those kegs at the parties were filled with, uh, soda ... ;)

Ah, 2:34 a.m. A Rumson patrol car must be reporting to HQs that both sides of the McCarter Bridge had been freshly painted again with slogans supporting the RFHRHS weekly football game. Or perhaps HQs was being notified that about a dozen teenagers were interrupted while painting the bridge and were now running haphazardly in various directions. Or, maybe on one spirited late night it was being reported that the bridge had been wallpapered in purple and white football slogans. We were the unofficial official midnight school cheerleaders and proud of it. For our bridge painting finale, we built a papier-mâché replica of our bridge, painted it white with purple lettering, loaded it onto a boat trailer with a couple of us holding it in place underneath, drove it to the RBC football field just off of Shrewsbury Ave., convinced the staff setting up for the game that the bridge was for the Thanksgiving halftime events, drove the bridge onto the field after they opened the gates for us and set it down on the RBC side of the field. Then we drove off in the white convertible we had painted with purple water paint for each game that entire season. While our papier-mâché bridge met with a sad demise at the end of the second half, we comforted ourselves at the end of the game with both the game victory and the Shore Conference title for the second year in a row. I still miss driving under that bridge during football seasons. Sal, any Horlacher cans?

I know this was all fun and games, but to the cars that drove through the wet paint in the road, and it got all over the lower part of the car, wasn't too funny. Unknown to the drivers, the paint went unoticed,(probably latex water base) dried and was impossible to remove by washing or any other means than a trip to a body shop to have paint job repaired. I know a Porsche had to have a complete paint job because the paint (even latex) couldn't be removed. Like I said, it was all fun and games to our youth, but not to the people who suffered damage to their cars. I also know that some of the stuff painted on the "bridge", was really funny.

I forgot to add, I know. I'm just a cranky old person with no sense of humor and don't want kids to have a good time. Just remember, at one time I was also a kid and had my good times too. Just look at the other side of the coin now that "kids time" is over and things start to cost you money.

Elaine, now the cat is out of the bag! I am going to be grounded... What a night! I do remember disappearing as we were scampering away in various directions, but I don't recall who was driving the get-a-way car. Probably not me - i would have been too nervous! Such awesome memories... Libby

OMG! LIBBY!! We really thought you fell in that pool and met some untimely demise! How are you?? What a night it was, right? We were all crying and calling for you ... trying to figure out who would dive into that pool and find you. Hmmmm ... the getaway car ... as I recall, that's where we found you. That's another week's worth of grounding, young lady! ;)

Who would think that there would be a graffiti filled bridge in Rumson..but that is what made it special. The messages were short and honest and sometimes funny...it was twitter before twitter. It was a great place for true teenage expression. Driving under the bridge you were always anticipating the new message that someone painted. Parents even looked forward to seeing the new funny quote sunday morning. I still miss it when I drive down the road.

Patrick Thomas It wasn't the complaint about cars damaged by paint. The truth is, a small school bus with handicapped kids took the top off of the bus, and several children were slightly injured. Rumson, Fair Haven and the County had a meeting about the clearence and the arch of the bridge. School busses, garbage trucks and fire trucks all had to straddle the center line to clear the bridge, thus it was deemed to be a public safety issue and sadly, the bridge had to come down. I too hated to see a piece of local history become just a memory, but public safety came first, was just a matter of time for a serious head on happened. There is a claus in the agreement about truck restrictions also. My growing up memories were a big part of that bridge, and all the McCarter properties that went from Willow St. to Rumson Rd and from Fair Haven Rd. to Kemp Ave. to Rumson Rd. Lots of places to have a good time growing up around here. Never painted the bridge though.