Gertrude Caroline Ederle was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Among other nicknames, the press sometimes called her "Queen of the Waves".
Gertrude Ederle
Gertrude Ederle: "People said women couldn't swim the Channel, but I proved they could."
Parade for Ederle along the Canyon of Heroes, 1926
The grave of Gertrude Ederle
Highlands is a borough in northern Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. An historic waterfront community located on the Raritan Bay within the Raritan Valley region, this scenic borough is a commuter town of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,621, a decrease of 384 (−7.7%) from the 2010 census count of 5,005, which in turn reflected a decline of 92 (−1.8%) from the 5,097 counted in the 2000 census. The eastern part of the town is on a high bluff that overlooks Sandy Hook Bay, the entrance to New York Harbor, and the Atlantic Ocean, from which the borough derives its name. Atop this bluff are the Navesink Twin Lights.
The eastern shore of Highlands borough, topped on a bluff by the Twin Lights of the Navesink
Highlands, New Jersey, with part of Sandy Hook at right
Route 36 northbound entering Highlands