Island Beach State Park
Beach · Seaside Park, New Jersey
TEN MILES OF UNDEVELOPED BARRIER ISLAND ON THE JERSEY SHORE, which is a sentence that should not be possible in the most densely populated state in America. Between Seaside Park and Barnegat Inlet the houses simply stop and there is nothing but dune, maritime thicket, salt marsh and Atlantic beach for the entire length of it — a single road runs down the middle and then ends. The state bought it in 1953 from the estate of a New York financier who had planned a resort and never built it. It holds the largest osprey colony in New Jersey and one of the last undisturbed dune systems on the mid-Atlantic coast.
2401 Central Avenue, Seaside Park, New Jersey, 08752, United States
Open daily year round from early morning to dusk with a PER-VEHICLE DAY-USE FEE IN SEASON, reduced or free off season; an annual state park pass is worth it for repeat visits. THE ENTRANCE GATE CLOSES WHEN THE LOTS ARE FULL, frequently before 10:00 on hot summer weekends, after which cars are turned back — there is ONE ROAD IN through the Seaside towns and no alternative. Lifeguards on designated beaches only, roughly late June to Labor Day, covering a small fraction of the ten miles. DUNES ARE FENCED AND OFF LIMITS AND IT IS ENFORCED. A separate mobile sport-fishing permit is required to drive on designated sand. Barrier island evacuation orders apply in hurricane season.
Island Beach State Park on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos