LBI Neighbors

With all its allure and beauty, there is a tragic part to Long Beach Island history. The many fierce storms, dangerous shoals, and strong tides have made LBI a dangerous place for ships. The coast is dotted with the remains of many ships. Although Barnegat Inlet was one of the most dangerous and treacherous along the coast, a lighthouse was not constructed until 1835.

LBI was in the midst of two busy shipping routes – to and from New York, and from Europe to America. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, shipwrecks along our shores were a fairly common occurrence. At times, stormy northeastern winds blew strongly against the beaches. The Island’s sandbars and shoals made ships vulnerable to grounding and tearing apart. Some people even made a living selling the goods they found after a shipwreck.

The eastern oyster (Crassostreavirginica) is a bivalve mollusk which lives in shallow, brackish water, like the salt marshes of Barnegat Bay. An oyster is a shellfish with two rough shells that hook together at one end and surround a soft body. Oysters have strong muscles that hold the shells shut. They breathe much as fish do, using both gills and mantle. Oysters like to stay together in beds.

An oyster is a filter feeder that is able to withstand a wide range of temperatures. Eastern oysters feed on plankton and algae. They suck in water and filter out the plankton. Because they clean the water around them and get rid of pollution, they have important environmental value.

The Barnegat pirates roamed the dangerous inlet—unfamiliar to sailors new to the area—waiting for shipwrecks to occur. They would strip the ships of all their valuables. Sometimes, they would lure the ships—by deception. To fool a ship, the pirates would walk the coastline with lights hung on the necks of mules. The captain of a ship at sea would believe that another ship was sailing in safe territory. He would then run aground on the treacherous shallow waters close to the island, leaving treasures to be scooped up by the Barnegat pirates.

North Atlantic Greenland Right whales were once plentiful off the shores of LBI. They were called right whales because, when spotted from a wooden tower on the beach, they were the “right” ones to go after. The whales were easy to recognize because of calluses on their heads and a broad back without a dorsal fin. The right whale was a slow swimmer; 40% of its body weight was blubber. About 50 feet long, right whales had more valuable whale oil to harvest than other types of indigenous whales.

Coastal whaling was an exciting and dangerous job. When a whale was spotted from the shore, one would hear a cry of “whale off.” Men would launch small wooden boats into the surf, row out to chase the whale down, and kill it with harpoons. The huge mammal was towed back to shore, cut up, and melted down for whale oil. This type of whaling lasted more than 100 years—until whales disappeared from the ocean off LBI.

For early Barnegat Bay settlers oystering, clamming, crabbing, and fishing became a way of life. The first people here, the Lenape, harvested oysters and either prepared them for eating or preserved them for winter use. At the end of the American Revolution, oysters became a chief export from Barnegat Bay. “Farming” the eastern oyster was big business, especially in the 1800s.

The shallow waters of Barnegat Bay also provided a livelihood for clammers. Treading with bare feet and retrieving the clams with their toes, the clammers brought bushel basketfuls to market. More clams could be farmed by “chugging” with clam rakes from behind a slowly moving boat.

Some Baymen were fishermen, too, of course. Eel, herring, weakfish, bluefish, and striped bass were plentiful. In the surf, fish were caught in fish pounds. These were nets strung between poles about 100 feet off the surf beaches. Fish would swim into the nets. A few times each day, men would ride through the surf out to the nets in wooden boats, similar to those lifeguards use today, to collect their catch.

Harvesting salt hay and eelgrass became another Barnegat Bay trade for early settlers. Salt hay grasses grow above the water level of the Bay, in decomposed sedge areas. This slender, sinewy, hay-like crop was found in the upper areas of the marsh. It grew 1 to 2 feet high and was great feed for cattle and other livestock.

The wide variety of uses for salt hay made it a valuable crop for the early settlers. Besides cattle and horse feed, it was used for fertilizer and mulch. Cutting, raking, baling, and transporting salt hay from the salt marshes was difficult work. But there was plenty to be found here. Three tons of salt hay per acre could be harvested twice during the growing season.

In the 1800s, eelgrass and salt hay were used as insulation and for stuffing mattresses and other furniture.

With the arrival of the railroad in the late 1880s, there was a surge in the pound fishing industry on LBI. Trains were used to take the fish to market on the mainland. Pound fisheries were most active in the 1920s and 1930s.

The Barnegat Bay area remained mostly unpopulated until the 18th century. On the mainland, Tuckerton became an established port of entry for the United States, and also a fishing village and shipbuilding site. It became a popular embarkation point for many Quakers from communities in western New Jersey and Pennsylvania who wished to visit “18 Mile Beach” across the Bay. In the early 1800s, regular stagecoach routes were started through the Pine Barrens. Baymen sailed passengers over to LBI from Tuckerton and Manahawkin.

The quiet and informal atmosphere of Long Beach Island began with its first vacationers, Quaker families, and continued as boarding houses and resorts were built. The Philadelphia Company House (later, Bond’s Long Beach House) was built at the southern tip of LBI, and the Mansion of Health, in The Great Swamp area (Surf City). Archelaus Pharo started a steamboat ferry service to LBI and then decided to buy his own boarding house, The Parry House of Beach Haven.

The Barnegat Inlet area, at the north end of the Island, attracted many hunters and fisherman. Herring House (later the Ashley House) was built for these visitors from New York and Philadelphia.

In The Lenape language, this area of New Jersey was known as Scheyechbi, which means long-land-water.

Here are some other Lenape words:

Amochol: canoe, boat

Ehes: mussel, clam

Gokhos: owl

Kittahikan: great sea, ocean

Lekau: sand

Lenni Lenape: the real people

Manatah: island

Meechgalanne: hawk

Pakoango: turtle

Schajahikan: seashore

Tschimakan: paddle, oar

Tsquall: frog

Unalachtigo: people living by the ocean

Woapalanne: bald eagle

Zeewanhacky: place of shells (the coast)

Before the establishment of lifesaving stations in the 1870s, early hotels like the Harvey Cedars Hotel and Double Jimmie’s in Loveladies often functioned as temporary shelters for shipwreck victims. In 1871, Congress funded establishment of the United States Life Saving Service. “Red Houses” were built all along the Atlantic Coast to house paid crews. Stations were placed in six communities on LBI.

The 1870s and 1880s saw a great deal of growth in the resort business on LBI. Large hotels sprouted up and down the Island. These hotels had hundreds of rooms. In Beach Haven, The Hotel Baldwin and the Engleside were built. The Sunset Hotel and the Oceanic Hotel were constructed in Barnegat City, at the north end of the Island.

Before the late 1800s, the only way to travel to Long Beach Island was by boat: paddle wheel steamboats, large catboats, and sailboats. In 1886, a railroad bridge provided train access and tourism boomed.

The first automobile bridge to LBI, the Manahawkin causeway, opened in 1914. Originally, it was a very slow drawbridge. One can imagine the traffic backups in those days! As the roads improved and car ownership increased, the need for the train disappeared and the railroad bridge fell into disrepair. The family automobile and family vacation became a phenomenon.

In the 1950s, the creation of the Garden State Parkway changed everything. LBI became a pre-eminent tourist destination, and the Island saw a major increase in construction and housing development. Increased development meant the disappearance of natural open spaces. Many areas of wildlife and natural beauty are long gone from our Island.

Now we are at a juncture in the history of LBI. One way takes us down a foggy path of negligence and disrespect for the balance of nature. The other route leads us to thoughtful and considerate actions that conserve the beauty of our Island and our Bay. We have a choice about which direction to go.

Only 18 miles long, LBI has many different communities. Here are some of the more interesting town name derivations: Barnegat Light – Captain Mey, a Dutch explorer, first called the area Barende-gat—breaking inlet. Barnegat City became Barnegat Light after the first lighthouse was built.

Beach Haven – Early visitors came to this planned resort community as a haven from their mainland hay fever allergies. Some called the village Beach Heaven, then settled on the name Beach Haven.

Harvey Cedars – Originally the area was covered with cedar trees and many locals harvested salt hay for a living. At some point, the name evolved from Harvest Cedars to Harvey Cedars.

Loveladies – The U.S. Lifesaving Station #114 was known as Lovelady’s Station, for Thomas Lovelady, a local sportsman and landowner. Long Beach Park, the last developed area on LBI, reverted to its original name, Loveladies.

Ship Bottom – In the early 1800s, there was a shipwreck off the beach. A ship was found upside down with one survivor inside.The place of the shipwreck and rescue became Ship Bottom.

Surf City – A hurricane in 1821 changed the natural boggy landscape of the area known as The Great Swamp. It then became Long Beach City and eventually Surf City.