Long Beach Island


Long Beach Island is a barrier island and summer colony along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, on the Jersey Shore. Aligned north to south, the northern portion generally has more expensive low-density housing, whereas the southern portion possesses higher-density housing and considerable commercial development. Long Beach Island is 1–2 miles away from Mainland New Jersey. The primary industries include tourism, fishing, and real estate. The only access point to the island by land is a single causeway. The island is the southernmost point of the New York Metropolitan Area.
The island is home to about 10,000 people on a year-round basis. The population is distributed among six separate municipalities, the largest of which is Long Beach Township. However, the island's population swells significantly during the summer months and reaches about 100,000 people, including part-time residents and tourists, who are often referred to as "shoobies". The island's close-knit communities are largely affluent and contain vacation homes for wealthy individuals who reside elsewhere, primarily New Jersey as well as New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
The island and its properties and economy are expected to be severely affected by sea level rise. By 2013, sea level had increased by six inches and is expected to rise at least another six inches by 2030. Most projections suggest over a meter of sea level rise by 2100 and would require significant climate change adaptation to survive, making both property protection and an engineered retreat economically unattractive.

Geography

Long Beach Island is located north of Atlantic City east-southeast of Philadelphia and south of New York City. LBI is approximately in length, which includes of marsh protected as part of Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge located on the southern tip. The island is about a half-mile wide at its widest point in Ship Bottom, and spans at its narrowest point in Harvey Cedars.
Long Beach Island is bisected by State Route 72, formerly "South 40", which connects the mainland to the island at Ship Bottom. It is the sole access point for road vehicles to the mainland over Manahawkin Bay. This results in the division of the island into a northern portion and a southern portion. From the bridge northward, the island includes the communities of Surf City, North Beach, Harvey Cedars, Loveladies, High Bar Harbor, and Barnegat Light. From the bridge southward, the island includes the communities of Ship Bottom, North Beach Haven, Beach Haven, and the Holgate section of Long Beach Township at the southernmost tip of the island.

History

The Lenape people were the original inhabitants of Long Beach Island, utilizing the island primarily as a summer retreat for fishing and clamming due to its abundant natural resources in the early 1600s. It wasn't until the 1690s, when the island became continuously settled on, initially by hunters and Europeans. Barnegat Inlet, to the north of the island, was an important path for freight shipments and whaling from the 17th century through the 20th century. Due to the inlet's importance and its turbulent waters, a lighthouse tower was constructed in 1835 to guide shippers through the area. Still, it was inadequate to ships, constantly being mistaken for another passing ship because the light was fixed. Erosion problems destroyed the tower in 1857, two years before the current Barnegat Lighthouse was completed in 1859, flashing at each compass point every 10 seconds. It was constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers under the supervision of George Gordon Meade, famous for leading the Union forces to victory four years later during the Civil War at the Battle of Gettysburg. The United States Life-Saving Service built Station #17 in Barnegat Light around 1872, which continues today as a United States Coast Guard station.
File:Shack 1985 Large.jpg|thumb|A lone fishing shack, a landmark to drivers entering LBI, stood dilapidated in the marsh alongside Route 72 until it was destroyed in Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
A developing tourism sector prompted the Tuckerton Railroad to build a bridge across Barnegat bay that ran from Barnegat city to Beach Haven; the tracks were completed in 1886 and were leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 included a fatal attack in Beach Haven, killing University of Pennsylvania student Charles Vansant in July 1916, which partly inspired the book Jaws. A severe winter storm in 1920 destroyed most of the beaches along the island, several hotels, and reopening the new inlet in Holgate. A storm in 1923 further diminished the tourism sector, resulting in the discontinuation of train service to Barnegat City between 1923 and 1926. In 1935, the railroad bridge to the mainland washed out, leaving the entire island without rail service.
Several storms throughout the island's history have resulted in the island being split in two, with the division occurring at the island's narrowest point in Harvey Cedars. The most famous of such storms was the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962, which split Long Beach Island into numerous pieces and nearly destroyed the island in its entirety. The storm caused the destroyer USS Monssen to run aground in Beach Haven Inlet, Long Beach Township. The existing Route 72 Causeway was erected in the late 1950s, which replaced a low-level two-lane automobile bridge which in itself had replaced the previously destroyed railroad bridge.

Hurricane Sandy

In late October 2012, portions of Long Beach Island were significantly damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Residents were evacuated, and portions of the island were severely flooded, with the ocean meeting the bay in isolated spots. Streets were left covered with up to four feet of sand in some spots. The nine-foot storm surge and 18-foot seas that pounded the barrier island damaged several homes along the ocean and bayfront communities.
The Manahawkin Bay Bridge remained closed to residents for a full 13 days following the storm. Locals were prohibited from returning to the island except for brief visits to retrieve belongings. Bulldozers and front-end loaders moved hundreds of tons of sand, along with power lines and boats, in an attempt to make the roadways passable. Long Beach Island was finally re-opened to residents and building owners on November 10, with the exception of the Holgate section of Long Beach Township, where infrastructure and road damage was still too dangerous. However, island officials warned that some areas were still without sewerage, water and electric service at that time.
Damage was distributed unevenly throughout the island. Areas with a protective dune system had limited damage, while areas without dunes or where dunes were breached received significantly more damage. In those neighborhoods — in sections like Holgate, on the island's southern tip — destruction was severe. The protective dunes, an ambitious project developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, have been a source of controversy in recent years and have led to conflict between local officials arguing for the need of dunes and property owners who felt that the dunes devalued their property. As such, the work is incomplete and there are significant breaks in the dune system. Other hard-hit areas included Loveladies and North Beach. Areas where the dune system was in place fared much better, such as Harvey Cedars, Ship Bottom, Surf City and Barnegat Light.
Electricity was restored to 70% of the Island by November 4, 2012. By November 20, 2012, natural gas service was restored to nearly the entire Island.
By mid-November, many businesses were re-opened on Long Beach Island with life resuming as normal for much of the Island by mid-December.

Demographics

There are six separate municipalities on Long Beach Island. Long Beach Township is the largest of these, and subdivides into multiple neighborhoods:
In the 1970s, an article in Philadelphia Magazine quipped that, "The haves turn right and the have mores turn left," referring to the option of turning right or left when arriving on the island from the bridge. Nominally accurate, the low-density northern end of the island, Loveladies, North Beach, and the surrounding neighborhoods are home to an assortment of large-scale waterfront homes which attract considerable attention from visitors and are often the source of rumors regarding vacationing celebrities during the summertime. The southern community of Beach Haven features historic and elegant Victorian homes that have survived the many storms. The south end contains significantly more commercial zoning, which generally decreases north of the bridge. Year-round residents and businesses in operation are more common toward the southern end of the island, particularly in the larger boroughs of Beach Haven and Ship Bottom.
Long Beach Island typically attracts a family-oriented crowd during the summertime, unlike more frenzied beach vacation destinations such as Belmar and Seaside Heights. The island has not contained a boardwalk since the one in Beach Haven was washed away by the 1944 hurricane, and the nightlife is limited to a few bars. Visitors generally participate in activities such as miniature golf, parasailing, jet-skiing, walking, shopping, and relaxing on the beaches. The island has a reputation as a base for many long-range recreational fishing and charter boats, whose trips can range from from one of the island's two inlets In 2009, the Lighthouse International Film Festival was launched on the island. The three-day event screens films in venues throughout the island. Other art venues include the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven and numerous art galleries throughout the island. The Surflight Theatre was closed due to foreclosure but has now reopened with plans to expand the number of shows presented yearly.