If you want the best public seat on Long Beach Island to view the ocean, head on over to the Long Beach Township's pavilion at 68th Street. It's the only public viewing area along the 21 miles of Long Beach Island (see why it's not 18 miles below). It's also the headquarters for the beach patrol so there are restrooms and showers. And you can watch lifeguards practicing their lifesaving skills.
Looking across from the pavilion, you'll see Bayview Park which offers just that -- a good view of the Barnegat Bay.
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Making sense of Long Beach Township
Long Beach Township's has four separate non-contiguous sections of the island: Loveladies, North Beach, Holgate and the focus on this story -- the mid-island beaches that straight for five straight miles. From north to south, you'll find the following beaches:
Brant Beach
Beach Haven Crest
Brighton Beach
Peahala Park
Beach Haven Park
Haven Beach
Dunes
Beach Haven Terrace
Beach Haven Gardens
Spray Beach
North Beach Haven
All of these beaches can be accessed with a Long Beach Township beach badge. Beach Haven to the south is a separate community with a separate beach badge.
Don't let anyone tell you LBI is18 miles long
The conventional wisdom is that LBI is 18 miles long. But apparently this notion was begun by the road crews who paved the first road from Old Barney to Holgate to the south. As measured by the concrete road from Old Barney parking lot to Holgate, LBI is 18 miles.
In Barnegat Light, using a simple online pedometer tool, you can see that walking the beach from the jetty to 30th Street along the beach is considerably longer than driving from the northern most point to 30th Street. It's already more than 18 miles long, and that's not accounting for the three miles of the coastline at the southern tip along the Edwin Forsythe Wildlife Refuge. It's 21 miles at least.
Where Long Beach Island gets its name
Long Beach Island's name comes from its continuous 21 miles of beaches and dates back to at least the early 1800s. The township takes its name from the island. With the coming of the Pennsylvania Railroad trestle across Barnegat Bay in 1886 to Beach Haven, communities in this part of the township including Spray Beach, Beach Haven Terrace and Brant Beach were quickly established.
Tips for Visiting Long Beach Township from Brant Beach to North Beach Haven
What's New: New paint for the water tower. See photo above.
Access and Parking: To reach Long Beach Township's mid-island section from Brant Beach to North Beach Haven head south on Long Beach Boulevard. Starting in Ship Bottom, the streets use a numbering system until you reach 100th Street. However, the street numbering system in Beach Haven Gardens restarts with 36th Street and counts down to 2nd street in Beach Haven. As a result, just in this section of Long Beach Township, there are two 34th streets, two 33rd streets, etc. Parking is free
Amenities: The Pavilion at 68th Street has restrooms and showers.
Beaches: Beach badges are required daily from June 19 to Labor Day for people ages 12 to 64. Full season badges are $45 for this age range and $5 for people 65 years and older. Weekly badges are $20. Daily badges are $10. There is no cost for people 11 years of age and under.
Follow Jersey Shore author and expert R.C. Staab as he recounts his 2021 walk of every beach along the 139 miles of the Jersey Shore coastline from Sandy Hook to Cape May. Read all updated stories at www.JerseyShoreWalk.com.
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Thanks for the article. where are the best places to park along the Long beach township beaches. Thanks.