Barnegat Township, New Jersey
Encyclopedia
History
Barnegat gets its name from nearby Barnegat BayBarnegat Bay
Barnegat Bay is a small brackish arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles long, along the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States. It is a long barrier peninsula, as well as by the north end of Long Beach Island...
and Barnegat Inlet
Barnegat Inlet
Barnegat Inlet is a small inlet connecting the Barnegat Bay with the Atlantic Ocean in Ocean County, New Jersey. It separates Island Beach State Park and the Barnegat Peninsula from Long Beach Island...
. The inlet was originally "Barendegat," or "Inlet of the Breakers," and was named by Dutch settlers in 1614 for the waterway's turbulent channel.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 15,270 people, 5,493 households, and 4,191 families residing in the township. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 440.4 people per square mile (170.1/km²). There were 6,066 housing units at an average density of 175.0 per square mile (67.6/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 94.75% White, 2.21% African American, 0.09% Native American, 1.00% Asian, 0.70% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.86% of the population.
There were 5,493 households out of which 35.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.0% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 20.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the township the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $48,572, and the median income for a family was $56,093. Males had a median income of $42,460 versus $28,452 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the township was $19,307. About 5.1% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.7% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
Local government
Barnegat Township is governed under the TownshipTownship (New Jersey)
A township, in the context of New Jersey local government, refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government. As a political entity, a township is a full-fledged municipality, on par with any town, city, borough, or village, collecting property taxes and providing...
form of government with a five-member Township Committee. The Township Committee is elected directly by the voters in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with one or two seats coming up for election each year. At an annual reorganization meeting, the Township Committee selects one of its members to serve as Mayor and another as Deputy Mayor.
members of the Barnegat Township Committee are Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Jeffrey Melchiondo (R
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, 2012) Deputy Mayor
Deputy Mayor
Deputy mayor is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official in many local governments. Many elected deputy mayors are members of the city council who are given the title and serve as acting mayor in the mayor's absence...
Al Cirulli (R, 2012), Al Bille (R, 2013), Martin Lisella (R, 2011) and Leonard Morano (D
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, 2011).
Local politics
The majority of the Barnegat Township Committee ran as Republicans, with the exception of Len Morano. Morano is a former member of a loosely organized group called the Pick-it-Plus Boys. The Pick-it-Plus boys are a group of older residents who stand outside the local Pick-it-Plus convenience store and talk politics. They have been both credited with being a grass-roots movement with an impact on local government, and villainized for being a group of "nit-picking blowhards, part of why town politics are so venomous."Federal, state and county representation
Barnegat Township is in the 3rd Congressional district and is part of New Jersey's 9th state legislative district. The legislative district was unchanged based on the results of the 2010 Census.Education
The Barnegat Township School DistrictBarnegat Township School District
The Barnegat Township School District is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in Kindergarten through eleventh grade from Barnegat Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States....
now serves public school students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district (with 2008-09 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
) are four K-5 elementary schools (except as noted) —
Cecil S. Collins Elementary School (396 students),
Joseph T. Donahue Elementary School (304),
Lillian M. Dunfee Elementary School (344; PreK-5) and
Robert L. Horbelt Elementary School (432) —
Russell O. Brackman Middle School for grades 6-8 (766) and
Barnegat High School
Barnegat High School
Barnegat High School is a comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Barnegat Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, operating as a part of the Barnegat Township School District....
for grades 9-12 as of September 2007 (1,091).
Transportation
In addition to easy access to and from the Garden State ParkwayGarden State Parkway
The Garden State Parkway is a 172.4-mile limited-access toll parkway that stretches the length of New Jersey from the New York line at Montvale, New Jersey, to Cape May at New Jersey's southernmost tip. Its name refers to New Jersey's nickname, the "Garden State." Most New Jersey residents refer...
, Barnegat is a hub of major state and county highways. Route 72, which runs east to west, provides access to Burlington County
Burlington County, New Jersey
There were 154,371 households out of which 34.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.70% were married couples living together, 10.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.70% were non-families. 22.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.50% had...
and Philadelphia. County Route 539
County Route 539 (New Jersey)
County Route 539, abbreviated CR 539, is a county highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The highway extends from Main Street in Tuckerton to U.S. Route 130 in Cranbury Township. However, signage on CR 539 suggests that it crosses U.S...
, which intersects Route 72, links the Township with Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
. U.S. Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway split the Township east-west.
New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
provides bus service to Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
on the 559 bus route.
In popular culture
Barnegat's annual Pirate Festival was featured in the Spike TVSpike TV
Spike is an American cable television channel. It launched on March 7, 1983 as The Nashville Network , a joint venture of WSM, Inc...
show 1000 Ways to Die
1000 Ways to Die
1000 Ways to Die is a docufiction anthology television series that premiered on May 14, 2008 on Spike. The program recreates unusual supposed deaths and debunked urban legends and includes interviews with experts who describe the science behind each death...
, which shows fictional clips of unusual deaths. In that particular episode, it showed a sword-swallower who tried to swallow an umbrella, puncturing his esophagus and killing him. The incident is said to have taken place in 2007, although there are no records of this actually happening.
Noted Residents
- Juan AgudeloJuan AgudeloJuan Sebastián Agudelo is a Colombian-born American soccer player. He currently plays for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer....
(born 1992), soccer player for the New York Red Bulls and the United States men's national soccer teamUnited States men's national soccer teamThe United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...
.
External links
- Barnegat Township website
- Barnegat Township School District
- Data for the Barnegat Township School District, National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
- Barnegat Fire Company - Station 11
- Barnegat Branch of Ocean County Library
- Lets Talk Barnegat public interactive blog