Little Beach, New Jersey
Encyclopedia
Little Beach is a barrier island
along the coast of New Jersey
. It is believed to be the last uninhabited barrier island left on the U.S. Atlantic coast.
The island is now part of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
. Access is permitted only to researchers, who must apply for a federal permit.
In the early 1900s, Little Beach was a community on the verge of becoming a major beach resort. Plans to build a bridge from the mainland were abandoned in 1929, forever isolating Little Beach. For that reason, some call it the "Lost Island of New Jersey."
A few signs of a once-active community remain: ruins of a lifesaving station, poles for power lines, an outhouse, and a deteriorating dock stretching the width of the island.
Barrier island
Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...
along the coast of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. It is believed to be the last uninhabited barrier island left on the U.S. Atlantic coast.
The island is now part of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge
The Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge located in southern New Jersey along the Atlantic coast north of Atlantic City, in Atlantic and Ocean counties. The refuge was created in 1984 out of two existing refuge parcels created to protect tidal...
. Access is permitted only to researchers, who must apply for a federal permit.
In the early 1900s, Little Beach was a community on the verge of becoming a major beach resort. Plans to build a bridge from the mainland were abandoned in 1929, forever isolating Little Beach. For that reason, some call it the "Lost Island of New Jersey."
A few signs of a once-active community remain: ruins of a lifesaving station, poles for power lines, an outhouse, and a deteriorating dock stretching the width of the island.