Jersey Shore Views...: May 2009

If Memorial Day weekend is any indication, summer 2009 will be a busy one here at the Jersey Shore not only for merchants and beach destinations by for home buyers as well. 
 
The weekend was jammed with home buyers looking for their little piece of the Jersey Shore.  After looking at homes for sale in Manahawkin and Little Egg Harbor, my Jersey Shore buyer clients wanted to cross the Causeway and visit Long Beach Island.  They had many questions about fishing, surfing and points of interest.

  .  . 

But perhaps the question I get most, from visitors and locals, is the question of public restrooms on Long Beach Island.  So if you’re planning a trip, here’s your pit stop info!
 
BARNEGAT LIGHT
Borough Hall - W 10th Street
Barnegat Light State Park (no beach bathing)
 
BEACH HAVEN
Centre Street at Ocean Front Deck
Dock Road and Schooners Wharf
Bay Village
Pearl Street & Bay
 
HARVEY CEDARS
Sunset Park
 
LONG BEACH TOWNSHIP
Holgate parking lot at Bay Avenue
Brant Beach parking lot at 68th Street
Loveladies parking lot at Harbor Street
 
SHIP BOTTOM
Borough Hall - 1621 Long Beach Blvd
Public Boat Ramp - 10th Street Waterfront Park
 
SURF CITY
Municipal Building on 9th Street
 
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s website also offers a lot of Jersey Shore information. 

By clicking here you can find out which beaches have lifeguards, where parking is allowed, public beach access points, surfing and fishing beaches and launch points for your boat! 

If you'd like more information on homes for sale at the Jersey Shore (southern Ocean County, NJ), contact me!

  
 
Keller Williams – Atlantic Shore
Laura Giannotta
609-384-6121
Laura@JerseyShoreViews.com

GET YOUR OWN JERSEY SHORE VIEWS!

(Homes for sale at the New Jersey Shore)

The 2009 summer season is underway at the Jersey Shore.  While the actual first day of summer is still nearly one month away, we all know that the Memorial Day weekend is the beginning!  

Your thoughts might be on the beach, but if you'd like to take time to participate in Memorial Day observances in southern Ocean County, NJ here's a rundown:

That's when a plane carrying nearly 400 members of the New Jersey National Guard's 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team returns home from Iraq.

The soldiers are the first to return from New Jersey's largest overseas deployment since WW II.  About 2,800 members of the Brigade have been in Iraq since September.  The remaining New Jersey Guard members are scheduled to arrive home on flights over the next two weeks.

Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore
Laura Giannotta
609-384-6121
Laura@JerseyShoreViews.com


Get Your Own Jersey Shore Views!
(Search homes for sale at the Jersey Shore)   

The results are in, and Long Beach Island right here in southern Ocean County, NJ ranked second in the 2009 New Jersey Top Ten Beaches Competition!

More than 23,000 took part in the online voting that began in February.  The results were announced this week.

Ocean City, NJ won first place overall...while Island Beach State Park in central Ocean County, NJ was replaced by Ocean City as the Best Beach for Ecotourism .  In all, Ocean City took three mentions on the Annual New Jersey Top Ten Beaches Survey.  It was also rated the Best Beach for Day Trips.

The survey is sponsored by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium/New Jersey Sea Grant and Stockton College's Coastal Research Center.

But Long Beach Island is still my favorite, and I'm not alone!  

It was also a favorite for families.  Not only did Long Beach Island take 2nd place on the overall Top Ten Best Beach List list, it was also ranked number one in the Best Beach for Family Vacations category!

Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore
 Laura Giannotta
609-384-6121
Laura@JerseyShoreViews.com

Get Your Own Jersey Shore Views!
(Search homes for sale at the New Jersey Shore)

A couple of things to watch out for this weekend on the Garden State Parkway in southern Ocean County...there are lane reconfigurations around Exit 67 (Barnegat) while construction on a new southbound entrance and northbound exit is underway.

Further south, there are also scary lane reconfigurations around the Bass and Mullica Rivers just south of the exit for Batsto Village. The replacement of the bridge has the toll road a mess!  

If you're unsure about Parkway driving or driving in the Garden State, you can click here for some NJ driving tips!  I also put together some interesting factoids for you to share while you're waiting in traffic on the Garden Parkway, Route 539 or Route 72 this weekend...  

It's said that a phantom has appeared at night in the vicinity of the Toms River barracks of the New Jersey State Police since the completion of the Garden State Parkway in 1955. This phantom is very tall, wears a long topcoat belted at the waist, and waves his arms from the elbows in what has been described as a "strange football cheer."

New Jersey is home to the first boardwalk, constructed in Atlantic City circa 1870.

The Garden State Parkway is 174 miles long (though it might seem longer this weekend with so many Jersey Shore visitors).
  
Don't complain about mowing your lawn...the Garden State Parkway has over 3,000 acres of mowable land!

The largest kite flying festival in the world is held in Wildwood, NJ.

The Cohansey Aquifer, located beneath the New Jersey Pine Barrens, has more than 17 trillion (TRILLION) gallons of water, enough to cover all of the Garden State with 10 feet of water.

Tourism is the second largest industry in the state!  

For up-to-date traffic advisories on the Garden State Parkway, click here!  You can also call 732-PARKWAY!

Or you can see real-time traffic on the Parkway in Asbury Park here!   Sorry, we're neglected here in South Jersey, we don't have any live traffic cams yet!

Enjoy your visit and take care of our beautiful natural resources!  

Keller Williams Realty - Atlantic Shore
Laura Giannotta
609-384-6121
Laura@JerseyShoreViews.com


Get Your Own Jersey Shore Views!
  (Search homes for sale at the New Jersey Shore) 

It's late spring at the Jersey Shore, and that means the American Cancer Society's signature activity, Relay for Life, is fast approaching in southern Ocean County.  

If you haven't heard of Relay for Life, it offers everyone in the community an opportunity to participate in the battle to end cancer.  Teams of people camp out at a local high school, park or fairground and take turns walking a path or track.  

Participants get friends, neighbors, relatives and businesses to sponsor their miles in this two day event!  

Here in Manahawkin, (Stafford Township) New Jersey Relay for Life takes place at the Southern Regional High School, beginning Friday, May 29, 2009.  If you'd like to participate, there's still time to join a team, build a team, or just donate!

More information for the Manahawkin, NJ Relay for Life is available here!

Ocean County, NJ's big Relay for Life event is scheduled in Toms River, NJ on May 30th and 31st.  That's held at the Ocean County College, in Toms River.

Lacey Township, NJ will also sponsor a Relay for Life on July 18th and 19th. 

And here's something I received via email reminding me why we participate!

Going green could be a double edged sword for Jersey Shore utility customers. Atlantic Electric, the company that serves most of South Jersey and customers in southern Ocean County, wants to raise its rates 3.5%.

The reason it quite surprising!  Utility generation costs are too low!  

Now, you say, wait shouldn't our rates being going down?  Well that would be the case anywhere else but here in New Jersey.  

Back in the 1980's, in an effort to encourage independent energy production (that includes the excess generated by residential wind and solar power generation and sold back to the utility), New Jersey government set policies to allow a utility company to recover above market costs on power from independent generators.  This electricity is not sold to AC Electric customers, but it's delivered to the regional market.  

That worked well, while utility prices continued to increase.  Now prices on the regional grid system are down, and customers must make up that difference...the difference between what AC Electic pays for the power and what it ultimately sells it for on the regional market.  

The proposal has been submitted to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for approval.  The increase would be effective July 1, 2009.

If you live in New Jersey, or anywhere near it, you know the taste of the famous Jersey tomato!  It's nearly as famous as our cranberries, blueberries and, my July favorite, Jersey corn.  

Well, at some point in the future, those Jersey tomatoes might be taught to make anti-viral drugs when eaten!  A researcher at the Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, has received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue testing on a bio-engineered tomato to do just that.  

This was one of 81 $100,000 grants awarded by the computer giant's Foundation funding 'out of the box' medical research.  Other grants include a magnet that can detect malaria in human blood and tiny head colds for mosquitoes to keep these disease carrying critters away from humans!  

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also plans to donate $73 million to help farmers in impoverished countries.  This foundation is the largest philanthropic foundation in the world, giving more than $2.8 billion last year.  

And I didn't think Jersey tomatoes could get any better!

You might think it’s all scrub pines and sand here at the Jersey Shore.  But this area has played an important role in our nation’s history, and the evidence everywhere!

Just a short 30 minute drive from Manahawkin, NJ, you can find the Weymouth Furnace Park.

    

This 19^th Century south Jersey iron furnace produced iron from 'Bog Ore'.  The Bog Ore was mined in the swamps surrounding the Great Egg Harbor River and brought to the furnace by small barges, poled along canals.

The Weymouth Furnace cast cannons and cannon balls for the War of 1812 and the first iron pipe for the City of Philadelphia.  Stoves, pots and pans were also forged.

The site originally had a furnace, forge, gristmill, Methodist Church, sawmill, large owner's mansion, store, 20 workers' houses, a blacksmith shop, and a wheelwright.

  

In the 1860s, the forge had become obsolete as iron production methods improved and moved to areas where hard coal was plentiful. 

A paper mill was then erected on the site, after the iron furnace closed in 1862.  All operations at the Atlantic County site ceased in 1887.

Pack a lunch, bring your canoe or kayak or just walk the trails.  Enjoy a few hours in the cool shade of the 11 acre Weymouth Furnace Park, Weymouth Road (Route 599), just off of the Black Horse Pike (Route 322) in northwestern Atlantic County.

Of the 19 homes that sold in Barnegat during the month of April, 2009, 14 were single family homes.  The others were in adult communities.
  
Prices ranged from $181,000 in the Settlers Landing section of Barnegat for a 4 bedroom 1.5 baths to a waterfront that sold for $699,000.  That home has 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 136 feet of bulkhead and bay views. 

According to the Jersey Shore Multiple Listing Service (Ocean County, NJ), the Barnegat housing market has a 12 month supply of homes for sale with 229 single family homes listed.