Barnegat Bay is a small brackish arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 42 miles (68 km) long, along the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States. It is separated from the Atlantic by the long Island Beach State Park (colloquially called a "barrier island"), as well as by the north end of Long Beach Island, popular segments of the Jersey Shore. The bay is fed by several small rivers, including the Toms River, the Forked River, the Metedeconk River, Cedar Creek, Oyster Creek, Mill Creek, Westecunk Creek, and Tuckerton Creek, all of which empty into the bay through small estuaries along its inner shore. The communities of Toms River, Silverton, and Forked River sit along the river estuaries on the bay.The bay connects with the ocean through the Barnegat Inlet, along which sits the Barnegat Lighthouse. The bay is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, entered on its north end by the Point Pleasant Canal and connecting on the south end with Little Egg Harbor via the small Manahawkin Bay. In a broader sense, Barnegat Bay is sometimes considered to stretch to the south end of Long Beach Island and to include Little Egg Harbor.Three bridges span the bay from the mainland to the peninsula: the Mantoloking Bridge from Brick Township to Mantoloking, and the Thomas A. Mathis and J. Stanley Tunney Bridges from Toms River to Ortley Beach. The Barnegat Division of Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge comprises wetlands along the inner southern part of the bay. Along the outside of the bay, on the peninsula, is the Island Beach State Park. Various islands within the bay are a part of the National Wildlife Refuge or the Sedge Islands State Wildlife Management Area. The northern tip of Long Beach Island includes the Barnegat Lighthouse State Park.HistoryThe area surrounding Barnegat Bay and Barnegat Inlet was described by Henry Hudson, in 1609, as "... a great lake of water, as we could judge it to be ... The mouth of the lake hath many shoals, and the sea breaketh on them as it is cast out of the mouth of it." The bay was originally named in 1614 "Barendegat," or "Inlet of the Breakers," by Dutch explorers of the coastline, referring to the waterway's turbulent channel. During the American Revolutionary War, the bay was used as refuge by American privateers.The bay has been a longtime center for commercial fishing. The village of Toms River was a significant whaling port in the 19th century. While still popular for fishing, Barnegat Bay has also become a popular destination for recreational boating. The water quality of the bay has been degraded by pollution in the rivers and creeks that feed it. The preservation of the bay's water quality has been an ongoing effort of several public and private organizations.The bay was immortalized by the famous writer E. B. White, who used it as a setting for his short story "The Family That Dwelt Apart", published in 1937 as the third story in his long running Preposterous Parables series in The New Yorker. It was adapted into the animated short The Family That Dwelt Apart, narrated by White, by the National Film Board of Canada.The song "My Eyes Adored You", by New Jersey native Frankie Valli, contains a reference to "walking home every day over Barnegat Bridge and Bay". On March 22, 1975, the song became a Billboard No. 1 hit.The Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation group, has done extensive work in the Barnegat Bay area for over two decades, protecting over 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) of land. The Trust recently began the new River to Bay Greenway, the primary goal of which is to create a 70-mile (110 km) multi-use recreational route across southern New Jersey from the Delaware River to Barnegat Bay.
Here’s a local business that supports the community
Google map- https://goo.gl/maps/BZqsGN32qHcLX1AYA
55 Schanck Rd Suite a-14, Freehold, NJ 07728
Be sure to check out this attraction too!