Ed Murray I The Star-Ledger
By Peter Genovese I NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Every summer, it seems half of New Jersey heads to the Shore, braving endless traffic on the Parkway, pumping quarters into meters, and paying for overpriced boardwalk food, among other indignities.
Why do we put up with it all?
Because the Shore is in our DNA, that's why. We all have our special places down the Shore — the towns, beaches and restaurants we hit every summer, and that bring with them a flood of wonderful summertime memories. We also have our secret spots — the ones we don't always want to share with others for fear that they will spoil our tiny slice of paradise.
What are my secret spots? After much cajoling from editors, I'm finally ready to spill the beans. These are places that fly well under the tourist radar; places that distinguish a true Shore denizen from all those other daytrippers.
What are your secret spots? Let us know in the comments section.
Peter Genovese I The Star-Ledger
Strawberry Avenue, Commercial Township
It looks like the end of the earth. Drive to the end of Strawberry Avenue, Commercial Township, part of the other, overlooked Jersey Shore, the towns along Delaware Bay. The Strawberry Avenue boardwalk, shown here, takes you past a stark, surreal landscape with stunted trees, a fitful creek, a limitless sea of grass, and Delaware Bay in the shimmering distance. It's a scene guaranteed not to be on any welcome-to-New Jersey postcard.
Motts Creek Inn, Galloway
Minutes from the glitter and glitz of Atlantic City is the rustic, rambling Motts Creek Inn, a happy haven for locals, fishermen, bikers and folks just aiming to get away from it all. The view is of grass, water and sky, the kind of beautiful, spare emptiness typical of bayfront towns from New Gretna south. Minutes away is the Oyster Creek Inn in Leeds Point, another scenic waterfront retreat with good seafood.
Tim Farrell I The Star-Ledger
Harvey Cedars Clam Bar, Beach Haven
That something with "Harvey Cedars'' in its name is actually located in Beach Heaven is one of many surprises as this delightfully oddball seafood joint, nestled in what looks like just another house on the street. At the Harvey Cedars Shellfish Co. Clam Bar, they'll put your beer or wine or ice as you wait outside for a spot inside. Oh, and cell phones are prohibited.
Bivalve
Bivalve, named for the once-prosperous oystering industry, looks like a lonely speck on the map, but this tiny town is home to a Rutgers shellfish research laboratory, the Bayshore Center at Bivalve, the Oyster Cracker Cafe, the Delaware Bay Museum, and New Jersey's official tall ship, the A.J. Meerwald. Bivalve's boomtown days are long gone, but this is an almost-off-the-map town well worth exploring.
Andy Mills I The Star-Ledger
Great Bay Boulevard, Little Egg Harbor
Little Egg Harbor - not to be confused with Egg Harbor City or Egg Harbor Township - is in southernmost Ocean County. It manages to be both a Shore town and piney town, with deep pockets of woods in its Warren Grove and other sections. Just past Tuckerton Seaport and the Wawa in Tuckerton, head down Great Bay Boulevard, a long stretch of moody lonesome once you get past the scattering of homes. There's marsh and bay and birds, LBI and Atlantic City in the distance, and an overwhelming sense you're not in New Jersey anymore.
Island Heights
A town lost in Shore time, a Brigadoon amidst commercially cluttered Route 37 and girls-and-boys-gone-wild Seaside Heights, Island Heights is perched sleepily along the Toms River. Formed, like Ocean Grove, as a religious camp meeting/summer resort, the town is now best defined by what it doesn't have - no public beach, no commercial boardwalk, no rides. It is home to the Corner Deli Cafe and Playa Bowls (crew shown here). A visit to the Cottage Museum, open Saturdays, is a must.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
South Cape May Meadows Preserve
New Jersey is birder paradise - the World Series of Birding is held here every year - and one of the prime viewing spots is South Cape May Meadows in West Cape May and Lower Township, 200 acres of dunes, wetlands, meadows, and a mile of protected beach (beach use is restricted to nature viewing from March 15-August 31. There are marked trails, but the best way to experience the preserve is on one of the guided walks conducted by New Jersey Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory. If you're lucky, you'll get one led by renowned birder/author Pete Dunne (shown above).
Ed Murray I The Star-Ledger
Sedge Island
A litttle-known slice of Jersey Shore heaven in the middle of boat-choked Barnegat Bay, Sedge Island constitutes the state's first marine conservation zone. Teachers and students can partake of the three-day program, which includes kayak tours, marsh walks, fishing, crabbing and clamming. Alcohol is prohibited, and you're responsible for your own food. No noise, no crowds, no traffic; it's the anti-Jersey Shore. I spent a weekend there for my book The Jersey Shore Uncovered: A Revealing Season on the Beach. I didn't want to leave.
Mantoloking Bridge County Park
County parks are one of Jersey's underrated treasures, and there's something extra special about a county park with awesome waterfront views. The two-and-a-half acre Mantoloking Bridge County Park is a bit off the beaten track - it's on the Brick side of the Mantoloking Road bridge over Barnegat Bay leading into Mantoloking - but it's great spot for fishing, crabbing, or just avoiding the summertime Shore crush. There's a 70-foot-long pier, boardwalk, picnic area, and gazebo.
Peter Genovese I The Star-Ledger
Ocean View Bakery, Long Branch
They sure don't make them like this anymore. The Ocean View Bakery is where savvy locals - çops, public works guys, residents - pick up their carefully-stuffed sandwiches, made by Giovanna Avagliano, well into her 80s and still a force behind the counter. There are photos of Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and the Monmouth University football team on the walls, along with an autographed photo of James Gandolfini; a scene from "The Sopranos'' was shot here. Giovanna's husband, Ciro, passed away in February, but Giovanna, and the Ocean View, continue on.
The Giant Wheel, Wildwood
It's as obvious as rainbow-colored cotton candy, or a mountainous powdered-sugared funnel cake, but the 15-story high Giant Wheel on Mariner's Pier in Wildwood (not technically a Ferris wheel since it wasn't made by Ferris) is one of those Shore attractions that fall into the "let other people do it'' category. The best time to ride it is at night, when you float above the neon-lit magnificence of New Jersey's greatest boardwalk, far above the madding crowd.
Andy Mills I The Star-Ledger
The Intelligent Whale, Sea Girt
It looks like a giant concrete egg, or mouse, or antique rocket ship. The Intelligent Whale (in photo at left), a 28-foot-long hand-cranked submarine, was supposed to be a secret Civil War weapon but was not tested until 1887 because of legal disputes. It's most certainly the state's oddest vessel, and you can find it at the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey, a criminally overlooked attraction. In the museum's military vehicles storage area, you'll also find a dune buggy-like vehicle used in the Persian Gulf conflict, a guided-missile transporter from the Vietnam War and a Ford amphibious seagoing Jeep vehicle, the only automobile to have circumnavigated the globe. Admission is free.
Peter Genovese | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Cold Spring Brewery, Lower
Cape May County is an overlooked craft beer destination, with Cape May Brewing, 7 Mile Brewery, Ludlam Island Brewery and Slack Tide Brewing all calling the county home. One more: Cold Spring Brewery in Lower, housed in a renovated 1804 barn on the grounds of Cold Spring Village, a Jersey attraction that seems to fly perpetually under the tourist radar.
Strathmere, Upper Township
Being one of just five free Jersey Shore beaches should get you on any list, but Strathmere, part of Upper Township, is another Shore town notable for what it doesn't have: no boardwalk, no amusement parks or water slides, no parking meters, not even a pizzeria. But there's The Deauville Inn (whose website asks "Where the hell is Strathmere?''), Uncle Bill's Pancake House, Mildred's Strathmere Restaurant and The Old Shack, a sandwich spot. And don't forget Twisties, a red-shingled neighborhood bar with a great bayfront setting. The post office is on the ground floor of a faded white house.
Andy Mills I The Star-Ledger
James Garfield Died Here, Long Branch
It's not every day you find a marker that says a president died on what is now practically someone's front lawn, but that's where you'll find the stone marking the place where James Garfield died. The 20th President was shot by drifter Charles Guiteau in 1881, and he was moved by train to a cottage in Long Branch in hopes the Jersey Shore would be the best medicine. The cottage has long since been torn down, but the marker remains, at Garfield Road and Ocean Avenue.
Patti Sapone I The Star-Ledger
Absecon Lighthouse, Atlantic City
When it comes to Jersey lighthouses, Old Barney (Barnegat Lighthouse on LBI), Twin Lights in Highlands, and Cape May Lighthouse seem to get all the attention, but my favorite is Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City, maybe the casino city's least-heralded attraction. It's the state'a tallest lighthouse; climb the 228 steps to the top and you'll be rewarded with a breathtaking 360-degree panorama of beach, ocean and city.
Andy Mills I The Star-Ledger
Grassy Sound, Wildwood
The state's most determinedly isolated community, Grassy Sound is a smattering of homes and shacks minutes from Wildwood and in a world of its own. There are no streets, and to get to your house you walk along a boardwalk that zig-zags across the marsh (residents bring in food and supplies in wagons). In the 1880s the Anglesea Land Co. envisioned Grassy Sound as a Shore resort, even building a railroad connecting Grassy Sound to nearby Burleigh. The resort never went much beyond a hotel, and today Grassy Sound remains isolated and unique, if not downright peculiar.
Peter Genovese I The Star-Ledger
Gunnison Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
"Get naked or get lost'' is the unofficial slogan at the state's only legal nude beach. Most Jerseyans would be surprised to hear there is such a thing; since it's part of the federal Gateway National Recreation Area, it's not subject to local ordinances or pesky state shutdowns. Gunnison is tucked at the north end of Sandy Hook; parking lot G is 4.5 miles from the park entrance. If you're expecting Brazilian supermodels or rock-hard abs, you're in the wrong place; it's mostly the average American body on display, with lots of flab and sag.
The Inn at the Irish Pub, Atlantic City
The Irish Pub on St. James Place in Atlantic City is a well-known landmark, but how many people know there's a hotel upstairs, with neatly-kept and inexpensive rooms? A single room weekdays will set you back $25; the most expensive room is a double occupancy with shower for $90 on weekends. A travel guide once called the inn "a setting out of a Henry James or James Joyce novel,'' which sounds about right.
Ed Murray I The Star-Ledger
What's your favorite secret spot Down the Shore?
So what are your favorite secret spots Down the Shore, the attractions and beaches and restaurants you really don't want everyone else to know about? But ones you're about to tell us all about, in the comments section.
Russ DeSantis I For NJ Advance Media
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