Barnegat Inlet is a small inlet connecting the

Barnegat Bay Barnegat Bay is a small brackish arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 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 "ba ...

with the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in Ocean County, New Jersey. It separates

Island Beach State Park Island Beach State Park is a New Jersey state park located just south of Seaside Park on the Barnegat Peninsula in Berkeley Township, Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Pa ...

and the Barnegat Peninsula from Long Beach Island. The

Barnegat Lighthouse Barnegat Lighthouse or Barnegat Light, is a historic lighthouse located in Barnegat Lighthouse State Park on the northern tip of Long Beach Island, in the borough of Barnegat Light, Ocean County, New Jersey on the south side of Barnegat Inl ...

sits at the northern end of Long Beach Island along the inlet. The area surrounding the Barnegat Bay and Barnegat Inlet were described by

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

, 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 inlet was originally named in 1614 "Barendegat," or "Inlet of the Breakers," by

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

explorers of the coastline, referring to the waterway's turbulent channel. Historically the inlet has been important to commerce to the Barnegat Bay region, allowing ships to access centers of commerce like Toms River. More recently, shipwrecks have attracted scuba divers to the area. The inlet is also a popular destination for

birdwatchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

.NJ Audubon Society
-Accessed on September 5, 2006. The continued threat of storms such as the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 reinforced concerns about the stability of the shoreline along the inlet. The construction of the existing

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying some ...

in the 1990s added a significant amount of land to the town of Barnegat Light, much of which was designated as parkland and now includes a bird sanctuary. The jetty has provided stabilization to the shoreline along the inlet, but requires frequent dredging.

References

External links

Island Beach State Park
from the New Jersey Audubon Society

from New Jersey Scuba Diver {{Commons category, Barnegat Inlet Long Beach Island Inlets of New Jersey Bodies of water of Ocean County, New Jersey

See also

References

External links