Five Mile Beach or Holly Beach is the name of a

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of Dune, dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything fro ...

on the

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

Cape May County Cape May County is the southernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Much of the county is located on Cape May bound by Delaware Bay to its west and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and east. Adjacent to the Atlantic coastline are fiv ...

. The popular resort area collectively known as

The Wildwoods The Wildwoods are a group of five communities (four distinct municipalities and one census-designated place) in Cape May County, New Jersey. These are situated on the Island of Five Mile Beach, a barrier island facing the Atlantic Ocean. These Jer ...

are on Five Mile Beach and adjacent islands.

Geography

Five Mile Beach is a barrier island along 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 ...

between

Hereford Inlet Hereford Inlet is an inlet in Cape May County, New Jersey. Geography Hereford Inlet separates Seven Mile Island from Five Mile Beach. It was described in 1834 as, Hereford Inlet was described in 1878, ''viz''., History Hereford Inlet is labe ...

on the northeast, and the former

Turtle Gut Inlet Turtle Gut Inlet was an inlet located in what is now Wildwood Crest, in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States. Geography Turtle Gut Inlet separated Five Mile Beach from Two Mile Beach, both of which are now connected. The inlet was app ...

on the southwest. Grassy Sound, Richardson Sound, Taylor Sound and Sunset Lake, as well as an expanse of

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

and tidal channels separates Five Mile Beach from the mainland. The closing of Turtle Gut Inlet in 1922 has made Five Mile Beach continuous with

Two Mile Beach Two Mile Beach is a barrier island on the Jersey Shore in Cape May County, since 1922 connected to Five Mile Beach. Geography Two Mile Beach is a barrier island along the Atlantic Ocean between the former Turtle Gut Inlet on the northeast, and Ca ...

. Five Mile Beach was described in 1834 as, An 1878 description of Five Mile Beach is as follows, ''viz'',

Communities

Communities on the island include Wildwood,

North Wildwood North Wildwood is a city located on the Jersey Shore in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 3,621, a decrea ...

and

Wildwood Crest Wildwood Crest is a borough in Cape May County, New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area in the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 3,101, a decrease ...

. Diamond Beach, a part of Lower Township, is on Two Mile Beach and land reclaimed as a result of the closure of Turtle Gut Inlet; West Wildwood is on an adjacent island.

References

Barrier islands of New Jersey Landforms of Cape May County, New Jersey Islands of New Jersey {{CapeMayCountyNJ-geo-stub