Island Beach State Park

Island Beach State Park, near Seaside Park, protects one of the last largely undeveloped stretches of barrier island on the Jersey Shore, most of which has been built up with beach towns. Industrialist Henry Phipps purchased the land in 1926 intending to build a resort community, but the plans collapsed during the Great Depression, and the state acquired the property in 1953. The park has become a key site in the recovery of the osprey, hosting nesting platforms that helped the species rebound after the pesticide DDT nearly wiped it out along the East Coast. Its dunes and maritime forest remain much as they were before large-scale shore development.