Avalon — A Real 1887-1888 Arthurian Naming Story, Richer Wealth Statistics Than Neighboring Stone Harbor, and the Genuinely True "Cooler by a Mile" Motto

A Real Arthurian Naming Legend, Confirmed Wealth Statistics, and a Motto Grounded in True Geography

Avalon's identity starts with a real, dated literary naming story that no other Jersey Shore market on this site can claim. Confirmed via the Seven Mile Times' own dedicated feature on the naming of Avalon: around 1887-1888, during the Seven Mile Beach Company's early development of the island, Rev. Charles Henry Bond proposed the name Avalon to his colleagues because the island's then-untamed landscape -- forests, dunes, ponds, marshes, flowers, and large cedar and oak trees -- evoked the mythical Isle of Avalon near Glastonbury, England, the legendary resting place of King Arthur. Bond went on to serve as the Seven Mile Beach Company's corporate secretary, and he founded the town's first newspaper, deliberately naming it The Round Table as a second nod to the same Arthurian legend. Whether The Round Table still publishes today, or any details of its operating history beyond its founding by Bond, was not confirmed this research pass, and no current publication status is stated here as fact.

Layered onto that naming story is a second, genuinely distinct identity: a richer, more specific set of confirmed wealth statistics than the affluent-market data claimed by neighboring Stone Harbor on the southern half of the same island. Confirmed via Wikipedia: Forbes named Avalon the 65th most expensive ZIP code in the United States in 2007; the 2010 census recorded a median household income of $88,527, a median family income of $135,781, and a per capita income of $99,655. Wikipedia describes Avalon as one of the most affluent communities along the Jersey Shore, with some of the most expensive real estate on the East Coast, and notes that Washingtonian magazine named Avalon the chicest beach in the Mid-Atlantic. These are dated figures -- the 2007 ranking and 2010 census numbers should not be treated as current -- and no current (2026) median home price, active-listing count, or specific current rental rate is stated here as fact.

Underneath both stories sits a real, geographically grounded civic motto. Confirmed via Wikipedia: Avalon's motto, Cooler by a Mile, reflects the town's actual position extending roughly one mile farther into the Atlantic Ocean than neighboring barrier islands -- a genuine geographic fact behind the marketing phrase, not just a slogan. Separately, Avalon's native landscape was originally a juniper forest; that native landscape has largely disappeared due to development, making hills and native juniper extremely rare in the town today, an honest before-and-after ecological story rather than a purely celebratory one. Avalon also maintains rock jetties and carries out ongoing beach-replenishment efforts to protect against erosion, a real, confirmed infrastructure detail distinct from North Wildwood's dramatic litigation-driven erosion story next door -- though no current jetty count, specific project name, cost, or completion date is confirmed here, and none is invented.

Avalon shares Seven Mile Island with Stone Harbor, both founded by the Seven Mile Beach Company, which developed the island beginning in 1887, with Avalon on the island's northern half and Stone Harbor on its southern half. Avalon was incorporated as its own borough on April 18, 1892, from portions of Middle Township, following a referendum held two days earlier on April 16, 1892. That shared corporate origin makes Avalon's own naming legend, wealth statistics, and geographic motto the genuine differentiators here, rather than a founding story alone -- Stone Harbor's own identity centers on its 1965 National Natural Landmark bird sanctuary and an independently confirmed but comparatively vaguer affluent-market description, giving each town on the island its own distinct, factually grounded angle.

On current figures, the honest approach is to hedge rather than guess. Avalon is a borough in Cape May County, New Jersey, on the northern half of Seven Mile Island; the 2020 census counted 1,243 residents, down 6.8 percent from 1,334 in 2010, across 5.06 square miles (4.27 land, 0.79 water), at an elevation of 7 feet above sea level, with a summer population swelling to as many as 45,000. No current (2026) permanent population figure beyond that 2020 census count, current median home price, active-listing count, or specific current rental rate is confirmed here -- do not treat any such number elsewhere as settled fact without checking its date; the 2007 Forbes ranking and 2010 census income figures cited above are themselves dated and should not be treated as current. This is also this site's sixth New Jersey market, and New Jersey's tax structure remains genuinely different from the no-state-sales-tax framing used across every Delaware market on this site: New Jersey does levy a state sales tax, and Cape May County and Borough of Avalon property tax rates and assessment structures are their own separate matter. No current New Jersey sales-tax rate or Avalon-specific property-tax rate is stated here as fact; direct those questions to Cape May County government, the Borough of Avalon's own finance office, and the State of New Jersey. No current FEMA flood-zone designation for any specific parcel, no specific current restaurant or shop names, and no dated 2025-2026 storm damage, erosion event, or beach-replenishment project specific to Avalon is stated here as fact. This page is independent research, not legal, tax, insurance, or financial advice; confirm anything time-sensitive with the appropriate licensed professional or local government office before making a decision.