Seawalls and Bulkheads in Barnegat Light, New Jersey
Barnegat Light sits at the very northern tip of Long Beach Island, a tiny 1.20-square-mile borough — 0.83 square miles of land and 0.37 square miles of water — bounded by Barnegat Bay to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and Barnegat Inlet to the north. This page does not state a current bulkhead or seawall permit cost, a specific construction standard, or an NJ DEP engineering requirement for Barnegat Light, because none was confirmed during this research pass, and guessing at one could cost a property owner real money or a failed inspection. What this page does have is the town's own documented reason for taking shoreline protection seriously: the original 1835 lighthouse tower collapsed into the inlet from erosion in 1857, and a run of 20th-century storms later drove the borough to build the jetties and earthen dams that still shape its shoreline today. For current permitting requirements, standards, and costs, go directly to Barnegat Light's own Construction Office and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP).
A Tiny Borough at the Inlet
Barnegat Light occupies the northernmost point of Long Beach Island in Ocean County, where the island ends at Barnegat Inlet. Its total area is 1.20 square miles: 0.83 square miles of land and 0.37 square miles of water. It is bordered by Barnegat Bay to the west, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Barnegat Inlet directly to the north, and Loveladies, part of Long Beach Township, to the south. That position, land squeezed between an open inlet and the open ocean, is exactly why shoreline stabilization has been a recurring, necessary project here rather than a hypothetical concern.
The borough itself is small by population too: 640 residents at the 2020 census, up 11.5% from 574 in 2010. A small, low-lying community sitting directly at an inlet mouth is a community for which jetties, dams, and shoreline structures are not decorative; they are the reason the land under the town's namesake lighthouse is still there.
Old Barney's Own Warning: The 1857 Collapse
The single most dramatic illustration of why shore protection matters in Barnegat Light is not a modern engineering report. It is what happened to the borough's own original lighthouse. An initial, roughly 40-foot lighthouse was built and commissioned in 1835, but mariners considered it inadequate for the job of marking the treacherous inlet. That original tower did not survive: it collapsed into the inlet in 1857, brought down by severe erosion at the water's edge it was built to watch over.
The lighthouse New Jersey visitors know today, "Old Barney," was built to replace it: designed in 1855 by Lt. George G. Meade, the same officer who later commanded the Union Army at the Battle of Gettysburg, with construction beginning in late 1856 and the tower commissioned January 1, 1859. At 163 feet tall with 217 interior steps, it stands as one of the tallest lighthouses on the East Coast, on a granite crib foundation built specifically to survive the erosion that had claimed its predecessor. A lighthouse rebuilt because its first version fell into the water is about as direct a case as exists anywhere on the Jersey Shore for why shoreline-stabilization infrastructure is not optional at an inlet like this one.
The Storms That Built the Jetties
The 1857 collapse was not the last time erosion forced Barnegat Light to respond. A severe winter storm in 1920 caused erosion serious enough that the lighthouse keeper's house had to be abandoned. Decades later, the borough faced two more major storms: the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944, and the March 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm, a nor'easter regionally remembered as the Storm of the Century that battered the entire Jersey Shore. No Barnegat Light-specific home-damage percentage or dollar figure for either storm was confirmed in this research, so none is stated here — figures reported for neighboring Ship Bottom, Surf City, or Harvey Cedars do not apply to Barnegat Light and are not restated on this page.
What is documented is the infrastructure response: jetties and earthen dams built in 1939-40, ahead of the 1944 hurricane, followed by further jetty improvements in the early 1990s. That sequence, jetties and dams built before the 1944 storm, reinforced again decades later, and dating back further still to the erosion that toppled the original 1835 lighthouse in 1857, is Barnegat Light's own shoreline-protection history, distinct from the storm-damage figures already documented for its LBI neighbors to the south.
What Bulkheads, Seawalls, and Jetties Actually Are, in General Terms
In general shore-protection terminology, a jetty is a rigid structure, typically built of large rock or concrete, extending out from shore to stabilize an inlet channel and reduce erosion at its edges, exactly the kind of structure Barnegat Light's 1939-40 and early-1990s projects addressed at Barnegat Inlet. A bulkhead is a different kind of structure: a retaining wall built at or near the water's edge, meant mainly to hold back land and prevent erosion behind it, often marking the boundary between a developed lot and open water on a bay or lagoon. A seawall is generally a more substantial structure built to absorb and deflect direct wave energy, more common on ocean-facing or inlet-facing property than on calmer bayside lots.
This page does not describe a specific material, height, footing depth, or approved design for a bulkhead, seawall, or jetty project on any particular Barnegat Light parcel, because current construction standards and NJ DEP coastal-zone requirements were not confirmed in this research pass, and those requirements vary by exact location, inlet proximity, and flood zone, and change over time. Property at the very tip of the island, close to Barnegat Inlet, can face different requirements than property farther south toward Loveladies. Anyone planning new construction, repair, or replacement of a shoreline structure in Barnegat Light needs current, parcel-specific answers, not a general description like the one above.
Where to Get Current, Authoritative Answers
For anyone who owns or is considering buying property on the bay, the inlet, or the ocean side of Barnegat Light, the two places to get current, binding answers about bulkhead, seawall, or jetty-adjacent construction, repair, replacement, permitting, and cost are Barnegat Light's own Construction Office, which administers local construction permitting for the borough, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates coastal and waterfront construction activity under state law. Neither office was the source of a specific figure or standard cited on this page, and that is deliberate: this page's job is to explain why shore protection is a real, long-documented concern in this specific borough, not to guess at what either office would tell a specific property owner.
A local real estate agent familiar with Barnegat Light's inlet-front, bayfront, and oceanfront blocks, and a contractor licensed for New Jersey coastal shoreline work, are the other two practical resources worth involving before budgeting any bulkhead, seawall, or jetty-related project, since a lot's exact distance from Barnegat Inlet can meaningfully change what is required and what it costs.
Adding It Up: What Is Real, and What We Will Not Invent
What is confirmed and real here: Barnegat Light is 1.20 square miles, 0.83 square miles land and 0.37 square miles water, at the northern tip of Long Beach Island in Ocean County, bordered by Barnegat Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Inlet, and Loveladies; the original 1835 lighthouse tower collapsed into the inlet from erosion in 1857, prompting the design and 1859 commissioning of the current Meade-designed lighthouse; a 1920 winter storm forced abandonment of the lighthouse keeper's house due to erosion; the 1944 hurricane and the March 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm both struck the borough; and jetties and earthen dams were built in 1939-40, with further jetty improvements in the early 1990s.
What we could not find, and will not fill in with an invented figure: a current Barnegat Light bulkhead or seawall permit cost, a specific construction material or engineering standard, a current NJ DEP coastal-permitting requirement or timeline, or a dollar-value or percentage home-damage figure for Barnegat Light specifically from either the 1944 hurricane or the 1962 storm. Get current bulkhead, seawall, and jetty-adjacent permitting requirements, standards, and cost estimates directly from Barnegat Light's Construction Office and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection before budgeting any shoreline project. Nothing on this page is legal, engineering, or financial advice.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data drawn from research on Barnegat Light, New Jersey, including its location at the northern tip of Long Beach Island in Ocean County, bordered by Barnegat Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, Barnegat Inlet, and Loveladies (Long Beach Township); a total area of 1.20 square miles (0.83 square miles land, 0.37 square miles water); population of 640 at the 2020 census, up 11.5% from 574 in 2010; the original 1835 lighthouse tower's 1857 collapse into the inlet from erosion; the current Barnegat Lighthouse, designed in 1855 by Lt. George G. Meade, with construction beginning in late 1856 and commissioning on January 1, 1859, standing 163 feet tall with 217 interior steps; a severe 1920 winter storm that forced abandonment of the lighthouse keeper's house; the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 and the March 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm ("Storm of the Century"); and jetties and earthen dams built in 1939-40, with further jetty improvements in the early 1990s. This research pass did not confirm, and this page does not state, a current Barnegat Light bulkhead or seawall permit cost, a specific construction material or engineering standard, a current NJ DEP coastal-permitting requirement or timeline, or a Barnegat Light-specific dollar-value or percentage home-damage figure for the 1944 hurricane or the 1962 storm. Get current bulkhead, seawall, and jetty-adjacent permitting requirements, engineering standards, and cost estimates directly from Barnegat Light's Construction Office and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and a current flood-zone determination from FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, before budgeting any shoreline-protection project. Nothing on this page is legal, engineering, or financial advice.