Ocean Township administrative offices are located at 50 Railroad Avenue, Waretown, NJ 08758.
Phone: 609‑693‑3302.
Neighborhoods
The Township of Ocean is located along the Barnegat Bay inlet that borders the Atlantic Ocean in Ocean County. Development is situated at U.S. Highway Route 9 and Old Main Street in the Waretown section, at U.S. Highway Route 9 to Barnegat Bay around the coastal lagoons and surrounding properties, and on County Route 532 in the Greenbriar and Laurelwyck Drive section. Ocean encompasses two historical communities named Waretown and Brookville. Adjacent municipalities include Lacey Township to the North and Barnegat Township to the South and West.
Beginnings [1]
Barnegat Inlet was first explored by Henry Hudson in 1609 with his ship "Half Moon." Settled in the 1730s, Waretown is named for Abraham Waier, a Rogerenes or Quaker Baptist who constructed a mill along the numerous watercourses. The Rogerenes were expelled from Connecticut because of their hostilities against the Puritan Sabbath laws of New England. The earliest known settlement is a one-room house built along Mill Creek by Caleb Falkinburg, grandson of the first European settler in Ocean County. The house is currently listed on both the federal and state National Historic Registers of Historic Sites.
For much of Waretown's early history, the area served as a shipbuilding center at Shipyard Point between Waretown Creek and Skippers Cove. At this center, the biggest ship built at this center was the "Magellon" and the famous schooners include "Lydia Middleton," "Eva Holmes" and "Marie Pearson." However, with the advent of steamboat technology, shipping was replaced with charcoal production as the dominant economic driver. Until the 1920s, shell fishing that included harvesting of oysters, clams and scallops contributed to the economy.
Nearby Towns: Barnegat Twp • Harvey Cedars Boro • Lacey Twp • Stafford Twp •