Avalon is known as a South Jersey seashore resort and has the motto "Cooler by a Mile" since it juts out into the Atlantic Ocean about a mile farther than other barrier islands.[27] Alternatively, the motto is because Avalon, at four miles long, is one mile longer than its neighboring town on the southern end of Seven Mile Island, Stone Harbor.[citation needed] It was ranked the seventh-best beach in New Jersey in the 2008 Top 10 Beaches Contest sponsored by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium.[28]
History
Around 14,000 years ago, the barrier islands of Cape May County formed, likely from spits and lines of dunes.[29] Originally a thriving juniper forest occupied by Lenni LenapeNative Americans, the area was purchased by Aaron Leaming in December 1722 for 79 pounds. Known as Seven Mile Beach (which included present-day Avalon and Stone Harbor), it was owned and retained by the Leamings for approximately 100 years. Unconfirmed legends say that pirates buried their bounty on Seven Mile Island, and that Henry Hudson may have dropped anchor somewhere offshore. The island served as a cattle range and was also used for its plentiful timber. The Leamings eventually sold the land, and the island exchanged hands in a number of transactions afterwards. In April 1887, the Seven Mile Beach company was formed. As early as 1893, Avalon was advertised as a resort town. With this rapid development, homes and businesses were erected. The native juniper forest was graded and cut, and the sandy hills were leveled off, making the island mostly flat. Today it is extremely rare to see hills or native juniper in Avalon.
Avalon was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 18, 1892, from portions of Middle Township, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. The borough was reincorporated on March 6, 1896, and again on May 4, 1897. Another portion of Middle Township was annexed in 1910. On December 27, 1941, portions of Avalon were ceded to Stone Harbor.[30] The borough is named for Avalon of Arthurian legend.[31]
On January 4, 1890, the Commonwealth, piloted by Captain W.S. Willets, sank. This 197-ton ship was en route from New York City to Philadelphia with a cargo of molasses, coffee, tobacco, tea, coconut oil, and camphor. Straying from its course in rough weather, the Commonwealth ran aground in Townsend's Inlet. The crew was rescued and most of the cargo was salvaged. However, after a week trapped in the sandy bottom of the inlet, the ship began to come apart in the waves. Some of the remaining cargo washed ashore and most of it was taken by the early residents of Avalon. The wreck, unable to be recovered, was sold to John Townshend on February 2.
A plaque placed in July 2004, recognizing the “Site of the Avalon Pier 1929-1980”.
By the early 1900s, the Leaming Railroad bridge was constructed, allowing train connections into the town. This increased the traffic from nearby Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Around 1944 the West Jersey and Seashore railroad lines merged with the Reading Railroad. This effectively ended the era of travel by train to the island. A hurricane took several streets and Avalon now has a north end beginning at 7th street. In the mid-1950s the Wolfington Family of Philadelphia purchased and operated the Puritan Hotel later enlarged and renamed the Whitebriar Hotel on the beach block at 21st Street. The Whitebriar was managed for two seasons in the mid-1950s, one of the future 'great hosts' of several hotels in the Greater Philadelphia area, Robert C. Bennett. He was the son of another 'famous' hotelier, Claude H. Bennett of the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Currently the most widely used method of transportation to and from Avalon is by car or boat; however, buses run on a regular schedule all over the shore towns.
Geography
Avalon beach at 78th Street
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 5.06 square miles (13.09 km2), including 4.27 square miles (11.06 km2) of land and 0.79 square miles (2.04 km2) of water (15.53%).[2][3]
Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the borough include Peermont.[32]
Of the 692 households, 9.2% had children under the age of 18; 54.6% were married couples living together; 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present and 39.9% were non-families. Of all households, 36.0% were made up of individuals and 21.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.93 and the average family size was 2.45.[20]
8.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 11.8% from 25 to 44, 35.0% from 45 to 64, and 40.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 61.8 years. For every 100 females, the population had 89.8 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 89.5 males.[20]
The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $88,527 (with a margin of error of +/− $20,202) and the median family income was $135,781 (+/− $32,487). Males had a median income of $162,125 (+/− $69,973) versus $46,397 (+/− $17,278) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $99,655 (+/− $18,059). About 1.6% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 1.8% of those age 65 or over.[42]
2000 census
As of the 2000 United States census,[17] there were 2,143 people, 1,045 households, and 668 families residing in the borough. The population density was 508.4 inhabitants per square mile (196.3/km2). There were 5,281 housing units at an average density of 1,252.9 per square mile (483.7/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 98.69% White, 0.14% African American, 0.56% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.05% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.56% of the population.[43][41]
There were 1,045 households, out of which 12.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.7% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.05 and the average family size was 2.56.[43][41]
In the borough the population was spread out, with 14.1% under the age of 18, 2.9% from 18 to 24, 16.3% from 25 to 44, 33.9% from 45 to 64, and 32.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 56 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males.[43][41]
The median income for a household in the borough was $59,196, and the median income for a family was $72,750. Males had a median income of $60,227 versus $39,886 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $50,016. About 2.2% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.6% of those under age 18 and 0.1% of those age 65 or over.[43][41]
Government
Local government
The Borough of Avalon is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Mayor-Council system of municipal government. The borough is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government.[44] The governing body is comprised of the mayor and the five-member borough council. Members of the borough council are elected in non-partisan elections to four-year terms on a staggered basis, with either two seats (and the mayoral seat) or three seats coming up for election in odd-numbered years as part of the May municipal election.[8][45]
As of July 2023[update], Avalon's mayor is John M. McCorristin, whose term of office ends on June 30, 2027. Members of the borough council are Council President James T. McDermott Jr. (2025), Council Vice President Maura H. "Mari" Coskey (2025), Greg "Chet" Johnson (2025; appointed to serve an unexpired term), Barbara L. Juzaitis (2027) and Samuel D. Wierman (2027).[4][46][47][48][49]
In July 2023, the borough council appointed Chet Johnson to fill the council seat expiring in June 2025 that had been held by John McCorristin until he stepped down to take office as mayor.[50]
In July 2015, William G. Burns Jr., was appointed to fill the vacant seat expiring 2017 of David Ellenberg, who resigned from office earlier that month.[51]
Mayor Pagliughi and Councilmembers Covington and Dean ran unopposed in the May 2011 municipal election.[52][53] With 245 of 1,330 registered voters participating (turnout of 18.42%) all three candidates were re-elected.[54]
In the May 2013 election, incumbents Ellenberg and Hudanich were re-elected, as newcomer John McCorristin won the seat that had previously been held by Joseph Tipping who didn't run for another term of office.[55]
Federal, state, and county representation
Avalon is located in the 2nd Congressional district[56] and is part of New Jersey's 1st state legislative district.[57][58][59]
Cape May County is governed by a five-person Board of County Commissioners whose members are elected at-large on a partisan basis to three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year; At an annual reorganization held each January, the commissioners select one member to serve as director and another to serve as vice-director.[64] As of 2025[update], Cape May County's Commissioners are
Director Leonard C. Desiderio (R, Sea Isle City, 2027),[65]
Robert Barr (R, Ocean City; 2025),[66]
Will Morey (R, Wildwood Crest; 2026),[67]
Melanie Collette (R. Middle Township; 2026),[68] and
Vice-Director Andrew Bulakowski (R, Lower Township; 2025).[69][64][70]
The county's constitutional officers are Clerk Rita Marie Rothberg (R, 2025, Ocean City),[71][72]
Sheriff Robert Nolan (R, 2026, Lower Township)[73][74] and
Surrogate E. Marie Hayes (R, 2028, Ocean City).[75][76][77][70]
Politics
As of March 2011, there were a total of 1,307 registered voters in Avalon, of which 206 (15.8%) were registered as Democrats, 676 (51.7%) were registered as Republicans and 425 (32.5%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were no voters registered to other parties.[78]
In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney received 66.5% of the vote (622 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 32.9% (308 votes), and other candidates with 0.6% (6 votes), among the 943 ballots cast by the borough's 1,331 registered voters (7 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 70.8%.[79][80] In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 62.4% of the vote (663 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama, who received 35.7% (379 votes), with 1,063 ballots cast among the borough's 1,325 registered voters, for a turnout of 80.2%.[81] In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 66.1% of the vote (766 ballots cast), outpolling Democrat John Kerry, who received around 32.6% (377 votes), with 1,158 ballots cast among the borough's 1,419 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 81.6.[82]
In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 84.0% of the vote (589 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 15.3% (107 votes), and other candidates with 0.7% (5 votes), among the 710 ballots cast by the borough's 1,279 registered voters (9 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 55.5%.[89][90] In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 64.7% of the vote (547 ballots cast), ahead of both Democrat Jon Corzine with 29.0% (245 votes) and Independent Chris Daggett with 5.0% (42 votes), with 845 ballots cast among the borough's 1,357 registered voters, yielding a 62.3% turnout.[91]
Avalon School District is a public school district that serves students in public school for first through eighth grade.[92] As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 83 students and 12.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 6.8:1.[93] In the 2016–17 school year, Avalon had the smallest enrollment of any school district in the state, with 43 students.[94]
Starting with the 2011–12 school year, in an agreement with the Stone Harbor School District, public school students in grades K–4 from both communities attend school in Stone Harbor while all students in grades 5–8 attend school in Avalon, at Avalon Elementary School.[95]
As of May 2010[update], the borough had a total of 41.61 miles (66.96 km) of roadways, of which 36.19 miles (58.24 km) were maintained by the municipality and 5.42 miles (8.72 km) by Cape May County.[104]
There is also a seasonal trolley service that runs through the seven-mile-long island. Avalon also has multiple NJ Transit bus stops, and is served by the 315 to and from Philadelphia and the 319 that provides service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.[105][106]
In March 1962, a major Nor'easter, the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962, tore through the U.S. East Coast causing massive ocean swells. Much of Avalon suffered very serious flooding and major coastline loss.[109][110] Much of the island was under water for four to five days, with damage to homes dependent on the foundation construction of the home and location on the island.
Rocks were erected where 8th Street meets Townsend's Inlet to hold back the ocean.
Protection efforts against storms
While there have been many strong storms since 1962, extensive rock jetty construction on Townsends Inlet (as recent as Summer 2006) has mostly succeeded in protecting the inlet-side homes. However, beaches and property facing the ocean at 8th through 12th Streets have struggled to prevent further loss of this barrier island through various anti-erosion schemes, including extending the 8th Street rock jetty, the installation of an artificial reef and the beach replenishment. So far, there has been no more "shrinkage" of the island at this location, but at a very high monetary cost. Several times, in 2015, the causeway leading north from Avalon to Townsends Inlet has been closed by flooding during stormy weather.
^Kirby, David. "Havens; Weekender | Avalon, N.J.", The New York Times, November 8, 2002. Accessed February 10, 2023. "Indeed, Avalon's neighborly small-town atmosphere -- like a Mayberry by the sea -- is what has drawn generations of families to this century-old resort on the southern Jersey Shore. Though it swells to some 45,000 sun-seeking souls during the peak of summer, the town's year-round population is only about 2,140, and spring and fall are especially lovely times to be there, many residents say."
^Avalon, Visit New Jersey. Accessed December 14, 2021. "Like a page out of Pleasantville, things are just nicer in the beach town of Avalon. The town’s slogan, 'Cooler by a Mile,' refers to its position one mile farther into the Atlantic than other barrier islands in the state, but you may feel like you’re a hundred miles away from the busier beach towns."
^Urgo, Jacqueline L. "Triumph for South Jersey", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2008. Accessed October 29, 2015. "Neighboring Wildwood Crest came in second, followed by Ocean City, North Wildwood, Cape May, Asbury Park in Monmouth County, Avalon, Point Pleasant Beach in northern Ocean County, Beach Haven in southern Ocean County and Stone Harbor."
^Conti, Vince. "Avalon Appoints New Council Member to Vacant Seat", Cape May County Herald, July 13, 2023. Accessed July 17, 2023. "Avalon Borough Council moved to fill a vacancy in its membership, July 12, by authorizing the appointment of Planning and Zoning Board Chair Greg 'Chet' Johnson to the seat vacated by John McCorristin."
^William Burns Appointed to Avalon Borough Council, Borough of Avalon. Accessed August 8, 2015. "The Avalon Borough Council voted unanimously to appoint Bill Burns to a vacant seat on Council during its meeting on Wednesday, July 22nd.... Burns will serve the vacant seat formerly held by David Ellenberg until the November 3, 2015 general election."
^Barlow, Bill. "'Team Avalon' running unopposed: Three seek fresh terms after long service"Archived May 28, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Shore News Today, March 30, 2011. Accessed December 4, 2011. "Mayor Martin Pagliughi, Council President Dick Dean and Avalon Councilman Chuck Covington are set to run for reelection together as 'Team Avalon' in the May 10 municipal election. That means everyone on the ballot will be on the same team. According to Avalon spokesman Scott Wahl, no one else turned in petitions to appear on the ballot. If re-elected, as seems quite likely, this July Pagliughi will start his 20th year as Avalon's mayor, which he ran for after a four-year term on council."
^Staff. "Avalon, Sea Isle, Wildwood hold municipal elections Tuesday", The Press of Atlantic City, May 10, 2011. Accessed December 4, 2011. "Avalon, Sea Isle City and Wildwood will hold nonpartisan municipal elections today from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. In Avalon, Mayor Martin L. Pagliughi and Councilmen Charles P. Covington and Richard E. Dean are running unopposed."
^ abBoard of County Commissioners, Cape May County, New Jersey. Accessed April 28, 2022. "Cape May County Government is governed by a Board of County Commissioners. These individuals are elected at large by the citizens of Cape May County and hold spaced 3-year terms." Note that as of date accessed, Desiderio is listed with an incorrect term-end year of 2020.
^Guion, Payton. "These 43 N.J. school districts have fewer than 200 students", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, September 2017. Accessed January 30, 2020. "Based on data from the state Department of Education from the last school year and the Census Bureau, NJ Advance Media made a list of the smallest of the small school districts in the state, excluding charter schools and specialty institutions.... 1. Avalon Borough; Enrollment: 43; Grades: 5-8; County: Cape May"
^Middle Township High School 2015 School Report Card, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed May 30, 2016. "Middle Township High School is a four-year, accredited, comprehensive high school situated in central Cape May County. The school serves the communities of Middle Township, Dennis Township, Avalon, Stone Harbor, and Woodbine Borough."
^Home page, Middle Township Public Schools. Accessed May 30, 2016. "The high school is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades. In addition to students from Middle Township, students from Avalon, Dennis Township, Stone Harbor and Woodbine attend the high school as part of sending/receiving relationships."
^Frequently Asked Questions, Cape May County Technical High School. Accessed October 27, 2019. "All residents of Cape May County are eligible to attend Cape May County Technical High School.... The Cape May County Technical High School is a public school so there is no cost to residents of Cape May County."
^Elliott, Rich. "Hoop recruit spikes UConn", News-Times, August 26, 2008. Accessed March 1, 2011. "Auriemma, his wife, Kathy, and Ernie and Joanie Delle Donne had dinner several times this summer at the Jersey Shore to discuss the situation. Auriemma owns a house in Avalon, N.J. The Delle Donnes own a house in nearby Stone Harbor."
^Giuca, Linda. "Celebrity Cookie Countdown: Geno Auriemma", Hartford Courant. Accessed March 1, 2011. "The Auriemmas spent Thanksgiving at their home in Avalon, N.J., close to the Philadelphia area where the couple's respective families live."
^Neil HartmanArchived 2014-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, Alternative Energy Development Group. Accessed August 23, 2015. "He resides in Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey with his wife and two children. He also owns a home in Avalon, New Jersey."
^Lulgjuraj, Susan. "Many Philadelphia Flyers past and present call Cape May County home", The Press of Atlantic City, May 24, 2010. Accessed March 1, 2011. "Tim Kerr has a huge presence in the Avalon and Stone Harbor area. The three-time All-Star played in Philadelphia for 11 seasons from 1980 to 1991 and holds Philadelphia's team record for the most 50-goal seasons with four. He owns Tim Kerr's Powerplay Realty on Dune Drive, which sells and rents homes in the Avalon and Stone Harbor area. For several years, Kerr also has run a charity run that bears his name. Kerr splits time between his homes in Avalon and Moorestown, Burlington County, said Tim Kerr Realty sales associate Ann Delaney."
^Staff. "Ed McMahon dies at age 86; He had many connections to N.J. shore", The Press of Atlantic City, June 24, 2009. Accessed October 29, 2016. "A Marine pilot in World War II and Korea, McMahon married in Atlantic City and got his start in show business working on television in Philadelphia. During that time he purchased a summer home in Avalon and he and his family were frequent visitors."
^McLane, Jeff. "Paterno eager for football", The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 19, 2008. Accessed August 6, 2008. "Perhaps Paterno's eagerness to attend the event has grown in the last month, one spent partly at his beach house in Avalon, N.J."
^Strauss, Robert. "Zoning; Big Money, Big Plans Equal Big Headaches", The New York Times, October 1, 2006. Accessed October 26, 2019. "The Rices -- his grandparents started the Utz company nearly 100 years ago -- bought the property of just over an acre on the high dunes in 2000 for $3.5 million and tore down a late-1940s cottage. They applied for permits from the State Department of Environmental Protection and from Avalon to build an approximately 20,000-square-foot house but were refused, and eventually compromised with the current plans for a house with 40 rooms and 15 bathrooms."
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