Beach Haven West is one of Southern Ocean County’s most desirable waterfront communities. A sleepy unincorporated community that is part of Stafford Township, it is home to both summer residents and all year residents.
It’s no surprise why. This waterfront community offers easy access to fishing and boating, with the entire Barnegat Bay just seconds away by boat.
For many, Beach Haven West itself is a dream come true. Constructed on over 100 lagoons and located right off Route 72 and just across the bay from Long Beach Island, it’s one of the Jersey Shore’s true hidden gems.
Here are 10 facts you might not know about this hidden gem of a community:
- Beach Haven West was first developed in the 1950s. Herbert and Jerome Shapiro created the 130 lagoons that make up this part of town.
- Beach Haven West began with a series of Cape Cod style homes being built.
- The earliest waterfront homes there cost about $7,000 circa the 1950s.
- The first phase of Beach Haven West opened in 1957 and makes up the area between Morris Boulevard and Jennifer Lane.
- The community’s phase two was finished in the early 1960s and spans the area between Jonathan Drive and Walter Boulevard.
- During the 1950s and 1960s, the Beach Haven West Civic Association was a focal point of the community. They ran a community center and pool off Jonathan Drive. The clubhouse was demolished in the 1980s.
- Beach Haven West was still being built-out as late as 1986, when Colony Lakes was completed.
- The construction of Beach Haven West, as well as Ocean Acres, coincided with the construction of the Garden State Parkway, which finally gave people in North Jersey easier access to the Jersey Shore.
- Today, Beach Haven West’s population is about 4,000 residents.
- One of the Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa Giudice, once had a summer home in Beach Haven West.
These days, you can ask anyone looking to stay in the Southern Ocean County area and they will all agree: there are few communities that have become as desirable to live in as this one.
Even more important? They get access to a priceless lifestyle of relaxation, boating, fishing, great dentists in Southern Ocean County, and more. And that’s not something you can find just anywhere.
Tags: beach haven, beach haven west, Southern Ocean County