Little Egg Harbor Township is a township situated on the Jersey Shore, within Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is the southernmost municipality in both Ocean County and the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 20,784, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 719 (+3.6%) from the 2010 census count of 20,065, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,120 (+25.8%) from the 15,945 counted in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023.

History Founding

Originally part of Burlington County, Little Egg Harbor took its name from the portion of a bay called Egg Harbor (known today as Little Egg Harbor) by the Dutch sailors because of the eggs found in nearby gull nests. The first known account of the town was made by Captain Cornelius Jacobsen May in 1614.Little Egg Harbor Community Profile, Ocean County Library. Accessed October 6, 2007.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 3, 2015.

The first European to settle the township was Hendrick Jacobs Falkenberg, who likely arrived by 1693 when he does not appear on a census of the Swedes along the Delaware River, where he had lived for nearly three decades.Craig, Peter S. "Sinnick Broer the Finn and his Sinex, Sinnickson & Falkenberg Descendants", Swedish Colonial News, Volume 2, Number 7, Fall 2002. Accessed September 3, 2015. Though he was from Holstein (now in Germany), his first wife was a Finn and part of the Swedish community. Falkenberg settled on an tract of land that he had acquired from the Lenni Lenape Native Americans in 1674, and a 1697 deed re-confirmed this earlier purchase. This tract included the two islands of Monhunk and Minnicunk later known as Osborn Island and Wills Island. Falkenberg was a linguist, fluent in the Lenape language, and was considered southern New Jersey's foremost language interpreter involving land transactions between the Indians and the European settlers, particularly the English Quakers.Craig, Peter Stebbins. 1671 Census of the Delaware, p. 71. Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 1999. . Accessed September 3, 2015.

The affair at Little Egg Harbor took place in Little Egg Harbor on October 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. British forces under Major Patrick Ferguson were attacking American ships in the Mullica River. Casimir Pulaski and his newly raised troops were ordered to oppose his actions. Pulaski's Legion, along with three companies of light infantry, three troops of light horse, and one artillery detachment, came too late to be of great use against Ferguson's operations. But their arrival did stop Ferguson from raiding the iron works at Batsto, and stemmed their attacks on privateers at The Forks of the Mullica River.

They then set up camp on a farm. An American deserter, Lieutenant Gustav Juliet, found Ferguson and told him of Pulaski's encampment; he mentioned that morale there was fairly low, and security almost nonexistent, so that a surprise attack would be devastating. Ferguson promptly loaded 250 of his best men onto boats and rowed them, in the dark, some to Osborne Island. He then marched them a further to the site of the infantry outpost, which comprised 50 men a short distance from the main encampment. At first light, Ferguson ordered the attack; 45 American soldiers were killed and the remanining five taken prisoner. Pulaski eventually led his mounted troops up, causing Ferguson to retreat to his boats minus a few men that had fallen into American hands. A memorial on Radio Road commemorates the attack.Weaver, Donna. "Ceremony remembers massacre of Count Pulaski's troops by the British in Little Egg Harbor", The Press of Atlantic City, October 9, 2011. Accessed September 16, 2013. "A small crowd of residents and historical enthusiasts gathered at the Pulaski Monument at Pulaski and Radio roads Sunday afternoon to remember the massacre of 50 of Count Kazimierz Pulaski's troops in a surprise attack by more than 200 British troops 233 years ago this week during the Revolutionary War."

Little Egg Harbor Township was formed on February 13, 1740, as Egg Harbour Township from portions of Northampton Township (now Mount Holly), while the area was still part of Burlington County. It was incorporated as one of New Jersey's 104 in the Township Act of 1798 by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. While in Burlington County, portions of the township were taken to form Washington Township (November 19, 1802) and Bass River Township (March 30, 1864). Little Egg Harbor Township became part of Ocean County on March 30, 1891, after which further portions of the township were ceded to create Long Beach Township (March 23, 1899) and Tuckerton (February 18, 1901).Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 203. Accessed May 29, 2024.

Tuckerton Wireless Tower

The Tuckerton Wireless Tower (), at in height, was built in 1912Tuckerton Wireless Tower , Little Egg Harbor Regional School District. Accessed September 16, 2013.Staff. "Tuckerton Station Claimed By French; Paris Company Contends Germans Agreed to Sell It the Wireless Plant. WANTS ALL PATENT RIGHTS Petition Filed in New Jersey Court to Enforce Alleged Agreement and Get Tolls.", The New York Times, January 16, 1915. Accessed December 27, 2012. by the German "Hochfrequenzmaschinen Aktiengesellschaft Für Drahtlose Telegraphie" company (The High Frequency Machine Corporation for Wireless Telegraphy, often referred to as HOMAG) when the present-day Mystic Island was called Hickory Island. The tower was used to communicate with an identical radio telegraph station in Eilvese, Germany starting on Jun 19, 1914, less than two weeks before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The station continued to communicate with Eilvese "Goldschmidt Transatlantic Radio Station, John L Hogan Jr, Electrical World, October 31, 1914 until America entered World War I on April 6, 1917.Historic Monument - Telegraph Tower, Tuckerton , Stockton University Art & Architecture of New Jersey. Accessed September 16, 2013. It is rumored that it was used to send the message to order the attack by a German U-boat on the RMS Lusitania. After President Wilson's Declaration of Neutrality, the President's Executive Order 2042Executive Order 2042 - Taking Over High-Power Radio Station for Use of the Government, September 5, 1914, American Presidency Project. Accessed September 16, 2013. required the US Navy to take over the station on September 9, 1914, to assure the neutrality of messages sent to and from the station.The United States Navy and the Control of Radio Frequencies, World War I Document Archive. Accessed September 16, 2013. However, the station continued to be operated by German nationals employed by HOMAG and continued to communicate only with the Eilvese radio station.Howeth, Capt. Linwood S. "Operations and Organization of United States Naval Radio Service During Neutrality Period", from History of Communications-Electronics in the United States Navy, 1963. Accessed March 5, 2018.

When America entered the war, all U.S. radio stations were seized and shut down by Executive Order 2605A on April 30, 1917.Executive Order 2605A - Taking Over Necessary and Closing Unnecessary Radio Stations, April 30, 1917, American Presidency Project. Accessed September 16, 2013. The remaining German personnel at Tuckerton immediately became war prisoners and were replaced by U.S. Navy personnel. The Navy used the Tuckerton Radio Station for transatlantic communications while the naval radio stations in New Brunswick, New Jersey and Sayville, New York were undergoing major transmitter and antenna upgrades. Tuckerton was used for fleet broadcasts after installations of 200 kilowatt transmitters at New Brunswick and Sayville were completed in June 1918.

After the war, the Tuckerton Wireless Station was included in German war reparations paid to America. Shortly afterwards, it was sold to RCA which operated it until 1948 as a backup to their famous Radio Central facility in Rocky Point, New York. In 1921, RCA installed two massive Alexanderson alternators, which were removed in 1948. For transatlantic communications, the radio station operated under the call signs WCI and WGG. For coastal communications, after World War I, the station operated under the callsign WSC. The steel tower, anchored by three large concrete blocks, was taken down on December 27, 1955.Tuckerton Community Profile, Ocean County Library. Accessed April 2, 2007. "Just prior to World War I, the German government built the Tuckerton Wireless, a tall tower with the capability of communicating directly with Europe. The tower was operated by German nationals until the entrance of the United States into the war. Local folklore maintains that the message "Get the Lucy" was broadcast from the tower, which resulted in the famous sinking of the Lusitania. The tower was dismantled in 1955." The three huge anchor blocks still exist today, in a backyard on North Ensign Drive and in the middle of South Ensign Drive and Staysail Drive. Many smaller anchor blocks providing foundations for smaller towers that supported the umbrella antenna are still visible in the lagoons. Remains of the large tower can be seen in scraps at the Giffordtown Museum.Museum Exhibits, Tuckerton Historical Society. Accessed September 16, 2013.

Later history While the township was formed in the 1700s, Little Egg Harbor remained predominantly rural and undeveloped well into the late 20th century. It wasn't until the late 1950s until any major development was started. During this time, the construction of manufactured waterfront bungalows on lagoons were built and marketed as vacation properties, most notably Mystic Islands, Holly Lake Harbor, as well as Atlantis; the latter of which a "research home" was constructed to test hundreds of components and finishing materials for possible inclusion in model homes.Friedman, Charles. "Builder Puts Products to Test At New Jersey Research House", The New York Times, July 24, 1966. Accessed January 24, 2015. Most of the population were seasonal residents from either New York, Philadelphia, or other parts of New Jersey. Several developments were constructed in the decades following around the Mystic Islands area, mostly consisting of townhomes, duplex, and small single-family homes meant to act as either vacation homes or year-round residence.

In 1979, Pinelands Regional High School opened in the growing township, serving students from Little Egg Harbor, Tuckerton, Bass River, and Eagleswood; those students formerly went to Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin.The History of SRHS..., Southern Regional School District. Accessed January 24, 2015. "But eventually the high school had to go into split sessions due to over-crowding again. That problem was finally solved in 1979 with the opening of Pinelands Regional High School in Tuckerton. All mainland students south of Manahawkin would no longer be attending Southern Regional."