Located in Tuckerton, on the eastern edge of New Jersey, Atlantic Shore Pines Campground offers the best of both city and beach attractions. Atlantic City, with its famous casinos, rocking nightlife and iconic boardwalk, is just a half hour away. Even closer, a 20 minute drive, are the white sands of Long Beach Island, one of the state’s most beloved summer colonies, known to locals as LBI.
“There’s no boardwalk on LBI, no big high-rise hotels, just miles and miles of shoreline,” Jessica Walker, manager of the campground, tells The Buzz. “There are a few towns, with cute little shops, an amusement park and lots of things for families to do.” There’s also a lighthouse and a maritime museum to visit. Kite-flying, miniature golf and some of the best surfing on the East Coast fill the lazy days on the 18-mile-long island.
Access to LBI is limited from the mainland. Visitors can drive onto the island via the only causeway, S.R. 72, and look for a parking place. Street parking is free but scarce.
Alternatively, visitors can catch the ferry to LBI from the nearby Tuckerton Seaport and Baymen’s Museum. The ferry itself is free, first-come, first-served, but $5 will reserve you a seat as well as give you admission to the Seaport’s several attractions, including a boatworks, decoy gallery, the recreated Tucker’s Island Lighthouse, exhibits exploring the maritime heritage of the Jersey Shore, a folklife museum, and the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve Interpretive Center. Once on the island, a shuttle takes guests to their chosen destination. A beach badge is required for accessing the beach itself, available for free at Atlantic Shore Pines.
Atlantic Shore Pines is nestled in the Pinebarrens of New Jersey and just 15 minutes drive from the beautiful beaches of Long Beach Island. [Photo/Atlantic Shore Pines Campground]
The area offers many other attractions, including Storybook Land, the Renault Winery, Historic ville Village, the Batsto Historic Site and the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, a popular birding site, but Jessica says many families come to Atlantic Shore Pines to enjoy the activities offered on-site. “During the season we have an activities director who plans lots of activities all summer,” she says. “We have a pool and water playground, minigolf, courts for badminton, horseshoes, shuffleboard and other games, plus a rec hall with lots of indoor games.”
Weekends are special at the campground. “We always have some sort of live entertainment on the weekends,” Walker says. “We’ll have a band or a DJ for dancing, sometimes a magician or a comedian. We try to have something that gets both adults and kids involved.”
The family-oriented campground has an on-site snack bar and camp store. Every Sunday from Memorial Day to Labor Day breakfast is served in the Rec Hall. All-you-can-eat pancakes are a specialty.
The Atlantic Shore Pines season stretches from April to the end of October. Most weekends have special themes from Easter egg hunts to a season-closing turkey dinner. Pony rides highlight some weekends; steak dinners, hayrides, bingo, corn roasts, a Hawaiian luau and Christmas in July provide a steady stream of family fun. The Halloween costume contest event proved so popular that Walker had to extend it to two weekends in October.
One weekend celebration last summer inspired a new tradition: in mid-August the campground, long known as the Atlantic City North Campground, changed its name and threw a giant party for the community. It proved so popular that Walker and her family decided to celebrate the anniversary weekend every year.
“We’ll have a big barbeque on August 17 this year. Everyone is invited,” Jessica Walker says.
The campground just off the Garden State Parkway on the edge of Jersey’s Pine Barrens has been owned and operated by the same family since the late 1970s. Since then, Atlantic Shore Pines has grown to a major camping destination on the Jersey Shore, with over 60 full hookup sites and some 100 water and electric sites, plus tent sites, air-conditioned cabins and two lodges. Pets are welcome and dogs have their own dog park for exercise.
Jessica says many of the campers are repeat visitors, who’ve been coming to the campground for years. It’s a family affair for her as well.
“I grew up here,” she says. “It was always such a fun place to spend the summer. Now my aunt owns the property and I manage.”
Jessica’s grandfather bought the campground back in 1978 or ‘79. “He didn’t have any camping experience… he owned a chain of drugstores,” she says. “The opportunity came up and he sold the drugstores, moved out here… and fell in love. We’ve been here ever since.”