This Saturday, I plan on taking a day trip to Island Beach State Park in New Jersey, and do some hiking on the trails around the park with my brothers. The attached photo shows the southern end of the park. I took that picture from a jetty by the Barnegat Lighthouse, which is across the inlet. What’s pictured is actually the southernmost point of a long spit, another part of the east coast barrier islands. The northern end, I believe, joins the mainland Point Pleasant Beach. I was at Island Beach Park only once before when I was in high school, for a day trip. I don’t remember much about it, except that it that got cut short by a thunderstorm. Hopefully, there won’t be any problems this time. Last I checked, Saturday’s weather is supposed to be mostly sunny.
I haven’t really studied the route we’ll be taking yet, but a good part of it will go through the Pine Barrens, and will probably border the huge area consisting of the Fort Dix, Maguire AFB, and Lakehurst military bases. We’ll go through Toms River and then across the Barnegat Bay to Seaside Heights, which has recently been put on the map by a popular reality show. From there, we’ll drive down to the park. I don’t know much about the trails we’ll be taking, but since they’re short, I think we’ll be going along several of them.
Aside from its use as a beach and seaside park, I learned something that I found interesting about Island Beach. It may not be known as a popular filming location, but I know of at least one movie, or at least part of a movie that was shot there. When I watched the third segment of Creepshow, I noticed that it looked more like it was shot on the east coast than along the Pacific. When I checked it out on IMDB, I found it was shot at Island Beach Park. I didn’t make out clearly the lighthouse in the background, but next time I check out the movie on YouTube, I’ll look for the familiar half red and half white colors of the Barnegat Lighthouse.
As far as I can remember, I have been to Toms River twice, once when I was passing through on the way to Island Beach Park, and one more time about 15 years ago. A friend took me to visit his parents’ house, which was a part of the motel they owned on Route 9. I knew we were near the shore, but it was dark by the time we got there, and Route 9 is a few miles inland. We stayed a few house, and then were on our way back to Pennsylvania. Other than that, there are two things I remember about Toms River. One was that the original Amityville Horror movie was shot there. The technical crew found a house in the town that was nearly identical with the haunted house in Long Island that was the subject of the film. The other thing I remember happened more recently, when their little league team won the World Series in Williamsport, Pa. The stretch of Route 37 running through Toms River is named after the hometown heroes.
Assuming all goes as planned, I’ll be there on Saturday, and sometime next week I’ll have some pictures and a story posted. I’ll try to remember to do a little more research on where we’ll be going and the trails we’ll be taking, so I’ll have a better idea.
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