Ocean Township is a township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township’s population was 8,332, reflecting an increase of 1,882 (+29.2%) from the 6,450 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 1,034 (+19.1%) from the 5,416 counted in the 1990 Census. The 2010 population was the highest recorded in any decennial census.

Ocean Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 13, 1876, from portions of both Lacey Township and Union Township (now Barnegat Township). Portions of the township were taken to create Long Beach Township (March 23, 1899) and Island Beach (June 23, 1933; dissolved in 1965 and absorbed into Berkeley Township). The township derives its name from its seaside location.

All of Ocean Township is commonly referred to as “Waretown” by local residents. The local custom is so widespread that it surprises some new residents that the official name is Ocean Township. Non-residents have been known to confuse Ocean Township with the Ocean Township of Monmouth County. There was a petition drive in 2006 to get a name change to Township of Waretown on the ballot but it failed to obtain enough signatures to get on the ballot.

The name Waretown is derived from Abraham Weair (1683-1768), who came to the area with a colony of Rogerine Baptists (Quaker Baptists) circa 1737. When the colony left the area eleven years later, Weair, who had built a sawmill, stayed behind and became a prominent member of the community.

During the War for Independence, British ships sailed into the nearby Barnegat Inlet in an attempt to protect their New York-bound supply vessels from attacks by local privateers sailing schooners and whaleboats. Another British objective was to destroy Newlin’s salt works, a local supplier of a crucial commodity to the Revolutionary army, needed for food preservation and gunpowder manufacture. A massacre of local patriots occurred in October, 1782, when Captain John Bacon, loyal to the British crown, led a surprise attack on Long Beach.

During the War of 1812, the British returned to Barnegat Inlet to blockade the Jersey coast. Local privateers were caught and their schooners burned.

In the 1700s and 1800s, Waretown was a shipbuilding center. Vessels such as barques, barkentines, sloops, schooners, whaleboats and sneakboxes were constructed of white cedar native to the area. During this period, many sea captains built stately homes on bay front lots.

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Waretown fishermen sold oysters, clams and scallops to dealers such as the Fulton Fish Market in New York City. Other local industries included charcoal production, cranberry farming and “mossing,” or gathering sphagnum moss for sale to florists. Local hunters supplied New York and Philadelphia with wildfowl via the railroads. Waretown became known for its hunting and fishing grounds, and celebrities like Presidents Grover Cleveland and William McKinley, baseball great Babe Ruth, and Wild West entertainer Buffalo Bill Cody came to participate in these pursuits.

During World War II, blimps cruised along the Jersey coast looking for German U-boats. Local fishermen reported periscopes of U-boats within 20 miles of the shore. As a precaution, troops were stationed in town at the Bayview Hotel on Barnegat Bay. In 1960, the landmark structure burned to the ground, nearly 70 years after its opening in 1890.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 32.044 square miles (82.993 km²), including 20.555 square miles (53.238 km²) of land and 11.489 square miles (29.756 km²) of water (35.85%).

Waretown (with a 2010 Census population of 1,569) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Ocean Township.

Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Brookville, Wells Mills, Pebble Beach, Barnegat Beach, Holiday Beach, Sands Point Harbor, Skippers Cove, Bay Haven and Dogtown.

The township borders the Ocean County municipalities of Barnegat Light, Barnegat Township, Berkeley Township, Lacey Township and Long Beach Township.

The township is one of 56 South Jersey municipalities that are included within the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve, a protected natural area of unique ecology covering 1,100,000 acres (450,000 ha), that has been classified as a United States Biosphere Reserve and established by Congress in 1978 as the nation’s first National Reserve. All of the township is included in either the state-designated Pinelands Area or the Pinelands National Reserve, which includes portions of Burlington County, along with areas in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Ocean counties.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 8,332 people, 3,483 households, and 2,557 families residing in the township. The population density was 405.3 per square mile (156.5/km²). There were 4,291 housing units at an average density of 208.8 per square mile (80.6/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 96.75% (8,061) White, 0.59% (49) Black or African American, 0.13% (11) Native American, 1.08% (90) Asian, 0.01% (1) Pacific Islander, 0.46% (38) from other races, and 0.98% (82) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.76% (230) of the population.

Source: Wikipedia