Ocean City, N.J. is located in Ocean County, in the southern part of New Jersey at exit 30 or 25 from the Garden State Parkway. It is on a Barrier Island.
The southern tip of the State is only 30 miles to the South at Cape May.
The town has its own menus of cultural options. Theater, large concerts at the Music Pier and other events are regularly scheduled at different venues about town. In the summer the Ocean City Pops Orchestra hosts a seaside outdoor concert series on the Music Pier.
There is a municipal Cultural Center that is home to the independent Ocean City Arts Center, the Public Library, the Aquatic and Fitness Center and the Ocean City Historical Museum.
The Museum is dedicated to local history. It is closed on Sundays, Mondays and on major holidays. Admission is free although there is a requested donation.
Ocean City's history starts when a whaler, John Peck, began using this island as a place to store his catch in 1700. The island was also used for summer fishing by native Americans and for cattle grazing land.
In the 19th Century the first full time residents, the family of Parker Miller, settled here raising cattle and farming on what was then called Peck's Beach in honor of the earlier island use by John Peck.
Four Methodist Ministers bought Peck's Beach and decided to make a Christian seaside resort in 1879. They formed the Ocean City Association and parceled out the land in lots for residential and commercial sales. It is then that the town began to rapidly spring up.
Today in Ocean City, N.J., the mindset of the abovementioned Ministers lives on as the entire town is dry. All alcohol sales are prohibited by municipal law. This makes it unique from surrounding Jersey Shore towns.
2,600 students are in the public school system from kindergarten through High School. The schools have a Special Education program as well as a program for the gifted and talented. There are 15,000 residents of the town. More than 53% of the population here is female and more than 80% of Ocean City inhabitants are white.
More than three quarters of the economically active population here depends upon driving a car in order to get to work.
The median household income here is about $10,000 less than it is on the average for the State of New Jersey. The median household value however is well above the average in the state.
For recreation this island hosts opportunities for every water sport imaginable based out of the marina and along the beaches. There are more than a dozen water sport businesses throughout town. There is also a broad, beach -side boardwalk that is filled with games, shops and beachside eateries.
There are also tennis courts and a 12 hole municipally operated golf course in Ocean City, N.J.
