The Manasquan Inlet is an

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

that connects the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

with the Manasquan River, dividing

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

and

Ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

counties in the state of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. Passage to Bay Head Harbor and the Barnegat Bay is possible via the Point Pleasant Canal. The present Manasquan River Inlet was dug in the 1920s with the original inlet located at Stockton Lake. The present day inlet is the northern terminus of the

Intracoastal Waterway The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is a Navigability, inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States, running from Massachusetts southward along the Atlantic Seaboard and around the southern tip of Florida, the ...

. The inlet is home to the Squan

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mi ...

station.

History

On Sunday April 5, 1778 a contingent of about 135 British troops and loyalists entered the inlet to sack and destroy the Union salt works. The raiders burnt the salt works, broke the

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle''. There are two main types: the ''stovetop kettle'', which uses heat from a cooktop, hob, and the ...

s and ransacked the surrounding homes before retreating and heading north to raid salt works in the Shark River. The Union salt works were repaired and again attacked on the night of April 21, 1780 by a detachment of provincial troops, under the command of Lieut. Col. Laurence who had sailed south from Sandy Hook. SquanLifesavingStation

The present day location of the inlet is several thousand yards south of its location in 1868, the inlet had been near the former Manasquan Coast Guard Station which was adjacent to Stockton lake. The Manasquan inlet historically had always been shallow, which made it difficult for large boats to navigate. When the Point Pleasant Canal was dug in 1926, the Manasquan river's water rapidly flowed through the man-made opening disrupting the natural flow of the river, and this caused the inlet to completely close with sand for several years. The inlet's closure was so complete that it was possible to walk from Manasquan to Point Pleasant beach on dry ground. From 1926 to 1931 several efforts were made to reopen the inlet, including the use of high pressure water by the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

and local firemen to

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a narrow channel through the sand. These efforts failed to keep the channel open and the inlet remained closed. In 1930 work began to reopen the inlet. The Army Corps of Engineers put up temporary piers and began building

jetties A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signif ...

. The jetties were constructed with rock excavation from the

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. The project cost $600,000 with funds from local, state and federal government. The inlet was officially reopened on August 29, 1931, with a parade of boats and was attended by New Jersey Governor Morgan F. Larson.

Surfing

The Manasquan Inlet is widely known as one of the best surf spots along the East Coast. Its popularity among beach breaks throughout the East Coast stems from the inlet, which directs and often enlarges the waves as they come in to create a great right break. Many competitions are held at the Manasquan Inlet throughout the year. One of the most popular is the Manasquan Classic Longboard Contest which is held in September of every year. In 2011, the competition celebrated its 19th annual competition with a paddle out on September 11, commemorating the attacks on the World Trade Center a decade ago. Hurricane Bill, whose swell hit the shores of Manasquan in August 2009, brought many big-time professional surfers to the Manasquan Inlet including Andy Irons, Pete Mendia, Sam Hammer, and Mike Gleason.

References

{{Coord, 40, 06, 09, N, 74, 02, 06, W, type:waterbody_region:US-NJ, display=title Bodies of water of Ocean County, New Jersey Bodies of water of Monmouth County, New Jersey Inlets of New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway Manasquan, New Jersey