21 secret Jersey Shore spots we bet you’ve never visited, 2024 edition

Editor’s note: This story is published and updated annually.

The 131-mile Jersey Shore manages to be our greatest treasure and biggest headache. It’s a source of jealously for at least 40 other states, and yet it’s maddening and mobbed in the summer. But that doesn’t stop millions of us from making the trek down the Parkway every year.

Why do we put up with it?

Because the Shore is in our collective DNA, that’s why. We all have our special places down the Shore — the towns, beaches, attractions and restaurants we hit every summer that bring a flood of sweet memories. We also have our secret spots, the ones we don’t always want to share with others for fear that they will spoil our slice of paradise.

I’ve done these secret Jersey Shore lists since 2017, and it gets tougher every year. I’ve lived down the Shore for nearly half my life, written two books (The Jersey Shore Uncovered and The Ultimate Guide to the Jersey Shore) and countless stories about it. I even walked it four summers ago, but it’s a challenge coming up with places half the world doesn’t already know about.

So here goes, once again. It’s an all-new list, with all-new entries. You may have heard of some of them, but chances are you’ve never been there. Here are my previous secret Shore spot lists: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

Been going to that same beach and Shore town year after year? Time to go someplace new. We guarantee you’ll never look at the Shore the same way again.

The entries are not ranked but listed alphabetically by town.

Civil Rights Garden, Atlantic City

The Civil Rights Garden is Atlantic City’s least-publicized landmark. The visitac.com web site devotes a mere two lines to it. Completed in 2001, the garden includes 11 columns honoring such Black leaders as Rosa Parks and Dr. King. “It is fitting that the Garden be here, in Atlantic City, where sons and daughters of slaves started lives anew, built a community and sustained a city,” reads one marker. Wonder how many of the 25 or so million who will visit Atlantic City this year have visited the garden?

Coolest shop Down the Shore? My vote would go to Unshredded Nostalgia. At first glance, it looks more like a collection of random junk than a self-proclaimed “antique shop.” Appearances can be deceiving. Last time there, I picked up some cool vintage road maps (photo) for my book, “The Ultimate Guide to the Jersey Shore.” Old-time board games, typewriters, movie posters, vinyl records, toys, monster magazines, 250,000 photos — there’s even a Jerseyana room filled with vintage Jerseyana. Don’t you dare call this stuff junk.

Not to be confused with the New Jersey Museum of Boating (in Wall), or the New Jersey Shipwreck Museum (also in Wall), or the Barnegat Bay Maritime Museum (Toms River), the New Jersey Maritime Museum houses the state’s largest collection of maritime history and artifacts. There’s also a great collection of historic journals,, magazines and reports. There’s even an online shipwreck data base with 4,000-plus folders.

Ocean County leads the Shore, maybe even…