Peck's Beach

Never heard of the place? I bet most visitors to New Jersey's shore have set foot on it's flat sandy beaches and not known that the Original Name for Ocean City was "Peck's Beach".

Thought to have originated the Whaler John Peck who used the island to store freshly caught whales in the 1700s. In 1879 Four Methodist Ministers chose the island as a religious retreat and later formed as a Borough separate from Upper Township in 1884 and later a city in 1887.

Growing up, this stretch of beach between 8th and 9th streets did not exist except during low tide. A combination of sand replenishment, moving the rock jetties, and current shift has move the beach ever eastward. Where the waves once splash strollers on the boardwalk at high tide, the sand is so high you can barely crawl beneath the supports.