Mantoloking is a small, intensely private barrier-island borough on the Barnegat Peninsula, sitting between Bay Head and the Brick Township beaches with the ocean on one side and Barnegat Bay on the other. It is almost entirely residential: oceanfront and bayfront homes, beach access for residents, and close to nothing commercial. One of the wealthiest towns in New Jersey, it draws people for privacy and water, not for tourism.
History
The borough takes its name from a Lenni-Lenape word and grew as a summer colony in the late 1800s, part of the Shore's so-called Gold Coast with Bay Head. The first bridge to Brick Township opened in 1884; the current span dates to 2006. The defining modern event was Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, which damaged nearly every home, cut a new inlet across the island, and made Mantoloking the last New Jersey town to let residents move back, about four months later.
What makes it unique
This is the most closed-off town on the stretch. There is no boardwalk, downtown, shops, or attractions, so from the road it is hard to tell where Bay Head ends and Mantoloking begins. And it is the most Sandy-defined place on the Shore: the storm hit so hard that much of what stands today is new construction on pilings, an enclave rebuilt almost at once.