Qualla: Longport, New Jersey

Longport, New Jersey: Introduction

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0. Drive south along Atlantic Avenue from the neon clamor of Atlantic City, past Ventnor and through Margate's Lucy the Elephant, and the cacophony begins to fade. The boardwalk thins, then ends. The buildings shrink. Then, almost imperceptibly, you have arrived in Longport - the last borough on Absecon Island, the place where the developed Jersey Shore runs out of sand and stops at the dark water of Great Egg Harbor Inlet. The 2010 census counted 895 year-round residents, scattered across 1,656 housing units. The math reveals the joke: nearly half the homes sit empty most of the year, waiting for summer to bring them back to life.

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Image: Famartin | CC BY-SA 4.0

Longport, New Jersey: End of the Island

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JohnTPaff, CC BY-SA 4.0. Longport occupies the southernmost mile or so of Absecon Island, the barrier island that holds Atlantic City and its smaller neighbors. From the air, the island narrows to a thin point here, the Atlantic on one side and the inlet on the other, with a thread of road running down t...

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Image: JohnTPaff | CC BY-SA 4.0

Longport, New Jersey: A Town That Empties Out

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dclemens1971, CC BY 4.0. Longport's ZIP code, 08403, regularly lands on lists of New Jersey's most expensive. The 2018 average property tax bill - $10,872 - was the highest in Atlantic County, well above the statewide average of $8,767. But the wealth that pays those bills is mostly seasonal. The houses,...

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Image: Dclemens1971 | CC BY 4.0

Longport, New Jersey: Governed By Three

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit PLBechly, CC BY-SA 4.0. Longport runs on the Walsh Act commission form of municipal government, an early twentieth-century reform that consolidated executive and legislative power into a handful of elected officials. Only 30 of New Jersey's 564 municipalities still use it. Three commissioners, elected a...

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Image: PLBechly | CC BY-SA 4.0

Longport, New Jersey: The Quiet Roster

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dough4872, CC BY-SA 4.0. For a town of fewer than a thousand year-round residents, Longport's roster of associated names runs surprisingly long. Thomas Cruse, born in 1857, served as a brigadier general in the United States Army and received the Medal of Honor for his actions at the 1882 Battle of Big Dr...

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Image: Dough4872 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Longport, New Jersey: The Schools Solution

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JohnTPaff, CC BY-SA 4.0. One of the most pragmatic stories in Longport involves children most of the year are not even there. The borough operates no schools of its own. Kindergarten through eighth grade students attend Margate City Schools next door under a sending arrangement. High school used to mean ...

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Image: JohnTPaff | CC BY-SA 4.0