Avalon, New Jersey

Avalon is a borough in Cape May County, New Jersey, on Seven Mile Island. The town is one of the most affluent communities along the Jersey Shore and is home to some of the most expensive real estate on the east coast. In 2007, Forbes listed Avalon to be the 65th most expensive zip code in the United States. The Washingtonian magazine even named Avalon the "chicest beach" in the mid-Atlantic, the place to see women in diamonds and designer swimwear. The crowd is mostly upper class from the greater Philadelphia area. A small portion of Avalon is not on Seven Mile Island. It is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the United States 2000 Census, the full-time borough population was 2,143, although it swells during the summer months. Avalon was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 18, 1892, from portions of Middle Township, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier. The borough was reincorporated on March 6, 1896, and again on May 4, 1897. Another portion of Middle Township was annexed in 1910. On December 27, 1941, portions of Avalon were ceded to Stone Harbor. Avalon, famous for being a South Jersey seashore resort, has the motto "Cooler by a Mile", since it juts out into the Atlantic Ocean about a mile farther than other barrier island resorts. The motto also refers to the fact that Avalon occupies 4 miles of Seven Mile Island whereas neighbor Stone Harbor occupies 3. It was ranked the seventh best beach in New Jersey in the 2008 Top 10 Beaches Contest sponsored by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium.