Secret Shore spots we bet you've never seen

Great Bay Boulevard in Little Egg Harbor is one of the state's great drives, a long stretch of moody, beautiful lonesome once you get past a scattering of homes. At the end are two narrow, rickety wooden bridges that seem destined to dump your car into the water. The 116,000-acre Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve is one of 29 such reserves around the country. The center is located near the beginning of Great Bay Boulevard. The half-mile walk along the Grassle Marsh Trail is a must. When you're done with your visit, head down the road toward those rickety little bridges; it's an unforgettable ride.     

This is the end of the road at the end of New Jersey — a forlorn, forsaken spot on Delaware Bay I've called the loneliest place in the state. It was once, unbelievably, a prosperous resort, in the late 1800s, with an amusement pavilion, hotel and restaurant; there were daily excursions from Philadelphia on a rebuilt Civil War ordnance boat. The town died a slow death over the years. Today, it's a great fishing spot — if you can find it. Bring a map, or good instincts; your GPS likely won't be of much help.   

The string of towns along the Parkway and Route 9 in Ocean, Burlington and Atlantic counties - Tuckerton, New Gretna, Port Republic, etc. - is the forgotten Jersey Shore. Lower Bank is a bit further inland, but it's close enough. If folks know the town, it's probably because of the Lower Bank Tavern, a Piney hangout and one of the state's great dive bars. Lower Bank is also home to the River Road Clam House, where seafood doesn't get any fresher. You can pick up clams, soft shells, scallops, shrimp and more. It's open every day, too.      

Barnegat, in Ocean County, is one of the Shore's overlooked towns, and its "downtown,'' centered around Route 9 and Bay Avenue, is packed with antiques shops, restaurants (Sweet Jenny's, Doyle's, Gemelli) and one of the funkiest stores anywhere: Unshredded Nostalgia. It's a warren of rooms filled with collectibles, toys, magazines, antiques, ephemera - don't you dare call it junk. Old-time board games, movie posters, typewriters, vinyl records, monster magazines, dolls - there's even a New Jersey Room filled with vintage Jerseyana. The amount of stuff in here is staggering.