"[23][24][25] Subsequent transliteration as control of the land changed hands throughout the 17th century Anglo-Dutch wars resulted in barende-gat and its variations becoming Barnegat and a formal name for many locations and features in the area.

The ship was noticed by revolutionaries led by Captain Andrew Steelman, who recruited local men to unload the cargo.

While at rest on the beach, the crews were attacked by Captain John Bacon, who ran a pinelands gang and was affiliated with the Loyalists.

Almost all of Steelman's men were murdered in what became known as the Barnegat Light Massacre, which led to a manhunt and battle at Cedar Bridge Tavern and one of the last of the Revolutionary War.

[26] By the 19th century, Long Beach Island was known for its plentiful and various wildlife, fishing, favorable sailing conditions, and pleasant weather in summer.

In 1801, most of the northern tip of what was then commonly referred to as Barnegat Beach, a neighbor to the established mainland town of Barnegat across the bay, was purchased by Bornt Slaght, a founder of Staten Island and a revolutionary veteran, who built a small house, the first structure on the north end of Long Beach Island, and later, in 1821, a hotel, one of the first seaside hotels in New Jersey.

The 1834 lighthouse was painted white, stood 40 feet tall, and was powered by a reflector system patented by Winslow Lewis, who also constructed the tower.

In 1881, the Barnegat City Improvement Company was formed by Benjamin Franklin Archer, William F. Bailey, and a group of Camden, New Jersey investors.

The 1886 construction of a railroad from Whiting and Toms River to the Island made the trip faster and easier, but still not as direct or convenient as that built for Philadelphians to Atlantic City.

Local concerns lobbied for years to have a direct rail route constructed, but those efforts failed to make the Island as convenient and affordable of a day-trip to those in Philadelphia as Atlantic City was.

He sold the old hotel not long after, the Ashley being antiquated and badly in need of repairs to compete with its larger more modern new neighbors in town.

During the Spanish–American War, signal houses were hurriedly constructed up and down the east coast, one of which was built in Barnegat City whose staff were charged with watching the seas for signs of Spanish ships.

In 1923, train service was discontinued from Barnegat City Junction at Ship Bottom to the entire north end of the Island, including the towns of Surf City and Harvey Cedars, and the tracks taken up shortly after due to low ridership, increasing maintenance costs to keep the aging railways passable, dilapidated locomotives and cars, and the growth of automobile traffic.

This fate would follow for the southern branch of the Island railroad in 1935 when the train bridge was washed out in a nor'easter, while the regional shore lines would shutter in the 1940s.

[30] In the era of airships from the late 1910s to the 1940s, nearby Navy base Lakehurst operated as the east coast port for all lighter-than-air traffic, including international flights from legendary craft such as the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg.

Barnegat City's commercial fishing economy improved with a pound boat fishery opened by Captain Dick Myers in 1920, who built a dock at West 6th Street replacing the old eroded port.

Also by the 1920s, a wave of immigration since 1900 had changed Barnegat City's makeup as fishermen from Norway, Sweden, and Finland came to local waters after hearing of its reputation and solicitations from Myers to work his pound nets.

The Independent Fish Company docks are now known as Viking Village and today provide a combined shopping and industrial establishment with both handcrafted goods and fresh seafood.

Catches typically consist of scallops, tuna, swordfish, tilefish, weakfish, monkfish, bluefish, shad, dogfish, and various other types of in-shore fish.

[22] The motivations for this renaming were both to honor the legacy of the lighthouse (which was decommissioned four years earlier) and to distinguish itself from nearby Barnegat Township.

The building it replaced had itself been a general store and a gas station, both owned by Jens Jensen in 1920 who had given it to John Englesen in 1940 as a trade for a house on 19th Street.

The site of the first post office, the general store on 4th Street, was saved and updated in the ensuing decades, operating today as the Inlet Deli.

The massive effort succeeded and stopped the erosion that had doomed the eastern beach blocks, threatened the lighthouse, and erased the former port at 6th street.

A diagonal jetty extending hundreds of yards NNE from East 8th Street forced the current far away from land before it entered the channel between the lighthouse and southern tip of Island Beach, while the damming of the existing current's channel along the backside of the Island between West 20th Street and High Bar, plus the damming of a channel between High Bar and an island WNW of the inlet, rerouted the current a mile north and west of Barnegat Light, sending it farther into the bay away from the town.

[59][60][61] Prior to the 2010 Census, Barnegat Light had been part of the 3rd Congressional District, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.

[62] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 2nd congressional district is represented by Jeff Van Drew (R, Dennis Township).

[71][72][73] Constitutional officers elected on a countywide basis are: Clerk Scott M. Colabella (R, 2025, Barnegat Light),[74][75] Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy (R, 2025; Toms River)[76][77] and Surrogate Jeffrey Moran (R, 2028, Beachwood).

[94] In 1903, the Barnegat City School was built on West 5th Street and Central Ave, consisting of a single room with bathrooms and coat closets in the entranceways, of which there was one for boys and one for girls.

An older school based out of a residential cottage on West 3rd Street previously educated small classes of children from the 1880s.

Ocean County Ride provides bus service on the OC9 LBI North route between Barnegat Light and Manahawkin / Stafford Township.