[3] The land has remained a single parcel since 1690, when the Board of Proprietors of the Province of East Jersey divided this coastal region.

During the American Revolution, local residents used the area to bring British vessels that had been captured, or had run aground in the deceptive shallows of the Barnegat Bay, into the Toms River to offload their cargoes.

After the death of Timothy Page, the family house burned down, and the property was sold to Lewis Applegate.

John V. A. Cattus, a New York importer and Olympic class athlete, bought the land and developed it as a retreat in 1895.

Cattus Island Park has within it a number of different ecosystems, though a majority is considered a maritime upland forest.

Even though Cattus Island Park is a maritime forest, within it, one can find many of the same shrubs and animal species that are native to the Pine Barrens.

Prior to the 1930s, the northern part of the Barnegat Bay, where Cattus Island is located, was mainly fresh water.

After the Point Pleasant Canal was constructed and the Manasquan Inlet improved, saltwater from the ocean infiltrated the northern portion of the bay.

[8] The Cooper Environmental Center, named for a well-known county environmentalist, A. Morton Cooper, is an educational facility and resource for conservation and education, featuring a 5,000 sq ft (460 m2) building with an eighty-seat meeting room, interactive exhibit area, and live native reptiles and fish.