[1] It is one of the major rivers that traverse the largely pristine Pinelands, draining 308 square miles (800 km2) of wetlands into the Atlantic Ocean at Great Egg Harbor, from which it takes its name.

Great Egg Harbor (and thus the river) got its name from Dutch explorer Cornelius Jacobsen May.

Today, the National Park Service considers it one of the top 10 places in North America for birding.

[2] The Great Egg Harbor River rises in the suburbs southeast of Camden near Berlin and flows generally southeast, to the south of the Atlantic City Expressway, entering Great Egg Harbor approximately 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Atlantic City.

The presence of "bog iron" along the river provided material for cannonballs and led to the construction of blast furnaces, as well as glass and brick factories, until the middle of the 19th century.