I have honestly been stunned by the amount of feedback we’ve gotten since I wrote about beaches to find sea glass at the Jersey Shore last August. I knew sea glass hunting was a fun pastime for parents with their kids, having done it myself for years. However, I was impressed with the amount of adults who hunt sea glass on their own during their free time. Furthermore, I was amazed at some of the jewelry and artwork locals have cobbled together from their years worth of finds.
First, A Sea Glass Refresher Course.
According to the Sea Glass Wikipedia listing, Sea Glass are naturally weathered pieces of glass, which often have the appearance of tumbled stones. Sea glass is physically and chemically weathered glass found on beaches along bodies of salt water. These weathering processes produce natural frosted glass. Interestingly, Sea Glass takes 20–40 years, and sometimes as much as 100–200 years, to acquire its characteristic texture and shape.
The most popular sea glass colors include Kelly green, jade, amber, forest green, and soft blue. Less common colors include purple, citron, pink, and gray. Meanwhile, red and orange are amongst the rarest of colors one can find while sea glass hunting. So, if you happen to find a red or orange sea glass piece, hold onto it. Then relish the fact that the red is probably from a time when car brake lights were made of glass. Moreover, any rare orange sea glass you may find, may have come from either old gin or wine bottles.
In the original story I listed beaches in Bay Head, Manasquan, Mantoloking, Sea Bright, and on LBI. Since that time, I’ve been inundated with other areas that folks swear to as the best spots in New Jersey for grabbin’ some glass. So let’s check at least some of them out right now…
