Pine Beach is a small borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, set on the southern bank of the Toms River where the river widens toward Barnegat Bay. Its northern edge is water, its interior is a neat grid of residential streets, and its southern boundary runs along Atlantic City Boulevard, the local stretch of U.S. Route 9. That compact, river-focused layout has defined the borough since its earliest days. Pine Beach began as a summer resort community in the early 20th century, drawing families to the Toms River shore for swimming, boating, and riverside cottages. It was incorporated as a borough on February 26, 1925, from portions of Berkeley Township, following a local referendum. Many of its earliest homes were seasonal, and the borough retains a modest, cottage-and-bungalow scale that reflects that resort origin. Today Pine Beach is a quiet, primarily residential community of roughly 2,100 people. Its river beach remains a central amenity, and the borough's location between the Pine Barrens and the Atlantic barrier islands gives residents both bay and ocean access within a short drive. Neighboring Beachwood, South Toms River, and the much larger Toms River provide shopping, schools, and services, while the borough itself stays low-key and family-oriented. For commuters and day-trippers, the Garden State Parkway and U.S. Route 9 are the main links, connecting Pine Beach north toward Toms River and the rest of central New Jersey and south toward the southern Shore towns. The barrier-island communities of Seaside Heights, Lavallette, and Normandy Beach lie a few miles east across Barnegat Bay. Pine Beach Elementary School keeps schooling local through fifth grade, after which students continue within the Toms River Regional School District. The result is a borough that feels tucked away but sits squarely within the everyday geography of the Jersey Shore.