Great Egg Harbor River Watershed

The Great Egg Harbor River drains an area of 205 square miles in Camden, Atlantic, and Gloucester Counties, of which 58 square miles are within Gloucester County. The Great Egg Harbor River is one of the longest rivers in New Jersey (59 miles in length.) It originates in southeastern Camden County and is joined by tributaries from Gloucester County before flowing southeast through the Pinelands region to the Great Egg Harbor Bay and into the Atlantic Ocean. The river is tidal downstream of the dam at Mays Landing in Atlantic County.

The Great Egg Harbor River’s main channel actually begins behind the Berlin Plaza Shopping Center in Camden County, which is the site of a former wetlands area that was filled to create the shopping center and its parking lot. Because of the natural springs on the site, water had to be routed around the shopping center and diverted to underground pipes, where it travels until it emerges from a pipe at Camden County’s Berlin Park in Berlin Borough to continue its long journey to Great Egg Harbor Bay.

One tributary of the Great Egg Harbor River, Four Mile Branch, starts in Monroe Township, Gloucester County, and forms a portion of the boundary between Camden and Gloucester Counties. It joins the main channel east of Malaga Road in Monroe Township, at the start of the Winslow Wildlife Management Area. Other large tributaries originating in Gloucester are Squankum Branch, Boggy Meadow Branch, and Hospitality Branch. Hospitality Branch has numerous large tributaries running to it. These include Whitehall Branch, White Oak Branch,Faraway Branch and Marsh Lake/Main Lake Branch in Monroe and Franklin Townships. Hospitality Branch eventually joins the main channel at Penny Pot in Atlantic County.

The Great Egg Harbor River watershed also includes several lakes within Monroe and Franklin Townships. These are Crystal Springs Lake along the Four Mile Branch; Timber Lake, Sunset Lake, Victory Lake, Cranes Lake, Diamond Lake, and Hospitality Lake along the Hospitality and Whitehall Branches; and McCarthy’s Lakes,Marsh Lake, and Collings Lake (in Atlantic County) along the Main Lake Branch. Other impoundments in the watershed are the remnants of cranberry bogs that were once abundant in the area.

The name “Egg Harbor” comes from the Dutch “Eyer Haven.” This name was applied by early navigators to the Great Egg Harbor Bay because of the immense colonies of nesting birds and their eggs that were found along the seashore. The “Great” in the name of the river was a means of distinguishing it from the Little Egg Harbor River, which is now called the Mullica River. The Little Egg Harbor was smaller in size and extent than the Great Egg.

The Great Egg Harbor River watershed encompasses a large part of Monroe Township and over a third of Franklin Township.

Return to the main Maps or Gloucester County Watersheds page.