Stone Harbor in winter is slower but still active

STONE HARBOR, N.J. - After the holidays were over and the population of this tiny Cape May County beach town last winter plummeted to mere hundreds - as it traditionally does here during the coldest months of the year - more than 10 percent of the year-round residents showed up weekly for a new fitness campaign offered by the town.

The fact that so many of the 850 permanent dwellers braved the ice and snow for the 10-week free program to learn about a healthier lifestyle gave Mayor Suzanne Walters insight into just how eager those residents were to connect with others over what is the most desolate time of the year.

"Ninety people signed up for the weekly lectures and walks," Walters said. ". . . It was great. Hardly anyone dropped out. And I think the appeal of it, besides what they were learning about, was really that people were getting together to socialize, to connect with one another, in the dead of winter."

The state-sponsored program, called the Mayors Wellness Campaign, will begin this month instead of February - and sign-ups already are brisk.

It gets lonely at the Jersey Shore this time of year, but the weather isn't the only problem with which residents and officials have to contend. There are small-town issues that continue to arise.

Walters said that despite the laid-back quiet, the 1.2-square-mile barrier-island community faces major problems. A $70 million Atlantic City Electric plan to install nine-story-tall steel utility poles through the town has spurred residents and the municipality to join forces for a legal battle against the utility.

And a $10.2 million project to dredge the resort's bay-front lagoons was put on hold last month after 20,000 gallons of water and dredge spoils spilled onto a residential street and were found to contain a likely carcinogen. The town is awaiting the outcome of further testing by the state Department of Environmental Protection before the project can continue, Walters said.

Stone Harbor also is mourning the loss of a beloved official. Councilman Albert Carusi died Dec. 8 following complications from a heart attack.

"It's such a shame," Walters said. ". . . We miss him very much. He was so active in the community and really enjoyed being on the council."

And while preppy Stone Harbor, with its genteel landscape of beachfront McMansions and trim summer cottages, may not be Arctic tundra, toughing out the winter isn't necessarily the easiest thing to do here.

Most of the shops, restaurants, and hotels close up after the summer season. Traffic lights are reprogrammed as blinkers.

Unlike many businesses that board up their windows after the summer season, Seashore Hardware, a 96th Street staple, stays open year-round.

"We find there is always a customer base for us no matter what time of the year," said Sue Delosso, who manages the outdoor-furniture department. "People here really take the time in the winter to do projects or have projects done in their homes. So we are here to serve the contractors and the homeowners that are getting a jump-start."

Delosso said that after the holidays, "it seems like the town goes to sleep. But it really doesn't. It really does keep chugging along . . . just very quietly."

"Stone Harbor really has a totally different feel to it than most of the other beach towns in the region," said Diane F. Wieland, director of Cape May County's Tourism Department. "It's just a beautiful, upscale place where people really can sit back and relax. I think that is the appeal of it any time of the year."

That may be because more than 70 percent of the properties in Stone Harbor are second homes - strictly vacation homes that are vacant much of the year, Wieland said.

Julie Yeager, marketing director at the Reeds at Shelter Haven, a boutique hotel that opened in 2013 in the heart of the downtown district, said hotel management didn't quite know what to expect of the wintertime.

"What we have found is that on weekends we are really busy in the winter," Yeager said. "People come for a little sneak-away weekend and enjoy the quietness and relaxing experience they can have here. They are discovering that this is a place that is very different than Cape May or Atlantic City for a wintertime getaway."

That's what appeals to Marie Reed, a retiree who moved from Cape May County to Florida about 10 years ago and then moved back to New Jersey, settling in Stone Harbor three years ago.

"I really love it here, especially in the offseason," Reed, 72, said. "I feel like I have the place all to myself, but if I really want or need something, it's all very close by. And when I get through another winter, I really feel like I've accomplished something. I didn't feel that way when I lived in Florida."

jurgo@phillynews.com

609-652-8382 @JacquelineUrgo

www.philly.com/downashore