Once a one-room stagecoach stop in rural South Jersey that later became an inn, the area that is now Smithville remained a rural part of Galloway Township until the 1960s when Fred and Ethel Noyes bought the abandoned inn and created a tourist attraction known as Smithville, a colonial village with charming shops, places to eat and a beautiful lake. “In the summers, a huge tent was put up, and celebrities you saw only in the movies or on TV performed there,” says 23-year real estate veteran Kim Hanadel with Century 21 Action Plus Realty. Hanadel grew up in the area and lives nearby. “We saw plays and musicals like South Pacific there. Stars like Debbie Reyolds and Florence Henderson performed 20 feet away from you. Even today, the shopping center is packed every weekend.”
In the 1980s, the first planned community was built around shopping village, including a retirement community named the Four Seasons at Historic Smithville, designed, built and marketed by K. Hovnanian. Other developments followed, including all-age communities, golf courses and schools. “People move to Smithville from North Jersey and New York for a quieter life,” Hanadel says. “There’s not enough land here for congestion.” With the bay on the one side and the Garden State Parkway on the other, development is limited. Smithville is also 12 miles from Atlantic City. Residents not yet retired often work in the city or at the airport.
Shopping and dining in Historic Smithville
Historic Smithville resembles a bygone time with cobblestone walkways, painted signs and clapboard buildings. It features 50 “shoppes,” selling everything from toys to cooking supplies, with 10 eateries or food shops. The Historic Smithville Inn is the original one-room stagecoach stop that was turned into an inn and later purchased by Fred and Ethel Noyes. Today it is an award-winning, fine-dining restaurant that hosts over 80 weddings each year. Another Smithville favorite is Fred and Ethel’s Lantern Light Tavern, a casual bar and grill where customers can order soups, salads, sandwiches and burgers. Over 30 free events are held in Historic Smithville every weekend, from car shows to children’s festivals, and the village’s carousel, kids’ train, and paddle boats offer entertaining distractions for families or individuals who want to feel like a kid.
Two other attractions 3 miles outside Smithville, but well worth the drive, are Oyster Creek Restaurant and Boat Bar and Motts Creek Inn. “The coast is very much part of the culture in Smithville,” Hanadel says. “You can get to both places by boat.” At Oyster Creek, customers will find a lone cottage in the marshland with red-and-white plaid tablecloths, knotty pine paneling and great seafood. Motts Creek Inn is no different, except it features a large, covered patio and live entertainment.
Enjoy a day of fun with the kids at Colonial Village in Smithville.
Colonial Village in Smithville transports visitors back in time to a quaint, lakefront village.
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55-plus and all-age homes with recreational amenities
The median home price in Smithville is $300,000 — 25 percent less than the national median. Because Smithville was developed in the 1980s, homes here are newer and include a mix of ranch and colonial styles from two to six bedrooms with attached garages and some part of the Four Seasons active adult 55-plus community. Condominiums are the second most common type of home, often featuring amenities like community playgrounds, clubhouses and pools. Townhouses come in third but offer back patios open to shared backyards and additional community amenities like tennis courts. Occasionally, a home original to the area, like an 1890s farmhouse, makes it onto the market. Otherwise, Smithville is packed with model suburban homes in developments lined with sidewalks and quiet streets. “The Four Seasons built by K. Hovnanian is a big community with a large recreation center,” Hanadel says. “Many developments are built in little cul-de-sacs, so you’re not on top of your neighbor. The landscaping is pretty, too, with ponds and fountains. The whole area is very popular.”
Small ranch homes make up most of the homes in the senior living areas of Smithville.
Members of the senior community in Smithville have access to lots of amenities in the heart of town.
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From coastal nature preserves to championship golf courses
Smithville is surrounded by coastal habitats, nature preserves and golf courses, most of which are protected from development. The Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge is a good example, featuring 48,000 acres of wetlands, salt marshes, coves and bays, with scenic trails that pass from freshwater ponds to woodlands. The Seaview Golf Club on U.S. 9 is a 296-room, 670-acre historic resort south of Smithville with two golf courses, the Bay Course opened in 1914 with a Scottish-links feel and dramatic seaside views, and the Pines Course opened in 1929 with holes that wind their way through the New Jersey woodlands. Its neighbor, the Galloway National Golf Club, is a private, 18-hole championship course that uses pine forest, sand and water to challenge players.
Smithville residents are only miniutes from the Forsythe National Wildlife Refugee.
Seaview Golf Club in Smithville is home to the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
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Schools and colleges serving the Galloway Township area
The Galloway Township Public School District receives an overall B-minus from Niche. It serves Atlantic County with six PK-8 public schools including Smithville Elementary, local to the community. Assumption Regional Catholic, a PK-8 school, is also available to area families.
Ninth through 12th graders attend Absegami High School, which earns an A-minus from Niche and is part of the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District. Absegami’s campus includes a state-of-the-art performing arts center, a media studio, and instructional kitchens for the culinary arts program. The high school also offers a concurrent education program with Atlantic Cape Community College through which students can earn a high school diploma and an associate’s degree.
Atlantic Cape Community College is 15 miles from Smithville with a student body of over 8,000. Stockton University is within 5 miles of Smithville and features a 1,600-acre campus in the Pinelands National Reserve, with an enrollment of nearly 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students.
Absegami High School's A- rating from Niche makes it one of the highest rated in the county.
Stockton University is a great option near Smithville for students looking to further their education near home.
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Getting around Smithville and to other Mid-Atlantic destinations
The more trafficked roads in Smithville have wide shoulders that cyclists can use, and each community has sidewalks or walking paths that invite pedestrians. U.S. 9 comes through the eastern part of Smithville, and the Garden State Parkway borders its western edge. Both roads lead to Atlantic City, 12 miles south, or New York City, 115 miles north. Travelers can catch a NJ Transit train from Absecon, 6 miles south, into Philadelphia, or a bus, which travels down U.S. 9, into Atlantic City. The Atlantic City International Airport is 12 miles southwest and is served by Spirit and American Airlines.
Falling crime and temperate climate numbers in Galloway Township
According to the New Jersey State Police Uniform Crime Reporting data, violent and property crimes in Galloway Township have dropped by 10 percent during the last year of reporting after an increase of 17 percent the previous year. FBI crime data supports this trend.
Galloway Township has a humid subtropical climate because of its proximity to the ocean. Smithville residents can expect four seasons with an average high in the upper-80s in July and an average low in the mid-40s in January. Summers are hot and humid, and winters are mild to cool.
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