Living in Somers Point: A Neighborhood Guide
If you’d like to live at the Shore all year, this is a good place to do it.
Somers Point homes / Photograph by Jon Bilous/Alamy
It would be an oversimplification to say that people come to Somers Point for whiskey and water, but not much of one.
Vacationers headed for famously family-friendly and dry Ocean City make the Circle Liquor Store in Somers Point their last stop before hitting the causeway. Then they cross back over for a cocktail with dinner at the Crab Trap next door, on Great Egg Harbor Bay. “It’s always packed,” Vincent Novelli, co-principal of the Novelli Team at Compass Real Estate in nearby Margate, says of the restaurant.
The salmon salad at the Crab Trap / Photograph courtesy of the Crab Trap
And more than just diners come here for the bay: With six marinas lining its shore, the town is a boater’s paradise. (Don’t own one? All Action Watersports can hook you up. Or, if you just want to spend some time on the water, Duke O’Fluke offers private charters.)
Residents also like Somers Point because it’s a more relaxed and affordable yet equally convenient alternative to the barrier island towns. “You have accessibility to the beach towns like Ocean City, Longport, and Margate,” says Novelli.
A personal watercraft from All Action Watersports / Photograph courtesy of All Action Watersports
Somers Point has more history than the towns around it. First settled in 1693, it’s the oldest community in Atlantic County. The Somers Mansion, built by Richard Somers in the 1720s, is the oldest house standing in the county and a state historic site open to the public.
Shopping is geared toward everyday needs: Boutiques are few and big-box stores many. One of the must-visit shops is the Great Bay Gallery, featuring the work of proprietor and artist Kathleen Arleth.
The properties in Somers Point range from grand houses close to the bay to modest mid-century ranchers farther inland. Of course, you’ll pay for the privilege of living bayside, and you can drop $1 million or so on a house there. But that’s about the most you will spend: Whereas even a middling property in Ocean City will run a million or more, a typical Somers Point house will cost 60 percent less.
Put another way, if people go to Ocean City to play, they come to Somers Point to stay. And we’ll drink to that.
Published as “Living in Somers Point” in the June 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
