Mr. Doyle, who has summered here each year since he was a boy, moved to his familys Victorian house full time upon retiring in 2016, a transition many of the boroughs residents have made.

Founded in 1878 as a Methodist camp meeting site, Island Heights has long served as a summer retreat, especially for those from the Philadelphia area. And while full-timers now outnumber summer-only residents, occasional rifts arise among the various constituent groups, said Harry Bower, who bought an 1890s farmhouse here for $175,000 in 1987.

You have the townies, who want no change, and the yachties, who are just here for the summer, so they dont care, said Mr. Bower, 68, an art teacher and curator of the John F. Peto Studio Museum. But in the last 10 years, weve seen new people, younger families moving here, who really appreciate the towns charm.

One of those appreciative newcomers is Therese Heimbold, 52, a commercial director at the US Pharmaceutical Corporation, who remembered her father talking about this magical place where he used to spend his summers. In 2017, she sold her house in Haddonfield, N.J., and bought one of Island Heights original camp meeting houses, a two-bedroom cottage, for $225,000.

Returning from her job in Philadelphia in the evening, Ms. Heimbold said, she finds her stress dissipates upon arrival: I drive into town along River Road, and I see all the sailboats, and its pure serenity.

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Island Heights, N.J.: A Magical Place Thats a Step Out of Time - The New York Times