Start Your Day Right With Minerva's Gourmet Breakfast

Chef preparing a mealA New Jersey Family Bed & Breakfast Open All Year Long!

At breakfast--(which is geared to respond to your dietary needs, e.g., gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, etc.)--you can spark up a conversation with the staff and/or Minervas' other guests about things that matter to you. Or you can choose a quiet and intimate spot on the deck to read the morning paper (the Sunday New York Times is waiting by the coffeepot!).

After breakfast, the clean, expansive, uncrowded beaches, the lighthouse, and Barnegat Light's array of shops and eateries await you--or maybe you'll retreat to Minerva's library or garden, or to the perpetual jigsaw puzzle in the lobby, or to the exquisite privacy of your spacious and tranquil room (each of our five units has a renovated bath; no two units have adjoining walls, and two units have private decks!). For more information about all that we offer, please contact us today. We will gladly answer any questions you may have about our bed and breakfast.

A Bed and Breakfast Spot the Whole Family Can Enjoy!

Looking for unique, kid-friendly shore lodging that is neither a hotel nor a motel? Minerva's by the Sea is one of only two New Jersey bed & breakfasts at the north end of Long Beach Island. We are the only Barnegat Light lodging that is open all year! A sleek, modern venue with uncluttered lines, squeaky-cleanliness, and a sunny living room with an eclectic, tantalizing library, Minerva's Bed & Breakfast's informal and whimsical decor offers guest-centered hospitality. Our New Jersey Bed and Breakfast welcomes international visitors, national and regional guests, weekend retreats and workshops, and that "extra company" that won't fit into local homeowners' guest quarters. We pride ourselves on being the bed and breakfast option on the Jersey shore where you can bring the whole family!

Click here to take a peek inside Minerva's!

Located at the northern tip of New Jersey's Long Beach Island, in the shadow of Old Barney, one of our state's tallest lighthouses, Minerva's By the Sea is beautifully situated in the unspoiled, un-commercial, and often un-crowded sector of this wonderful barrier island on the New Jersey Shore.

For many decades, Barnegat Light, a supplier to fish-lovers all over the world, has also been a favorite haunt of various crafts-people, writers, bird watchers, and musicians. Now we hope to entice you here with comfortable rooms, warm hospitality, and delicious food.

What's Unique About Us?

Check out our events page for our specials and periodic small-group, budget-friendly "theme" weekends for yoga enthusiasts, writers and book-lovers, nature-lovers, music-lovers, food-lovers, or other "special" interests. (And let us welcome your group or office gathering, featuring our gourmet breakfasts and suppers to make for a relaxing NJ Bed & Breakfast getaway or retreat center. Ask about our special rates for group events.)

How Come The Name 'Minerva'?

We are owned and operated by retired-college-professor Emma Lapsansky and her family, who, in 2008, renovated a warehouse to create the guest-friendly Minerva's B&B. Emma and her family have traveled to--and lived in--many places around the world, and have more than 20 years of experience in the B&B business. Minerva's by the Sea Bed and Breakfast is named for Emma's mother, the beloved matriarch of the family. We chose this name also for its historical symbolism:

Minerva was a mythical ancient Roman goddess. Because her specialties include wisdom and trade, she is often used as a ship's masthead. But Minerva — grand-daughter of Oceanus, born of the sea, daughter of the powerful Jupiter — was also the goddess of medicine and healing, and of crafts, poetry, and music.

Thus Minerva has the perfect credentials to be the muse of a fishing-village New Jersey bed and breakfast!

Minerva's by the Sea has a mission inspired by Minerva Jenkins Jones, who vacationed in Barnegat Light every summer for the last quarter-century of her 92 years. She was the mother of proprietor Emma Lapsansky.