This is one of the oldest names places in Ocean County, supposedly derived from an Indian name for the place meaning "place of good corn" or something similar.

Salter mentions in his book, History of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, early residents of Manahawkin that include :

• Benjamin Paul, who came from Deghton, MA
• Luke Courtenay, who came from England just prior to the Revolution.
• James Haywood, mentioned above.
• Thomas Haywood
• George Haywood
• William Haywood
• Reuben Randolph, who probably came from Middlesex, England. He was a captain in the Continental Army. He was the father of Thomas and Job, who served beside him in the war.
• Seth Crane
• Louis Pangborn, who probably came from Essex, England.
• David Johnson
• Thomas Johnson
• Benjamin P. Pearson, who probably came from Essex, England.
• Benjamin Paul
• Zachariah Southard
• William Aumack, who lived many years at Cedar Creek, built about 1840 a storehouse in Manahawkin, in the upper part of the village. His son was John Aumack, sheriff of Dover Township in the 1890s. Another son, B.F. Aumack, served as sheriff there prior to his brother. Elijah was another son.
• Henry C. and Horton Gulick, who ran a store selling "merchandise, coal, etc."
• Lewis B. Peckworth
• Charles H. Cranmer, who bought a store from Lewis B. Peckworth and Bros. in 1880.
• Nicholas Brown, a very early settler, who died early in 1724. He came here from Burlington. He was the son of Abraham Brown (orig. from Rhode Island), and was married to a woman named Elizabeth and had sons, Joseph and Abraham, and daughters as well whose name Salter does not mention.
• William Pidgeon, who owned a home there but did not live in it. Isaac Andrews also resided in this house.
• Capt. Isaac Andrews, who lived in a home owned by William Pidgeon when it burned down in Dec. 1780.

During the Revolution, Manahawkin sent a greater portion of it's men to fight than anywhere in Monmouth County (Manahawkin was originally in Monmouth until the county of Ocean was created from it in 1850). At one skirmish with the Refugees, Lyons Pangburn was killed and Sylvester Tilton severely wounded.

For news from the local papers concerning the town of Manahawkin, click here.

A bottle manufactured by the Cramer family in Manahawkin, date uncertain.