Until European settlement, Long Beach had a tidal lagoon where the swamp is now, with the entrance by Pilot Point. Once the bush was felled the lagoon silted up. A settlement area on an old boulder bank behind the lagoon was a seasonal fishing spot for Maori from moa-hunter days. It was named Wharau Wera Wera, warm shelter; a sunny spot tucked away from southerly winds. Middens show that barracuda, red cod and hapuku were caught and dried, and greenstone was worked.
From around 1900 Long Beach started to attract holidaymakers, with people camping on the beach frontage over Christmas. Some arranged for local farmers to transport them in carts from Mihiwaka station.
In 1921 James Spence, a coal merchant and carrier of Dunedin, bought the main property at Long Beach and developed it as a township. The quarter acre sections were auctioned off in 1922. Extensions beside Drivers Stream and the beachfront were developed in 1953. Cribs were built from whatever materials were the cheapest – look for the one with a railway carriage!